Amazon Deforestation Slows for Third Year
London, December 31 2007 - Brazilian authorities this month announced a drop in the rate of Amazon deforestation for the third year in a row. Approximately 11,224 square kilometers of forest were lost between August 2006 and July 2007, down from 14,039 square kilometers during the previous 12-month period. However, threats against the Amazon are numerous and increasing in intensity, leading major environmental organizations to believe that this recent upward trend may be short-lived. According to the WWF, a global conservation organization, logging, livestock expansion and worsening drought could result in the disappearance of 55 percent of the Amazon rainforest by 2030.
earthtrends.wri.org: Amazon Deforestation Slows for Third Year

Tens of thousands of badgers face extermination in attempt to curb TB

London, December 30 2007, 2007 - Tens of thousands of Britain's badgers face the threat of a massive, unprecedented cull. The controversial move, which is bound to create a public outcry, would defy official recommendations from a 10-year study that the much-loved mammals should be spared, but the minister responsible believes that it cannot legally be stopped.
Farmers, landowners and vets are drawing up detailed plans for a mass extermination of badgers over a vast area of the West Country in the hope of controlling tuberculosis infections in cattle. They hope to start killing the animals this summer and plan to repeat the operation annually for the next three years.
www.independent.co.uk: Tens of thousands of badgers face extermination in attempt to curb TB

'Green fatigue' leads to fear of backlash over climate change
London, December 30 2007, 2007 - British people are now convinced about the dangers of global warming but are either baffled about how to stop it or are ignoring the issue.
Analysts say few people are taking action to deal with the threat of climate change, although over the past 12 months the vast majority have come to accept that it poses a real threat to the world. Opinion polls reveal much confusion among the public about what Britain should do to combat the problem.
www.guardian.co.uk: 'Green fatigue' leads to fear of backlash over climate change

Japan to back targets for new climate deal: report
Tokyo, December 29 2007, 2007 - Japan will accept numerical targets to cut global warming emissions in a new climate change pact, reversing its stance which came under fire at this month's U.N.-led talks over the deal, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
www.reuters.com: Japan to back targets for new climate deal

The Forecast in the Streets / The Age of Consequenses

“In a world that sees 2 meter sea level rise, with continued flooding ahead, it will take extraordinary effort for the United States, or indeed any country, to look far beyond its own salvation. If Americans have difficulty reaching a reasonable compromise on immigration legislation today, consider what such a debate would be like if we were struggling to resettle millions of our own citizens—driven by high water from the Gulf of Mexico, South Florida, and much of the East Coast reaching up nearly to New England—even as we witnessed the northward migration of large populations from Latin America and the Caribbean.” (From: The Age of Consequenses)

London, December 28 2007, 2007 - The physical impacts of the global warming forecast can be bracketed with some degree of statistical confidence. Biological effects are more difficult to gauge, except in special cases such as the likely demise of polar bears that would result from the demise of Arctic sea ice. The societal effects, however, are nearly uncharted territory.
Perhaps the topic of global warming suffers from the same sort of cultural divide as university faculties, between the techies and the touchies; that is the sciences and the humanities.
A new report called The Age of Consequences, just released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Center for a New American Security, tries to bring the social sciences, in particular history, geography, and political science, into the forecast of climate change in the coming century. It makes for fascinating and frightening reading.
www.realclimate.org: The Forecast in the Streets
The Age of Consequences

No denying the cold, hard facts
London, December 28 2007, 2007 - The sheer scale of what happened hasn't sunk in, it probably hasn't sunk in at all, with most people. They're not looking back on 2007 and talking about it, in the office, in pubs or over dinner. Listen to them: they're talking about Brown taking over from Blair, or David Cameron's prospects, or England failing to qualify for the European football championships. Or they're talking about getting and spending, or love and hate, as they always have. But what happened in September dwarfs all that.
www.independent.co.uk: Prince Charles to work with Norway to save forests

Swallows head back to Britain's warm winter

London, December 27, 2007 - Swallows, symbols of summer, appearing in Britain in December – what would Aristotle have thought about it? The Ancient Greek philosopher, also Europe's first ornithologist, certainly commented about those returning too soon from their winter haunts. His "one swallow does not make spring" observation is still quoted widely after more than 2,300 years.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Swallows head back to Britain's warm winter

Prince Charles to work with Norway to save forests
London / Oslo, December 27, 2007 - Britain's Prince Charles has offered to team up with Norway in projects to save forests around the world, Norwegian officials said on Thursday.
The Prince of Wales's offer to Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg followed Norway's announcement earlier this month that it aimed to provide about 3 billion crowns ($541.2 million) per year to prevent deforestation in developing countries.
www.reuters.com: Prince Charles to work with Norway to save forests
www.aftenposten.no: Gro called upon to direct new rainforest fund

Consuming consumption
Hong Kong, December 24, 2007 - Today, the richest 20 percent of people consume 86 percent of everything that is sold for private consumption.
Few would argue that excessive consumption is putting a strain on the environment and its vital resources. But when consumption is a way of life, to the degree that it is exported globally as the means to alleviate poverty in the developing world, we find ourselves faced with a problem.
www.cnn.com / All About: 'Green' shopping

Nature's 'doom' is tourist boom
Washington (US), December 23, 2007 - Global warming has led to a new travel boom as holidaymakers embrace what tour operators are calling doomsday tourism - the urge to see some of the world's most endangered sites before they disappear for ever.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Nature's 'doom' is tourist boom

Germany should embrace CO2 goal, not fight it
Berlin (DE), December 23, 2007 - Germany should look at European Union plans to force down carbon dioxide emissions from cars not as "punishment" but rather a chance to improve their competitive position, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said.
www.reuters.com: Germany should embrace CO2 goal, not fight it

Schwarzenegger versus Bush in Californian battle of gas-guzzlers
Los Angeles (CA/US), December 22, 2007 - The Bush administration came under heavy fire yesterday from environmentalists and politicians of both major parties after it refused to allow California and 16 other states to go ahead with new regulations curbing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle exhaust pipes.
www.independent.co.uk: Schwarzenegger versus Bush in Californian battle of gas-guzzlers

African giraffes endangered
Nairobi, 22 Dec 2007 - At least six distinct species of giraffe, the world's tallest land animal, may be in existence and some of them are critically endangered, scientists in the United States and Kenya have found.
www.independent.co.uk: African giraffes endangered

EU plans to boost green energy take shape

Brussels (BE/EU), December 21, 2007 - New EU legislation aimed at having green energy account for 20 percent of the union's overall energy consumption by 2020 is taking concrete shape, with draft proposals indicating that each EU state should contribute at least 5.75 percent to an overall target. Rich member states will carry a heavier burden, however.
euobserver.com: EU plans to boost green energy take shape

Bush's Arrogance in the Face of Global Warming
Berlin, December 21, 2007 - US President George W. Bush's decision to block California state emissions regulations shows executive arrogance stemming from ideological blindness.
www.spiegel.de: Bush's Arrogance in the Face of Global Warming

Uganda's president revives plan to axe rainforest
Kampala, December 21, 2007 - Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Friday revived a controversial plan to hand over a swathe of rainforest to a local company to be destroyed and replaced with a sugarcane plantation.
www.reuters.com: Uganda's president revives plan to axe rainforest

The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Future
December 20, 2007 - Richard Alley, one of the world's leading climate researchers, tells the fascinating history of global climate changes as revealed by reading the annual rings of ice from cores drilled in Greenland. In the 1990s he and his colleagues made headlines with the discovery that the last ice age came to an abrupt end over a period of only three years.
www.enn.com: The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Futuret

Noble or savage?
December 20, 2007 - The era of the hunter-gatherer was not the social and environmental Eden that some suggest. www.economist.com: Noble or savage?

How Green is Your Neighborhood?
Miami (Fla/US), December 19, 2007 - Technology has gotten us into the climate change mess, and we assume that technology will get us out of it. Hybrid cars, wind turbines, algae biofuel — businesses and policymakers alike are searching for the technological fixes that will decarbonize our lives. But the deeper problem may be how — and where — we live our lives. The dominant pattern of development in America — large houses and sprawling, auto-dependent suburbs — requires a heavy input of fossil fuels and an output of carbon emissions. The adoption of cleaner technologies will take us part of the way, but what we really need to do is change our habitat, not just for the environmental benefits, but for our health, lifestyle and happiness.
www.time.com: How Green is Your Neighborhood?

Counting the cost of climate change
December 19, 2007 - The future economic costs of climate change — known as the costs of inaction — will be significant in Europe, says a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report, released today.
www.eea.europa.eu: Counting the cost of climate change

For some, climate fight is about survival
Berlin, December 19, 2007 - In some ways, the unsung heroes of the two-week-long United Nations climate conference in Bali that ended last weekend were the delegates from the developing world, particularly those from small island states, who have become the most vocal advocates in the quest to limit global warming.
Noticeably, it was the delegate from Papua New Guinea who stood down the lead U.S. negotiator, Paula Dobriansky, at the final plenary session when she threatened to block a deal that might lead for a new climate treaty.
"If for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us," said the delegate, Kevin Conrad. "Please, get out of the way."
www.iht.com: For some, climate fight is about survival

How Long Will Siberia's Gas Last?
Berlin, December 19, 2007 - Europe depends on Russia for its natural gas, but, as Gazprom begins production at the last major field, it is unclear how much gas is left in Siberia. Developed fields are almost exhausted, and tapping new reserves involves huge technical difficulties.
www.spiegel.de: How Long Will Siberia's Gas Last?

Ancient Warming Caused Huge Spike in Temps, Study Says

Utrecht (NL), December 19, 2007 - What started out as a moderate global warm-up about 55 million years ago triggered a massive injection of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that sent temperatures skyrocketing, a new study says.
The finding suggests that today's temperature rise may just be priming the planet for a carbon belch of epic proportions.
Ancient Warming Caused Huge Spike in Temps, Study Says

Australian patrols to shadow Japanese whalers
Canberra, December 19, 2007 - Australia will send a fisheries patrol ship to shadow Japan's whaling fleet near Antarctica and gather evidence for a possible international court challenge to halt the yearly slaughter, the government said on Wednesday.
www.reuters.com: Australian patrols to shadow Japanese whalers

Hilary Benn called to explain Defra response to environment report
London, December 19, 2007 - MPs have called Environment Secretary Hilary Benn to appear before them to explain why the Government is failing to involve the public in battling the effects of climate change.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Hilary Benn called to explain Defra response to environment report

Government blasted for dropping carbon deal
Oslo, December 18, 2007 - Norway's left-centre government was under attack Tuesday after it admitted that it was breaking a deal to store carbon set to be captured at a new gas power plant at Mongstad.
www.aftenposten.no: Hilary Benn called to explain Defra response to environment report

World food stocks dwindling, UN warns
Rome (It), December 18, 2007 In an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the top food and agriculture official of the United Nations warned Monday.
The changes created "a very serious risk that fewer people will be able to get food," particularly in the developing world, said Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
www.iht.com: World food stocks dwindling, UN warns
www.fao.org: FAO calls for urgent steps to protect the poor from soaring food prices

Europe divided over targets for cutting car CO2 emissions
Brussels, December 18, 2007 - Emergency talks aimed at setting EU targets to reduce CO2 car emissions are being held today amid fears that bitter wrangling between car manufacturing countries could delay or even derail the process entirely.
www.independent.co.uk: Europe divided over targets for cutting car CO2 emissions
euobserver.com: Brussels faces criticism over car emissions plan
euobserver.com: Brussels seeks flexibility in car emissions plan

Italy's woodlands dying due to climate change
Milan (It), December 17, 2007 - Italy's woodlands are already dying as climate change starts to bite in southern Europe, experts warn. A report represented to the Italian government said that eight out of 10 trees across Italy's varied ecosystems were already suffering from the effects of rising temperatures and diminishing rainfall.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Italy's woodlands dying due to climate change

'Every Human Should Have the Same Right to Produce CO2'
Berlin, December 17, 2007 - The head of the International Energy Agency, Nobuo Tanaka, has called on government leaders to take bolder action to curb CO2 emissions. Energy saving alone could produce a third of the necessary CO2 reductions, he told SPIEGEL.
www.spiegel.de: 'Every Human Should Have the Same Right to Produce CO2'

It's Up to Europe to Save The World
Berlin, December 17, 2007 - The US, so keen on flexing its muscles in world politics under President George W. Bush, has ceded global leadership to the Europeans in tackling climate change, say German newspapers.
www.spiegel.de: 'It's Up to Europe to Save The World'

Carbon Cuts a Must to Halt Warming - US Scientists
San Fransisco (US), December 17, 2007 - There is already enough carbon in Earth's atmosphere to ensure that sea levels will rise several feet (meters) in coming decades and summertime ice will vanish from the North Pole, scientists warned on Thursday.
To mitigate global warming's worst effects, including severe drought and flooding, people must not only cut current carbon emissions but also remove some carbon that has collected in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, they said.
www.planetark.org: Carbon Cuts a Must to Halt Warming - US Scientists

Acidic seas may kill 98% of world's reefs by 2050
London, December 16, 2007 - The majority of the world's coral reefs are in danger of being killed off by rising levels of greenhouse gases, scientists warn.
www.guardian.co.uk: Acidic seas may kill 98% of world's reefs by 2050

IEA urges bold steps to cut CO2 emissions
Berlin, December 16, 2007 - The head of the International Energy Agency urged world politicians to take bolder, if unpopular, action to curb CO2 emissions to fight climate change in an interview with a German magazine on Sunday.
www.reuters.com: IEA urges bold steps to cut CO2 emissions

Agreeing upon a timetable

Nusa Dua, December 15, 2007 - After a fortnight of often tortuous negotiations, and an additional day at the end, 190-odd countries have decided that a global agreement involving all countries is needed to tackle climate change. The “Bali roadmap”, named after the Indonesian island where the deal was struck, is a milestone of sorts.
Rich, middle-income and poor countries have acknowledged both the threat of a changing climate and the need for urgent action by all. Substantive negotiations will start within weeks to produce an international convention by the end of 2009 on exactly how countries will meet their “common but differentiated responsibilities” to fight climate change.
www.economist.com: Agreeing upon a timetable
Read more about the Bali conference

The Secret Life of Trees

Arial view of the Amazon forest near the city of Manaus. Click on the picture for full story by time.com.

Nusa Dua (Ind), December 14, 2007 - Think of carbon dioxide, the main gas that causes global warming, and you'll likely picture a polluting factory in China; neon lights in Tokyo, an SUV sitting in traffic on the freeways of Santa Monica. But while industry, electricity and transportation all add to the greenhouse effect, there's another villain less well known: our forests. Or, rather, the lack of them.
www.time.com: The Secret Life of Trees

Campaigner Geldof Calls for More Nuclear Power
London, (UK), December 14, 2007 - Anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof joined the global warming debate on Thursday with a call for the rapid expansion of nuclear power, describing renewable energy as a "Mickey Mouse" answer to the climate crisis.
www.planetark.com: Campaigner Geldof Calls for More Nuclear Power

Another warm year as Bali conference ends
Exeter, (UK), December 14, 2007 - The Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglia have today released preliminary global temperature figures for 2007, which show that the top 11 warmest years all occur in the last 13 years.
The provisional global figure, using data from January to November, currently places 2007 as the seventh warmest on record since 1850.
www.reuters.com: EU and U.S. trade charges of blocking Bali talks
www.cnn.com: Scientists take 2007's temperature
www.bbc.com: 2007 data confirms warming trend

2007: worst year for the environment
San Francisco, (CA/US), December 14, 2007 - As the politiicans in Bali debate how to deal with climate change, scientists on the other side of the world were reporting ever more devastating impacts from global warming.
www.timesonline.co.uk: 2007: worst year for the environment

'The biggest environmental crime in history'

London, December 10, 2007 - BP, the British oil giant that pledged to move "Beyond Petroleum" by finding cleaner ways to produce fossil fuels, is being accused of abandoning its "green sheen" by investing nearly £1.5bn to extract oil from the Canadian wilderness using methods which environmentalists say are part of the "biggest global warming crime" in history.
www.independent.co.uk: 'The biggest environmental crime in history'
www.independent.co.uk / Mike Hudema (Greenpeace): This project is a licence to wreak environmental havoc
oilsandstruth.org: Shut down the tar sands

UK's official CO2 figures an illusion - study
London, December 10, 2007 - Britain is responsible for hundreds of millions more tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions than official figures admit, according to a new report that undermines UK claims to lead the world on action against global warming.
www.guardian.co.uk: UK's official CO2 figures an illusion - study

Oil-Rich Nations Use More Energy, Cutting Exports
New York, December 9 2007 - The economies of many big oil-exporting countries are growing so fast that their need for energy within their borders is crimping how much they can sell abroad, adding new strains to the global oil market.
Experts say the sharp growth, if it continues, means several of the world’s most important suppliers may need to start importing oil within a decade to power all the new cars, houses and businesses they are buying and creating with their oil wealth.
www.nytimes.com: Oil-Rich Nations Use More Energy, Cutting Exports

Business runs out of green energy supply
London, December 9 2007 - Britain is running out of renewable energy as a surge in demand from businesses has outstripped electricity by wind farms, hydropower and waste gas burning.
www.guardian.co.uk: Business runs out of green energy supply

US plan to cut greenhouse gases by 70 per cent signals change of heart on climate change
London, December 9, 2007 - Key measures to tackle global warming have been approved in the US Congress, signalling the first crack in the granite face that the Bush administration has set against cutting the pollution that causes climate change.
www.independent.co.uk: US plan to cut greenhouse gases by 70 per cent signals change of heart on climate change

Global rallies: Act now on warming
London, December 8, 2007 - Skiers, fire-eaters and an ice sculptor joined in worldwide demonstrations Saturday to draw attention to climate change and push their governments to take stronger action to fight global warming.
www.cnn.com: Global rallies: Act now on warming

Sweden First, US almost Last, Says Study
Berlin, December 7, 2007 - A new report rates the climate-protection performance of 56 countries that account for 90 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. While Germany came in at second best, the US ranked second worst.
www.spiegel.de: Sweden First, US almost Last, Says Study

Report: World food prices to jump
Beijing, December 4 / 6, 2007 - Food prices are set to rise around the globe after years of decline, with climate change making it harder for the world's poorest to get adequate food, according to a report released Tuesday.
www.economist.com / Food: Cheap no more (Dec 6)
edition.cnn.com: Report: World food prices to jump
www.alertnet.org: Report: World food prices to jump
www.guardian.co.uk: Report: Riots and hunger feared as demand for grain sends food costs soaring

Germany Commits €3.3 Billion to Combat Climate Change
Berlin, December 6 2007 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet approved an ambitious €3.3 billion plan aimed at cutting Germany's greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020.
The cabinet approved a package of emissions reduction policies representing a 2008 commitment of €3.3 billion ($4.8 billion). Cabinet members say it is among the most ambitious national initiatives of its kind in the world.
www.spiegel.de: Germany Commits €3.3 Billion to Combat Climate Change

Biofuels - a solution worse than the problem?
London, December 6, 2007 - Are biofuels turning into the Frankenstein's monster of climate change? Will this apparently clever solution to the fossil fuel problem end up being worse that the original problem? I fear so. The check list of problems raised by the current boom in growing corn and palm oil, sugar cane and rape seed, for biofuels is growing impressively long.
It turns out that growing corn in the American Midwest takes about as much energy - for making fertilisers and processing the crop - as is saved by replacing petrol on the forecourt. And there is worse....
www.telegraph.co.uk: Biofuels - a solution worse than the problem?

MODIS: Net Primary Productivity of forest

Washington, December 5 2007 - Data from the MODIS aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites are helping scientists to routinely map the rate at which plant life on Earth absorbs carbon out of the atmosphere. Such maps effectively represent our planet's "carbon metabolism."
Called "Net Primary Productivity", these maps show where and how much carbon dioxide is taken in by vegetation during photosynthesis minus how much carbon dioxide is released when plants respire.
Such maps give a fascinating new insight into the intimate connection between the living world and the physical world. This image shows data the Terra satellite from between March 1, 2007 and April 1, 2007.
modis.gsfc.nasa.gov: MODIS Net Primary Productivity Product
Zie ook: news.bbc.co.uk / Amazon 'disappearing fast' (video)

U.N. hails U.S. Senate climate steps
Nusa Dua, (Bali) - The United Nations praised on Thursday a step by a U.S. Senate committee to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the world's top carbon emitter even as Washington reaffirmed opposition to caps.
www.reuters.com: U.N. hails U.S. Senate climate steps

Kyoto ignores millions of CO2 emissions from biofuels
Bali, December 5, 2007 - Annually, about 180 million tonnes carbon dioxide are emitted by just the drainage of peatsoils for palm oil production in Indonesia and Malaysia. The global NGO Wetlands International explains in its report “Kyoto biomass policies fuel climate change” how the Kyoto accounting rules support the use of biofuels like palm oil while ignoring the huge greenhouse gas emissions connected to the production of this biomass.
www.wetlands.org: Kyoto ignores millions of CO2 emissions from biofuels

Uganda plans to boost forest cover
Kampala, December 5 2007 - Uganda will plant millions of trees in the next four years at a cost of $253 million, as it tries to restore dwindling forest cover to 30 percent of its area from 22 percent, the government said on Wednesday.
www.reuters.com: Uganda plans to boost forest cover

Developing countries to cause 'climate crisis'
London, December 4 2007 - Carbon emissions from developing countries will result in a climate crisis within a generation, according to new research.
Within 20 years they will be producing more CO2 than the rich industrialised countries based mainly in the northern hemisphere.
And even if the 'North' - Europe, North America, the former Soviet Union (FSU) Japan, Australia and New Zealand - eliminated all its emissions immediately it wouldn't be enough to stop severe climate change.
The shock claims are made by the Centre for Global Development (CGD), an American independent, think tank that works to reduce global poverty and inequality. It says its research has been empirically reviewed.
>www.telegraph.co.uk: Developing countries to cause 'climate crisis'
>www.cgdev.org: Carbon-Intensive South Faces Climate Crisis, Even Without Greenhouse Gas from the North

What Is Progress?
London, December 4, 2007 - The numbers show that this should be the real question at the Bali talks. When you warn people about the dangers of climate change, they call you a saint. When you explain what needs to be done to stop it, they call you a communist. George Monbiot shows you why.
www.monbiot.com: What Is Progress?

Bangladesh cyclone damage much worse than thought: U.N.
Dhaka, December 4, 2007 - The United Nations said the humanitarian crisis caused by last month's cyclone in Bangladesh was much worse than previously thought, with more than two million people in need of immediate life-saving assistance.
www.reuters.com: Bangladesh cyclone damage much worse than thought: U.N.

Can We Save the World by 2015?

Washington, December 1 2007 - If international leaders were as united as the scientific community on climate change, warming might be a thing of the past. This year the UN's Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a series of reports that laid to rest any doubts that global warming is real — and outlined the frightening consequences of continued inaction. At the release of the IPCC's final summary last month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon — who has made climate change a top priority of his administration — laid out the threat in stark terms. "The world's scientists have spoken clearly, and with one voice," he said. "I expect the world's policymakers to act the same."
www.time.com: Can We Save the World by 2015?

50 years on: The Keeling Curve legacy

London, December 1 2007 - It is a scientific icon, which belongs, some claim, alongside E=mc2 and the double helix. Its name - the Keeling Curve - may be scarcely known outside scientific circles, but the jagged upward slope showing rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere has become one of the most famous graphs in science, and a potent symbol of our times.
news.bbc.co.uk: What's up with the climate conference in Bali?
co2conference.org: 50th Anniversary of the Global Carbon Dioxide Record

U.S. and EU propose trade plan to counter climate change
Washinton, November 30 2007 - The United States and European Union launched a proposal in world trade talks on Friday aimed at countering global climate change by removing barriers to trade to climate-friendly technologies.
www.reuters.com: U.S. and EU propose trade plan to counter climate change
www.guardian.co.uk: Global business leaders call for climate change pact

China wary on international climate goals
Beijng, November 30 2007 - Beijing is reluctant to set itself international targets to fight climate change without financial assistance from industrialized countries, a senior climate change official, Gao Guangsheng, said on Thursday.
www.reuters.com: China wary on international climate goals

Climate change, deforestation and the fate of the Amazon rainforest
London, November 29, 2007 - The Amazon rainforest is a crucial component of the Earth's system; one which faces the dual threats of climate change and deforestation. Now, scientists across a number of disciplines have joined together to assess these threats with their findings published today (Thursday) in Science. Climatologists, sociologists and ecologists have worked to explore the consequences for the forest ecosystem and its human population and outline future options.
www.metoffice.gov.uk: Climate change, deforestation and the fate of the Amazon rainforest

Cut carbon by up to third to save poor, UN tells west
London, November 28, 2007 - The human rights of the world's poorest people will be violated unless Britain and other developed countries accept the need for drastic and immediate steps to prevent global warming from triggering dangerous climate change, the United Nations warned last night.
www.guardian.co.uk: Cut carbon by up to third to save poor, UN tells west

World must fix climate in less than 10 years - UNDP
Brasilia, November 27, 2007 - Unless the international community agrees to cut carbon emissions by half over the next generation, climate change is likely to cause large-scale human and economic setbacks and irreversible ecological catastrophes, a U.N. report said on Tuesday.
www.alertnet.org: World must fix climate in less than 10 years
www.undp.org: Climate change threatens unprecedented human development reversals

Climate change to take heavy toll on Bangladesh

Dhaka, November 27, 2007 - Disaster-prone Bangladesh is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, which could worsen water scarcity and force mass displacement, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
www.reuters.com: Climate change to take heavy toll on Bangladesh

Businesses not preparing for climate change
London, November 27, 2007 - A survey at the CBI Annual Conference today has shown that 57% of businesses represented have no plans in place to meet the challenges of climate change.
www.metoffice.gov.uk: Businesses not preparing for climate change

Six Degrees...
London, November 25, 2007 - "Alarmism" is a term that gets bandied about a lot. It is often said that one should not call out "fire" in a crowded building. But it really depends, one might say, on whether the "calling out" is done in such a way as to simultaneously prevent a stampede and prevent anyone getting burned.
www.realclimate.org: Review of Mark Lynas's "Six degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet"

The horse: Is this the secret weapon to beat global warming?
London, November 25, 2007 - The French are mounting a transport revolution led by the humble horse, using it in more than 70 towns to pull schoolbuses and to collect refuse.
environment.independent.co.uk / The horse: Is this the secret weapon to beat global warming?

Chocolate-powered truck heads for Timbuktu
London, November 25, 2007 - Two British adventurers are preparing to set off on an expedition to west Africa in a lorry powered by biodiesel made from waste chocolate.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Chocolate-powered truck heads for Timbuktu

Weather disasters 'getting worse'
London, November 25, 2007 - The number of weather-related disasters has quadrupled over the past 20 years and the world should do more to prepare for them, the aid agency Oxfam says.
www.reuters.com: Weather disasters 'getting worse'

Three Eras of Climate Change and the Emergence of Concern for Global Justice
Pennsylvania, (US) November 24, 2007 - Climate change as a global challenge has evolved through a series of stages in the last few decades. We are now all on the brink of a new era that will see the terms of debate shift once again.
climateethics.org: the Emergence of Concern for Global Justice

Commonwealth fails to back climate targets
Kampala, November 24, 2007 - The Commonwealth said climate change threatened the existence of small island members faced with rising sea levels but it failed to back binding targets on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
www.reuters.com: Commonwealth fails to back climate targets
news.bbc.co.uk: Commonwealth fails to back climate targets

Rich nations fail to honour climate pledge
London, November 24, 2007 - A group of rich countries including Britain has broken a promise to pay more than a billion dollars to help the developing world cope with the effects of climate change. The group agreed in 2001 to pay $1.2bn (£600m) to help poor and vulnerable countries predict and plan for the effects of global warming, as well as fund flood defences, conservation and thousands of other projects. But new figures show less than £90m of the promised money has been delivered.
www.guardian.co.uk: Rich nations fail to honour climate pledge

The biofuel that spells annihilation for Indonesia's wilderness
Kalimantan, November 24, 2007 - Elderly ethnic Dayak farmer Hussin sits on the raised timber floor of his home, a shack on 6ha of mixed forest, itself nestled in thousands of hectares of oil palm plantation. Hussin ("I'm probably 65 or 70, I'd say") and his wife, Barnian, are holdouts against the relentless march of Indonesia's new boom crop: they settled their little plot in Central Kalimantan just before the surrounding forest's annihilation a year ago.
Each year, Indonesia loses an estimated two million of its 90 million hectares of rainforest, much of it to palm oil developments in Kalimantan, Sumatra, Riau, Sulawesi and Papua. While official policy is to only allow new plantations on the vast stretches of already degraded forest land from earlier timber booms, in reality it's far cheaper to convert virgin rainforest for the extra profit the timber attracts, which then helps defray the cost of starting oil palm crops.
www.theaustralian.news.com.au: The biofuel that spells annihilation for Indonesia's wilderness

Biologists Debate Relocating Imperiled Species
Hamburg, November 23, 2007 - As global warming changes the face of habitats around the world, scientists are asking if humans can help save species from extinction by moving them to cooler climes. But before polar bear resettlement and tiger transports begin, is it time to take a look at easier alternatives?
www.spiegel.de: Biologists Debate Relocating Imperiled Species

Evolution Impact Key to Save Fish Stocks
Vienna, November 23, 2007 - Industrial-scale fisheries have not only sapped the world's fish stocks but also changed the species' evolutionary course, exacerbating the effect of overfishing by producing smaller and less fertile fish.
www.planetark.com: Evolution Impact Key to Save Fish Stocks

U.N.: Greenhouse Gases Hit High in 2006
GENEVA (CH), November 23 2007 — Two of the most important Greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere reached a record high in 2006, and measurements show that one — carbon dioxide — is playing an increasingly important role in global warming, the U.N. weather agency said Friday.
The global average concentrations of carbon dioxide, or CO2, and nitrous oxide, or N2O, in the atmosphere were higher than ever in measurements coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization, said Geir Braathen, a climate specialist at the Geneva-based agency.
ap.google.com: U.N.: Greenhouse Gases Hit High in 2006
www.reuters.com: Carbon dioxide at record high, stoking warming-WMO

Germany: Europe's CO2 Capital Clings to Power Plants That Put It on Map
Grevenbroich, (DE) November 23, 2007 - Mayor Axel Pruemm makes no apologies for his town -- the biggest source of greenhouse gases in Europe. The area near Grevenbroich, Germany's self-proclaimed ``capital of energy,'' boasts 27 lignite-fired boilers at three generating stations. The plants and mines that feed them bring jobs and corporate sponsorship. They're also responsible for the largest concentration of carbon dioxide emissions in Europe, thrusting the town to the forefront of the climate-change debate.
www.planetark.com: Germany: Europe's CO2 Capital Clings to Power Plants That Put It on Map

China Wants Rich Nations to Take Lead in Climate Talks
Beijing, November 23, 2007 - China wants next month's international talks on global warming to focus on future greenhouse gas cuts by rich countries and moving more "clean" technology to poor countries, an official said on Thursday.
www.planetark.com: China Wants Rich Nations to Take Lead in Climate Talks
www.usatoday.com / China: Global warming a burden for developed countries

Brussels pushes for energy efficient technology to meet green goals
Brussels, November 22, 2007 - The European Commission on Thursday announced plans to speed up energy technology developments amid fears that the EU will not be able to meet its ambitious climate change targets announced earlier this year.
euobserver.com: Brussels pushes for energy efficient technology to meet green goals

UN climate panel co-head pessimistic about progress in Bali
Hyderabad, (India) November 22, 2007 - The co-head of the UN climate-change panel that shared this year's Nobel Peace Prize said Thursday he was pessimistic about progress at next month's global environmental summit in Bali. The world may have to wait until the Copenhagen summit two years later before governments summon the political will to budge, said Martin Parry, co-chair of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
afp.google.com: UN climate panel co-head pessimistic about progress in Bali

Apocalyptic vision of a post-fossil fuel world
London, November 22, 2007 - Richard Heinberg, one of the world's leading experts on oil reserves, warned that the lives of billions of people were threatened by a food crisis caused by our dependence on dwindling supplies of fossil fuels. Higher oil prices, the loss of farmland to biofuel crops, climate change and the loss of natural resources would combine with population growth to create an unprecedented food shortage, he claimed.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Apocalyptic vision of a post-fossil fuel world
afp.google.com: Scientists warn of agrarian crisis from climate change

History shows climate changes led to famine and war
Hong Kong, November 22, 2007 - Global warming is one of the most significant threats facing humankind, researchers warned, as they unveiled a study showing how climate changes in the past led to famine, wars and population declines.
www.reuters.com: History shows climate changes led to famine and war

Big-Eye Tuna Stocks Near Collapse, Report Warns
Geneva, (CH) November 21, 2007 - Worldwide stocks of bigeye tuna, a prime source for Japanese restaurants serving sushi and sashimi around the world, are on the verge of collapse from overfishing, a report released on Wednesday said.
www.independent.co.uk: Big-Eye Tuna Stocks Near Collapse, Report Warns

Revitalising the natural environment: The return of the real Rheingold
London, November 21, 2007 - In the 17th century, Atlantic salmon were a source of food and wealth for towns and villages all along the river Rhine, from the North Sea to the Alps. Then they disappeared. Now plans to reintroduce the species could be ruined by an ecological and financial battle being waged by politicians on opposite sides of the river.
www.independent.co.uk: The return of the real Rheingold

Cod fishing - Britain to demand higher quotas
London, November 20, 2007 - Britain will demand the right to catch more cod after the fishing industry warned that EU quotas are forcing crews to dump thousands of tons of dead fish into the sea.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Britain to demand higher quotas

Indonesia pins hopes on forests at Bali meeting
Jakarta, November 20 2007, - For years, Indonesia has made money by chopping down its forests. Now it wants to earn billions by preserving what is left.
The huge archipelago, with about 10 percent of the world's tropical rainforests, is pinning its hopes on next month's U.N. climate talks in Bali.
www.reuters.com: Indonesia pins hopes on forests at Bali meeting

Climate Report Revives "Dangerous" Change Dispute
Oslo, (No), November 20, 2007 - Governments have promised to try to avert "dangerous" climate change expected to bring about rising seas, droughts and floods, but have yet to agree on a common definition of where the danger starts.
news.planetark.com: Climate Report Revives "Dangerous" Change Dispute

Brown sets tough targets for reducing carbon
London, (UK), November 20, 2007 - UK's Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been told by cabinet ministers and business advisers that he may have to impose new carbon taxes if he is to meet his ambitious targets to cut UK carbon emissions by as much as 80% by 2050.
In his first environment speech as prime minister, Brown warned that climate change science predictions are now so alarming that the current standard, of attempting to cut emissions by 60%, may not be enough.
news.bbc.co.uk: PM outlines climate action plan
www.guardian.co.uk: Brown sets tough targets for reducing carbon
news.independent.co.uk: Brown sets out vision for global low-carbon economy

Brown pledges to banish the plastic bag from Britain
London, (UK), November 20, 2007 - Gordon Brown announced he was backing the campaign to eliminate wasteful plastic bags in a wide-ranging speech setting ambitious climate-change targets for Britain.
The Prime Minister said he was calling a forum of supermarkets, the British Retail Consortium and other groups urgently to assess how they could end the use of disposable bags.
news.independent.co.uk: Brown pledges to banish the plastic bag from Britain

Met Office welcomes Prime Minister's environmental speech
Exeter / London, (UK), November 19, 2007 - Following the publication of the Climate Change Bill and the release of the UN's IPCC Synthesis report on Saturday, the Met Office welcomes the Prime Minister's announcement that he plans to increase the UK target for reducing CO2 emissions.
John Hirst, Met Office Chief Executive, said: "The Prime Minister's pledge to reduce emissions by 60% by 2050 is welcome news to all of us. The Met Office has provided evidence that climate change is both unavoidable and significant. There is no doubt that we need to take steps to mitigate the established trends and also adapt to impacts that are already inevitable."
www.metoffice.gov.uk: Met Office welcomes Prime Minister's environmental speech
www.number10.gov.uk: The Prime Minister's (UK) environmental speech

Go for the big emitters - rich individuals
London, (UK), November 19, 2007 - Who is the world's number one climate villain? Usually we think about the emitters of planet-heating gases in terms of nations: Brits bad, Africans still good, Chinese getting worse, Americans beyond the pale. But the truth is that nations don't emit CO2, individuals do.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Go for the big emitters - rich individuals

'Frightening' UN Climate Report May Be Too Optimistic
Frankfurt, (DE), November 19, 2007 - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called the latest climate report "as frightening as a science-fiction movie." However, the IPCC report may already be out of date and the true situation could be even more serious than previously thought.
www.spiegel.de: 'Frightening' UN Climate Report May Be Too Optimistic

Powering up for a hydrogen economy
London, (UK), November 19, 2007 - Sooner or later the world is going to have to make the switch away from fossil fuels, says Keith Guy. In this week's Green Room, he explains what needs to be done to make the vision of a global hydrogen economy a reality.
news.bbc.co.uk: Powering up for a hydrogen economy

Facing a Threat to Farming and Food Supply
Washington, (US), November 19, 2007 - Climate change may be global in its sweep, but not all of the globe's citizens will share equally in its woes. And nowhere is that truth more evident, or more worrisome, than in its projected effects on agriculture.
www.washingtonpost.com: Facing a Threat to Farming and Food Supply

China banks on hydropower to cut emissions, but at huge human cost
Jianmin, (China), November 18 2007 - Last year, Chinese officials celebrated the completion of the Three Gorges Dam by releasing a list of 10 world records: The Three Gorges is the world's biggest dam, biggest power plant and biggest consumer of dirt, stone, concrete and steel. Ever. Even the project's official tally of 1.13 million displaced people made the list as record No. 10.
www.iht.com: China banks on hydropower to cut emissions, but at huge human cost

A Last Warning on Global Warming
Valencia, (Spain), November 17, 2007 - The language of science, like that of the United Nations, is by nature cautious and measured. That makes the dire tone of the just-released final report from the fourth assessment of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a network of thousands of international scientists, all the more striking.
Global warming is "unequivocal." Climate change will bring "abrupt and irreversible changes." The report, a synthesis for politicians culled from three other IPCC panels convened throughout the year, read like what it is: a final warning to humanity.
"Today the world's scientists have spoken clearly, and with one voice," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, who attended the publication of the report in Valencia, Spain. Climate change "is the defining challenge of our age."
www.time.com: A Last Warning on Global Warming

UN scientists urge carbon tax to fight global warming

Valencia (Spain) November 17, 2007 -
All sources of carbon pollution - from flights to inefficient light bulbs - must become more expensive if the world is to tackle global warming, an influential panel of scientists and government officials will say today. Temperatures may rise 6C by 2100, says the IPCC that also emphasises that the report marks efforts to find a post-Kyoto consensus.
www.guardian.co.uk: UN scientists urge carbon tax to fight global warming

UN challenges states on warming
New York, November 17, 2007 - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has challenged governments to act on the findings of a major new report on climate change.
news.bbc.co.uk: UN challenges states on warming

Tackling the fossil fuel juggernaut
Valencia, November 17, 2007 - So here, as Australians say, is "the big ask". You have a global economy that depends on fossil fuel use. Our economies grow primarily by increasing fossil fuel use, particularly coal, the most polluting form. And you have a decade to turn it around without letting economic growth slide away.
This, in a nutshell, is the challenge set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) synthesis of its 2007 global assessment.
news.bbc.co.uk: Tackling the fossil fuel juggernaut

'Amazon and Antarctic are being destroyed'
Valencia (Spain) November 17 2007 - The world's natural treasures are being lost to climate change and urgent international action is needed to save them, world leaders were told yesterday as a landmark report on global warming was published. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said rising sea levels this century were already "unavoidable", threatening more flooding, coastal erosion and misery for millions of people.
www.telegraph.co.uk: www.telegraph.co.uk

UN says new report to spur climate change action

A summary of the most important conclusions. Click on the graphic for a larger image

Valencia (Spain) November 17, 2007 - Governments must do more to fight global warming, spurred by a new U.N. scientific report and damage to nature that is already as frightening as science fiction, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday.
"This report will be formally presented to the (U.N. Climate Change) Conference in Bali," Ban Ki-Moon told delegates from more than 130 nations in Valencia and praised them for agreeing an authoritative guide to the risks of climate change on Friday.
"Already, it has set the stage for a real breakthrough -- an agreement to launch negotiations for a comprehensive climate change deal that all nations can embrace," he said.
www.alertnet.org: UN says new report to spur climate change action
www.ipcc.ch: Summary for policymakers

Climate change getting worse: 'abrupt and irreversible' consequences

Valencia, (UK) November 17, 2007 - A panel of the United Nations' leading scientists is to warn that climate change could have "abrupt and irreversible" consequences, in a landmark document designed to force action from member states on the issue. UN experts claim that climate change is causing retreating glaciers as well as thinning Arctic summer sea ice.
The Times has learnt that IPCC delegates – made up of some of the world's most eminent scientists – agreed on a text this morning after all-night negotiations in Valencia, in which it was decided that "tough wording" would be needed.
As a result, the text of the draft report, which is due to be officially released tomorrow by Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, will caution that human activity could lead to "abrupt and irreversible" changes in our climate unless action is taken.
The United Nations' top climate change official warned that the world was in "deep trouble" if it failed to reach agreement at next month's UN ministerial conference in Bali.
"If things go wrong in Bali, we really are in deep trouble in the sense we have this very clear message from the scientific community now.
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN framework convention on climate change, said governments were well behind business in preparing for the challenges ahead.
www.reuters.com: Marathon talks bring UN climate change deal close
www.reuters.com: UN climate change talks 'close to deal'
www.guardian.co.uk: UN scientists urge carbon tax to fight global warming
www.guardian.co.uk: Act now on climate change, says UN official
www.cnn.com: Climate change 'getting worse'
www.timesonline.co.uk: UN: climate change will have 'abrupt and irreversible' consequences
news.bbc.co.uk: IPCC to warn of 'abrupt' warming

After the Oil Crisis, a Food Crisis?
London (UK) November 16, 2007 - Is the world headed for a food crisis? India, Mexico and Yemen have seen food riots this year. Argentines boycotted tomatoes during the country's recent presidential elections when the vegetable became more expensive than meat; and in Italy, shoppers organized a one-day boycott of pasta to protest rising prices. In late October, the Russian government, hoping to ease tensions ahead of parliamentary elections early next year, announced a price freeze for milk, bread and other foods through the end of January.
www.time.com: After the Oil Crisis, a Food Crisis?

Climate Change: The heat is on

London (UK), November 16, 2007 - At December's climate-change meeting, everyone can agree on one thing: it is make-or-break time. Next month's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, is charged with drawing up a clear and convincing road map that will lead to a robust international climate-change agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. That is a momentous challenge but, given the right approach from participants, not an insurmountable one.
www.nature: The heat is on
www.nature: Climate politics: Showdown in a sunburnt country
www.nature: Climate politics: Beyond Bush
www.nature: Climate politics: The First Cut

U.N. climate talks agree on blueprint for action
Valencia (Spain), November 16, 2007 - A U.N. climate conference agreed on Friday on a blueprint for fighting global warming and said governments have only a few years to avert some of the worst impacts.
Delegates at the 130-nation talks stood and applauded after chairman Rajendra Pachauri brought down the gavel on the November 12-17 meeting in Valencia, Spain, that wraps up six years of work on the most authoritative review of climate science.
www.reuters.com: U.N. climate talks agree on blueprint for action

Primary Rain Forest Is Irreplaceable
East Anglia, (UK), November 16, 2007 - As world leaders prepare to discuss conservation-friendly carbon credits in Bali and a regional initiative threatens a new wave of deforestation in the South American tropics, new research from the University of East Anglia and Brazil's Goeldi Museum highlights once again the irreplaceable importance of primary rain forest.
www.terradaily.com: Primary Rain Forest Is Irreplaceable

Mediterranean Sea: most dangerous place on Earth for sharks and rays

London, (UK) November 16 2007 - More than 40 per cent of sharks and rays in the Mediterranean are threatened with extinction, according to a new report. The sea has the highest percentage of threatened sharks and rays in the world, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) says.
www.iucn.org: Mediterranean Sea: most dangerous place on Earth for sharks and rays

US Climate Bill Seen as Sign of Political Shift
Washington, (USA) November 15, 2007 - A milestone, a landmark and "the political center of gravity is finally shifting on global warming."
www.planetark.com: US Climate Bill Seen as Sign of Political Shift

Severe Cyclone Sidr hurtles towards Bangladesh
London (UK) / Calcutta (India), November 15, 2007 - Sidr continued to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm on Thursday morning, speeding across the northern Bay of Bengal towards Bangladesh and northeast India.
www.bbc.co.uk: Severe Cyclone Sidr hurtles towards Bangladesh

Climate Change Ups War Risk in Many States
London, (UK) November 12 / 14, 2007 - Climate change will put half the world's countries at risk of conflict or serious political instability, a report said on Tuesday, making the world more unstable unless nations and communities consider problems now.
www.planetark.com: Climate Change Ups War Risk in Many States

Rising sea levels and mass extinction of species under discussion for climate change report
Valencia, (Spain) November 12 / 14, 2007 - The IPCC, a U.N. panel, is examining the threat of irreversible rising sea levels and the mass extinction of species caused by climate change, as delegates draft a document laying the scientific groundwork for talks on a new regime to control carbon emissions, participants said Tuesday.
www.iht.com: Rising sea levels and mass extinction of species under discussion for climate change report
news.google.com: All the news by Google

China 'will agree to cut its carbon emissions'
Beijng / London, 13 November 2007 - China, now the world's biggest greenhouse-gas emitter, will eventually agree to cut its soaring carbon dioxide emissions, one of the country's leading environmentalists forecast yesterday – but only on the basis of a deal with the United States and the rest of the developed world.
news.independent.co.uk: China 'will agree to cut its carbon emissions'

Seventy-five percent of bear species threatened with extinction
Gland (CH), 13 November 2007 - Six out of the world’s eight species of bears are threatened with extinction, according to recent assessments by the IUCN Bear and Polar Bear Specialist Groups. Asia and South America are revealed as the areas most in need of urgent conservation action.
www.iucn.org: Seventy-five percent of bear species threatened with extinction
www.nationalgeographic.com: Most Endangered Bears Ranked

Top U.N. Official Warns Against Inaction on Climate
Valencia, November 12, 2007 - The United Nations' top climate official on Monday warned scientists and government officials from some 130 countries that failure to act on climate change while there was time would be "criminally irresponsible."
Addressing the U.N.'s climate panel, joint winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, said the message to world leaders was clear.
www.enn.com: Top U.N. Official Warns Against Inaction on Climate

Barreling Ahead: Energy demand, greenhouse-gas emissions expected to soar, says report
London, November 8 2007 - The International Energy Agency has released its annual World Energy Outlook, and it's fair to say that the outlook is not good. World energy demand is projected to surge by 55 percent by 2030, with China and India accounting for nearly half of that increase and China overtaking the U.S. as the globe's primary energy glutton.
Think today's oil, hovering near $100 a barrel, is spendy? That's nothin', says the IEA, which predicts the price of crude could reach $159 by 2030. The IEA also expects a 73 percent jump in demand for coal by 2030.
Relatedly, it predicts that greenhouse-gas emissions will be 25 percent higher in 2030 than they are now, barring "exceptionally vigorous policy action by all countries."
Says IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol: "I am sorry to say this, but we are headed toward really bad days." (adapted from www.grist.com)
[The International Energy Agency painted a tough energy outlook for coming years, with tightening oil supplies and a surge in global-warming emissions as China and India burn more coal to power their booming economies.
The industrialized world's energy watchdog also predicted fast-growing China will displace the U.S. as both the world's biggest polluter this year and the largest energy consumer by 2010, based on current trends.
The Paris group, in its annual forecast, said a number of factors, including the cost of oil, will contribute to a boom in coal.]
www.guardian.co.uk: Energy outlook puts China in pole position
www.washingtonpost.com: More on the International Energy Agency
www.iea.org: The Next 10 Years are Critical - the World Energy Outlook Makes the Case for Stepping up Co-operation with China and India to Address Global Energy Challenges
www.washingtonpost.com: More on the International Energy Agency

Booming palm oil demand fuelling climate crisis

Foreground: Burned and removed forest in the Kaula Cenasku area, province Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia. (Photo: courtesy of Greenpeace)

London, November 8 2007 - Booming world demand for palm oil from Indonesia for food and biofuels is posing multiple threats to the environment as forests are being cleared, peat wetlands exposed and carbon released, a report said on Thursday.
www.reuters.com: Booming palm oil demand fuelling climate crisis
www.telegraph.co.uk: Need for cheap palm oil drives deforestation
www.telegraph.co.uk: www.guardian.co.uk: Big food companies accused of risking climate catastrophe
www.greenpeace.org / Palm oil: Cooking the Climate
www.greenpeace.org: Indonesian forest destruction dammed

WWF: "Immediate Ban Needed to Save Bluefin Tuna"

Antalya, (Turkey), November 7 2007 - WWF and other groups are calling for an immediate ban of Atlantic bluefin tuna fishing in the Eastern and Western Atlantic, stressing the need for a sustainable recovery plan to prevent the collapse of the bluefin tuna population.
www.worldwildlife.org: WWF: Immediate Ban Needed to Save Bluefin Tuna"

The sun as savior / Stopping climate change in the Middle East:ways out of an unfolding catastrophe
Beirut, November 5, 2007 - The way the energy-dependent global economy is ticking today is anything but sustainable because it is based on massively burning fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal. The result is a dramatic increase of climate damaging carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions. The consequences of climate change will have a dramatic impact on the Middle East and the Mediterranean region. Most Arab leaders ignore the issue of climate change despite the fact that denial will lead to their societies paying a high price in the future. And this price will be paid with lots of money and many human lives.
dailystar.com.lb: The sun as savior Stopping climate change in the Middle East:ways out of an unfolding catastrophe

The Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change

Washington, November 5, 2007 - In August 2007, a Russian adventurer descended 4,300 meters under the thinning ice of th North Pole to plant a titanium flag, claiming some 1.2 million square kilometers of the Arctic for mother Russia.
Not to be outdone, the Prime Minister of Canada stated his intention to boost his nation’s military presence in the Arctic, with the stakes raised by the recent discovery that the icy Northwest Passage has become navigable for the first time in recorded history.
Across the globe, the spreading desertification in the Darfur region has been compounding the tensions between nomadic herders and agrarian farmers, providing the environmental backdrop for genocide.
In Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, the risk of coastal flooding is growing and could leave some 30 million people searching for higher ground in a nation already plagued by political violence and a growing trend toward Islamist extremism. Neighboring India is already building a wall along its border with Bangladesh.
More hopefully, the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a clear recognition that global warming poses not only environmental hazards but profound risks to planetary peace and stability as well.
www.csis.org: The Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change
www.csis.org: The Age of Consequences, (full report in pdf)
www.cnas.org: The Age of Consequences, (brochure + synopsis)
www.cnas.org / National Journal: The Hot New Security Problem
www.cnas.org / AP: Climate change is one of history's the greatest security challenges, says think tank study
www.reuters.com: Experts say climate change threatens national security

Most ready for 'green sacrifices'
London, November 5, 2007 - Most people say they are ready to make personal sacrifices to address climate change, according to a BBC poll of 22,000 people in 21 countries.
Four out of five people say they are prepared to change their lifestyle, even in the US and China, the world's two biggest emitters of carbon dioxide.
news.bbc.co.uk: Most ready for 'green sacrifices'
www.reuters.com: Most would pay higher bills to help climate

Earth's Temperature Tracker

Washington, November 5 2007 - NASA scientist and Goddard Institute for Space Studies director James Hansen has tracked Earth's temperature for decades.
He is confident the global warming trend of 0.9 degrees Celsius observed since 1880 is mainly the result of human-produced greenhouse gases.
earthobservatory.nasa.gov: Earth's Temperature Tracker

Cloning could save ancient redwoods
San Francisco, November 3, 2007 - An arborist on a mission to preserve and restore Northern California's towering redwoods has begun taking cuttings that he hopes can be used to make genetic clones of the ancient trees.
edition.cnn.com: Cloning could save ancient redwoods

One in Three European Freshwater Fish Face Extinction Geneva, November 2, 2007 - More than a third of Europe's freshwater fish species are at risk of extinction, according to new data released this week by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).
news.nationalgeographic.com: One in Three European Freshwater Fish Face Extinction

Bill Clinton: "Green" economy offers great rewards
Seattle, November 2, 2007 - The shift to a green economy is the biggest economic opportunity facing the United States since the military buildup to World War Two, former President Bill Clinton said on Thursday.
www.reuters.com: Bill Clinton: "Green" economy offers great rewards

The icy road to Bali
Santiago, November 1, 2007 - The UN's quiet new boss is hoping that his eco-tour of the southern hemisphere will concentrate minds on the planet's travails.
www.economist.com: The icy road to Bali

Biofuel rush harmful, Oxfam warns
London, November 1, 2007 - The rush for biofuels could harm the world's poorest people, Oxfam has said. In a new report, the UK aid charity appears to be joining a growing chorus of concern about the side-effects of Europe's drive to get fuel from plants.
The European Union wants to cut the CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels and has demanded that 10% of all transport fuels should come from plants by 2020.
But Oxfam warns poor farmers risk being forced off their land as industrial farmers cash in on the biofuel bonanza.
news.bbc.co.uk: Biofuel rush harmful, Oxfam warns

From Conservation to Population, a New Look at Planet Earth
October 30, 2007 - In just a few decades the world’s population will hit nine billion, leading to the essential question: Can this many humans survive and try to improve their lives without depleting the planet?
Andrew C. Revkin, a science reporter for The New York Times, has been thinking about the elusive goal of “sustainability” for more than 25 years. In a new blog, Dot Earth, he gathers news, interviews with experts and Times correspondents, word of successful programs and accounts of his quest for sustainability from suburbia to Siberia.
www.nytimes.com: From Conservation to Population, a New Look at Planet Earth

Pollution blamed as China confronts surge in number of deformed babies
Beijing October 30, 2007 - An alarming rise in birth defects was acknowledged by China yesterday, amid concern that heavy pollution is damaging the country’s children.
Babies born with conditions such as cleft palates and extra fingers and toes now account for up to 6 per cent of births each year, according to statistics published yesterday. And the number of babies born with disabilities has increased by 40 per cent since 2001 – a period that has coincided with China’s meteoric economic growth – to between two and three million a year. Up to 12 million more develop defects in childhood.
www.timesonline.co.uk: Pollution blamed as China confronts surge in number of deformed babies

UN report: "World not meeting climate challenge"
30 October 2007 - The world's response to environmental challenges such as climate change has been "woefully inadequate".
That is the sobering conclusion of a major new United Nations report prepared by almost 400 scientists.
www.edie.net / UN report: "World not meeting climate challenge"

It's too late for greenhouse gas cuts, says scientist
London, October 29 2007 - Cutting greenhouse gases and switching to sustainable development are unlikely to prevent disasters caused by climate change, one of the world's most respected environmentalists warns today.
www.timesonline.co.uk: Pollution blamed as China confronts surge in number of deformed babies

Oil bigger threat than climate change in 10 years
London, October 26 2007 - Rising oil prices are a bigger threat to the world economy than climate change in the next 10 years - that was the surprising verdict of company executives from carbon trading, fuel cell, oil exploration and solar power firms who attended the Reuters Smaller Companies Forum.
uk.reuters.com: Oil bigger threat than climate change in 10 years

U.N. report says world environment doing quite poorly
Reports of the World's Health Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

New York, October 26 2007 - Just in case you thought the world's environment might be doing well, the United Nations Environment Program released a comprehensive 550-page, 5-year report this week declaring that things are officially not OK, environment-wise.
The UNEP's Global Environmental Outlook attempted to strike that rare balance between cataloguing the world's substantial eco-ills without making the situation seem as truly grim and overwhelming and monumentally depressing as it is.
The report said that population growth, unsustainable patterns of consumption, species extinction, water crises, overfishing, and of course climate change are important environmental stressors that are severely messing with the Earth and putting humanity at risk too.
UNEP called for world reductions of greenhouse gases of 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, with developed nations slashing emissions 60 to 80 percent. "The need couldn't be more urgent and the time couldn't be more opportune, with our enhanced understanding of the challenges we face, to act now to safeguard our own survival and that of future generations," the report said.
Source: www.grist.org
www.sciam.com: The world is not enough for humans
www.guardian.co.uk: UN report bemoans lack of urgency by governments
www.unep.org: Planet's Tougher Problems Persist, UN Report Warns

Climate Change's Uncertainty Principle
Washington, England, October 25 2007 - Scientists say they can never be sure exactly how extreme global warming might become, but that's no excuse for delaying action. Because small changes in things like snow cover or greenhouse gas concentrations lead to big climate effects, scientists will never be certain how bad global warming could be.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its first report in 1990 predicted that temperatures would warm by 0.5 degree Fahrenheit (0.3 degree Celsius) per decade if no efforts were made to restrain greenhouse gas emissions. But the panel of scientists and other experts was wrong: By 2001, the group estimated that average temperatures would increase by 2.7 to 8.1 degrees F (1.5 to 4.5 degrees C) in the 21st century, and they raised the lower end to 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) this year in their most recent report. In essence, neither this international team of experts nor any other can say with any certainty just how bad global warming may get.
www.sciam.com: Climate Change's Uncertainty Principle

Report: 'World at peak oil output'
LONDON, England, October 25 2007 - The world has reached the point of maximum oil output and production levels will halve by 2030, a situation that will eventually lead to war and disaster, a report claims.
The German-based Energy Watch Group released a report Tuesday saying the world's oil production peaked in 2006 and from now on will drop by around 3 percent a year. It says that by as early as 2030, the global availability of oil will be half of what it was at its peak.
edition.cnn.com / Report: 'World at peak oil output'

Scientists say Kyoto protocol is 'outdated failure'
London, England, October 25 2007 - The international effort to curb man-made emissions of greenhouse gases – as enshrined in the Kyoto protocol – is a miserable failure that needs to be swept away and replaced, according to a new report.
environment.independent.co.uk: 'Kyoto protocol is 'outdated failure'
www.planetark.com: Drop Kyoto, Raise Climate Research, Two Experts Say

Global over-population is the real issue
London, England, October 25 2007 - It is a tragic measure of how far the world has changed — and the infinite capacity of modern man for taking offence — that there are no two subjects that can get you more swiftly into political trouble than motherhood and apple pie.
www.telegraph.co.uk: 'Global over-population is the real issue'

Flown-in organic food rule change
London, England, October 25 2007 - Food flown into the UK will be stripped of its organic status unless it meets new stricter ethical standards, the Soil Association has warned.
news.bbc.co.uk: Flown-in organic food rule change

Gore Says 2007 Pivotal Year in Climate Change Fight
Berlin, (DE), October 24 2007 - Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore said on Tuesday he was optimistic future generations would look back at 2007 as the pivotal year when the world finally found the courage to fight together against climate change.
www.planetark.com: Gore Says 2007 Pivotal Year in Climate Change Fight

Global Warming Could Wipe Out Most Species - Study
London, October 24, 2007 - Rising temperatures could wipe out more than half of the earth's species in the next few centuries, according to researchers who published a study on Wednesday linking climate change to past mass extinctions.
www.planetark.com: Global Warming Could Wipe Out Most Species - Study

Climate change 'extinctions' warning
London, October 24, 2007 - Predicted levels of global warming could trigger a "mass extinction event" like the one which wiped out the dinosaurs, new research suggests.
Such a disaster would not necessarily mean the end of humanity, but it could kill off more than half of all the animal and plant species on Earth.
www.guardian.co.uk: Climate change 'extinctions' warning
www.guardian.co.uk: Warming could wipe out half of all species
ap.google.com: Extinctions Linked to Hotter Temperatures

Carbon output rising faster than forecast, says study

Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning has risen by an average 2.9% each year since 2000. During the 1990s the annual rise was 0.7%. For more explanation see the full article on www.pnas.org. (Click on the graph)

London, October 23 2007 - Scientists warned last night that global warming will be "stronger than expected and sooner than expected", after a new analysis showed carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere much faster than predicted.
Experts said that the rise was down to soaring economic development in China, and a reduction in the amount of carbon pollution soaked up by the world's land and oceans. It also means human emissions will have to be cut more sharply than predicted to avoid the likely effects.
www.bloomberg.com: Carbon Dioxide Levels Rising Faster Than Predicted
www.guardian.co.uk: Carbon output rising faster than forecast
www.globalcarbonproject.org: Accelerating Atmospheric CO2
www.csiro.au: Decline in uptake of carbon emissions confirmed
www.pnas.org: Global and regional drivers of accelerating CO2 emissions

Steep decline in oil production brings risk of war and unrest, says new study
London, October 22, 2007 - World oil production has already peaked and will fall by half as soon as 2030, according to a report which also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown.
www.guardian.co.uk: Steep decline in oil production brings risk of war and unrest, says new study

The Tar Sands and Canada's Food System
London, October 22, 2007 - North American agriculture is deeply dependent on natural gas. Nitrogen fertilizer is chemically produced using a process that -- currently -- cannot be conducted efficiently without large amounts of natural gas. This fertilizer, in turn, is an essential nutrient in North America's food production system. "In a fairly direct way," says Darrin Qualman, Director of Research at the National Farmers Union, "natural gas is a primary feedstock for our food supply." While "peak oil," the point at which global production of oil begins to decline, is subject to speculation, natural gas peaked in North America in 2003. Since then, more wells have been added, but production has declined slowly, while prices have increased sharply.
www.dominionpaper.ca: The Tar Sands and Canada's Food System

Sweatin’ the Mediterranean Heat
London, October 22, 2007 - This quote from Drew Shindell (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York) hit me very close to home: "Much of the Mediterranean area, North Africa and the Middle East rapidly are becoming drier. If the trend continues as expected, the consequences may be severe in only a couple of decades. These changes could pose significant water resource challenges to large segments of the population" (February, 2007-NASA, Science Daily).
www.realclimate.org: Guest Commentary from Figen Mekik

Scheme to stop deforestation will pay for carbon not emitted
London, October 22, 2007 - Tropical countries that stop the logging or burning of their rainforests could be paid for the carbon they stop reaching the atmosphere, under proposals to be discussed at UN climate change talks in December.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Scheme to stop deforestation will pay for carbon not emitted

In booming economies, cement is crucial for growth but an enemy of green
Paris, October 21, 2007 - In booming economies from Asia to Eastern Europe, cement is the glue of progress. The material that binds the ingredients of concrete together, cement is essential for constructing buildings and laying roads in much of the world.
www.iht.com: In booming economies, cement is crucial for growth but an enemy of green

Oceans seen soaking up less CO2
London, October 20, 2007 - The world's oceans appear to be soaking up less carbon dioxide, new environmental research has shown, a development that could speed up global warming.
www.reuters.com: Oceans seen soaking up less CO2

TAU Professor Finds Global Warming Is Melting Soft Coral
Tel-Aviv, 18 October 2007 - Coral extinction could mean a worldwide catastrophe impacting all marine and terrestrial life.
www.tauac.org: TAU Professor Finds Global Warming Is Melting Soft Coral

The Amazon burns once again

London, October 5 / 17, 2007 - Vast areas of Brazil and Paraguay and much of Bolivia are choking under thick layers of smoke as fires rage out of control in the Amazon rainforest, forcing the cancellation of flights.
Satellite images yesterday (and one week earlier) showed huge clouds of smoke and much of the Amazon basin burning as fires, originally set by ranchers to clear land, have raged into the forest itself.
The forest fires bring big amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Next to that, they produce black soot that also warms the atmosphere and pollutes the icefields in the north that become more vulnerable to melting because of extra absorption of energy from the sun.
www.guardian.co.uk: The Amazon Burns again
news.independent.co.uk: South America chokes as Amazon burns
See our Dutch page for more photo's and info on forest fires in South-America and the rest of the world

Notes on a Sick Planet
New York, October 14, 2007 - There's no use avoiding it: our kids need to know about the global environmental crisis – climate change, deforestation, species extinction. And as long as we're teaching them about all that, we may as well teach them some science at the same time. Learning about evaporation can be as boring as watching a pot boil, but if it's part of a habitat-destroying, polar-bear-killing, actually-somewhat-interesting environmental disaster, maybe that's something kids could enjoy reading.
www.nytimes.com: Notes on a Sick Planet

Blood crop: Violent side of Brazil's soya industry
Brasilia, October 13 - Vast swaths of rainforest are being felled to provide land for Brazil's booming soya industry – and those who protest face violent retribution.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Blood crop: Violent side of Brazil's soya industry

Elephant rampage frightens villagers in India
Gauhati, (India) October 13 - About 100 wild elephants have converged on a river island in northeast India, demolishing homes, feasting on sugarcane and panicking residents, officials said Saturday.
Thousands of villagers were using firecrackers and bonfires to scare away the rampaging animals.
"Dozens of houses have been destroyed in the past three days by adult elephants entering human settlements to look for their wandering calves," said the local magistrate, L.S. Changsan.
wwww.cnn.com: Elephant rampage frightens villagers in India

Nobel Peace Prize 2007 to Al Gore and IPCC
This content is moved to Peace Prize 2007 to Al Gore and IPCC

The unheralded polluter: Cement industry comes clean on its impact
Brussels, October 12 2007 - There were no climate change protesters waiting to jeer as the chief executives and other senior figures of one of the world's biggest industries gathered on Wednesday. Yet they represented a business that produces more than 5% of mankind's carbon dioxide emissions. And they were in Brussels to discuss climate change.
www.guardian.co.uk: The unheralded polluter: cement industry comes clean on its impact

Chinese loggers stripping Myanmar's ancient forests
Nongdao, (China), October 11 2007 - In eight weeks the quiet narrow road that hugs Nongdao's sugarcane fields on the way to the ancient jungles of Myanmar will be overrun with Chinese trucks loaded down with illegal timber.
www.terradaily.com: Chinese loggers stripping Myanmar's ancient forests

World becoming more humid
Londen, October 11 2007 - The world is becoming more humid under climate change and exacerbating global warming, research released today (11 October) reveals. Scientists from the Met Office Hadley Centre and the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia have found strong evidence of human influence on changes in global surface humidity.
www.metoffice.gov.uk: World becoming more humid

Tuna fishing kills endangered birds, sea life
Geneva, October 11 2007 - Fishhooks meant to catch tuna in the southern Pacific and Indian Oceans are killing endangered seabirds, as well as sharks and turtles, the WWF conservation group said on Thursday.
It estimated up to 13,500 seabirds, including 10,000 albatrosses, were caught every year by long-line fisheries targeting southern bluefin tuna. Most of the fishing vessels were from Japan.
www.enn.com: Tuna fishing kills endangered birds, sea life

Time to start talking about climate change and peace
Oslo, October 10 2007 - We've heard the warnings over and over. Global warming means the world is facing "a true planetary emergency" (ex-U.S. Vice-President Al Gore); in coming decades, environmental changes caused by global warming "are likely to become a major driver of war and conflict" (U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon); if greenhouse gas emissions go unchecked, "the effects will be catastrophic - on the level of nuclear war" (the International Institute for Strategic Studies).
www.alertnet.org: Time to start talking about climate change and peace

A Global Contract for the Great Transformation
Potsdam, (Germany), October 10 2007 - "Humanity is standing at a moment in history when a Great Transformation is needed to respond to the immense threat to the Earth. Anthropogenic global warming through greenhouse gas emissions is the foremost of an entire set of emerging development, security and environmental crises. Nobel Laureates from all disciplines, high level representatives from politics and world-renowned experts have called for this transformation to begin immediately. An integrated response will have to accommodate human welfare within the capacity of the planet to sustain economical growth. While drastic reduction in GHG emissions by rich countries is essential, the right for development in the poorer countries, accommodating the vast majority of humanity, will have to be an integral part. This requires, above all, equal access to affordable, sustainable and reliable energy services."
www.nobel-cause.de: A Global Contract for the Great Transformation

The Potsdam symposium
Potsdam, (Germany), October 10 2007 - A meeting this week in Potsdam, Germany – "Global Sustainability – A Nobel Cause" – ended with the formulation of a memorandum calling for a global contract between science and society and a multi-national innovation programme on the scale of the Apollo programme to meet the challenges arising from climate change.
blogs.nature.com: The Potsdam Symposium
www.nobel-cause.de: Media Page with links to other sessions

Merkel calls for global emissions trading agreement to follow Kyoto protocol
Potsdam, (Germany), October 10 2007 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Tuesday for an international system of global emissions trading to be part of an agreement to fight climate change after the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012.
Merkel insisted that only by establishing limits on carbon dioxide output per individual around the world — suggesting about 2 tons per head — could the fight to stop global warming be effective.
"Our long-term goal can only be the assimilation of worldwide per capita emissions," Merkel told a symposium of Nobel laureates and other leading scientists.
www.iht.com: Merkel calls for global emissions trading agreement to follow Kyoto protocol
www.nobel-cause.de: Media Page with links to other sessions

Sustainability: A Nobel Cause
Potsdam, (Germany) October 10 2007 - Nobel laureates, scientists and political leaders are discussing the situation on climate change in a symposium held by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) October 9-10, 2007 in Potsdam/Germany.
Session I: Climate Stabilization (Part1): Peter Frey (Chair), Rajendra Pachauri, Mario Molina (NP Chem 1995) Video/Audiostream
Session I: Climate Stabilization (Part2): Peter Frey (Chair), Angela Merkel, Nicholas Stern, Wangari Maathai (NP Peace 2004) Video/Audiostream
www.nobel-cause.de: Media Page with links to other sessions
www.realclimate.org: Sustainability: A Nobel Cause / Email report by Stefan Rahmstorf

Greenhouse gas levels 'far worse than predicted'

Sydney, October 9 2007 - Conservation scientist and Australian of the Year Tim Flannery has warned that huge industrial and economic changes need to be implemented quickly to slow the growth of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.
www.abc.net.au: Greenhouse gas levels 'far worse than predicted'
www.smh.com.au: Greenhouse gas levels 'dangerously high'
www.planetark.com: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Hit Danger Mark
www.climateark.org: Deadly Climate Change Now Inevitable
www.realclimate.org: CO2 Equivalents, confused and incorrect use

Shell says has key to cleaner coal
London, October 9 2007 - Royal Dutch Shell's technology to turn coal into gas to fuel power plants could allow developing countries to meet surging energy demand without a matching rise in emissions, Shell executives said on Tuesday.
www.reuters.com: Shell says has key to cleaner coal

Back to nature: £ 12m plan to let sea flood reclaimed land and recreate lost habitats
London October 8 2007 - Conservation experts are to reverse five centuries of British history and deliberately allow rising sea levels to flood a huge stretch of reclaimed Essex coastline. In the most ambitious and expensive project of its type, the RSPB intends to puncture sea defences around Wallasea island, near Southend, and turn 728 hectares (1,800 acres) of farmland into a mosaic of saltmarsh, creeks and mudflats - making mainland Britain just a little bit smaller.
www.guardian.co.uk: Back to nature: £12m plan to let sea flood reclaimed land and recreate lost habitats

Coal output to exceed 2.5 billion tons in 2007
Xinhua, (China) October 7 2007 - (chinadaily.com.cn) - China is likely to produce over 2.5 billion tons of coal in 2007, up five percent from last year, said Wang Xianzheng, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety.
The growth compares with an average annual rate of 11.5 percent over the last seven years when China's coal output rose from 1.25 billion tons in 2000 to 2.38 billion tons in 2006.
"Continuous rise in coal output supported China's fast economic growth," said Wang.
But as coal causes serious pollution, the government has put the development of renewable energy high on its agenda.
A plan announced last month said China will increase the portion of renewable energy to 15 percent in its total energy consumption in 2020.

Can science really save the world?
London, October 7 2007 - Endless treaties to cut carbon emissions and halt global warming have failed to turn the tide of pollution. Now scientists want to intervene on a planetary scale, changing the very nature of our seas and skies. Ahead of a major report on 'geo-engineering' we reveal the six big ideas that could change the face of the Earth...
observer.guardian.co.uk: Can science really save the world?
nytimes.com June 27 2007: How to Cool a Planet (Maybe)
See also:
Rapley&Lovelock: Mixing the oceans to reduce global warming
Paul Crutzen proposes sulphurdioxide shield (page in Dutch with some links in English)

World moves into the ecological red
London, October 6 2007 - The world moved into 'ecological overdraft' on Saturday, the point at which human consumption exceeds the ability of the earth to sustain it in any year and goes into the red, the New Economics Foundation think-tank said.
Ecological Debt Day this year is three days earlier than in 2006 which itself was three days earlier than in 2005. NEF said the date had moved steadily backwards every year since humanity began living beyond its environmental means in the 1980s.
uk.reuters.com: World moves into the ecological red

U.S. finally taking warming seriously - Gorbachev
New Orleans, October 6, 2007 - Much time has been lost in the fight to stop global warming, but the United States, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has finally begun to take the problem seriously, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said.
uk.reuters.com: U.S. finally taking warming seriously - Gorbachev

Green fuels will save the earth - or not
Hong Kong, October 5, 2007 - The earth is too small to accommodate all the biofuels projects envisioned for the globe, and this raises doubts whether green fuels will ever play a big role in weaning the world off crude oil.
www.reuters.com: Green fuels will save the earth - or not

Quotes about stopping climate change now
New York, October 5, 2007 - Reuters asked newsmakers who took part in the Reuters Environment Summit this week just that. In the following article a collection of responses gathered at the global event:
www.reuters.com: How to stop climate change now

Climate change disaster is upon us, warns UN
London, October 5 2007 - A record number of floods, droughts and storms around the world this year amount to a climate change "mega disaster", the United Nation's emergency relief coordinator, Sir John Holmes, has warned.
Sir John, a British diplomat who is also known as the UN's under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said dire predictions about the impact of global warming on humanity were already coming true.
www.guardian.co.uk: Climate change disaster is upon us

Excellent: an ugly wall across the Severn
London, October 5 2007 - The Severn Estuary at dawn is a place of wild enchantment. The brown river meets the tide ripping in from the sea, sending the water dancing in strange and beautiful eddies. Out on the misty mudflats, bands of shell duck potter about purposefully in search of lugworms, and the curlews pick daintily along the shore edge, watchful as traffic wardens. The landscape here has hardly changed for 15,000 years, which was when the last Ice Age ended, and the estuary, carved by glaciers in Triassic times, was flooded. There are few richer nature spots in the whole of Britain.
www.timesonline.co.uk: Global problems require bold solutions

World's largest offshore wind farm is given government approval for Kent
London, October 5 2007 - The world's largest offshore wind farm, which will occupy a site of 90 square miles off the coast of Kent, has been given the go-ahead by the government and should be ready to provide clean power for a quarter of London's homes by 2010.
www.guardian.co.uk: World's largest offshore wind farm is given government approval

World Bank accused of razing Congo forests
London, October 4 2007 - The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. The report by the independent inspection panel, seen by the Guardian, also accuses the bank of misleading Congo's government about the value of its forests and of breaking its own rules.
www.guardian.co.uk: World Bank accused of razing Congo forests

Europe ageing and divorcing at high speed

Brussels / Bruxelles, October 4 2007 - There are currently more elderly people than children living in the EU, as Europe's young population has decreased by 21 percent - or 23 million – in 25 years, 10 percent of which in the last ten years alone.
euobserver.com: Europe ageing and divorcing at high speed

London / Oslo, October 4/1 2007 - Press agency Reuters organised a so called Global Environment Summit in the first week of October.
Reuters journalists interviewed as the said "heavyweights in a industry and scientific fields" about the main issues in the ongoing climate change discussion.

Some High Lights:
1004: Decade of innovation could spark climate fix
1004: Everyone to pay for climate change
1004: AEP ready to battle carbon, but costs loom
1004: World climate deal faces hurdles for '09 deadline
1003: US promotes light bulb swap
1003: The after you problem
Green campaign dents palm oil demand
Endangered coral becomes climate warning system
Deforestation needs to be in next climate pact
Arctic thaw may be at "tipping point"
Climate change may sink us this century: Maldives
India's tigers need miracle to survive
Top of page

Brazil urges world support for Amazon

Logs cut from virgin Amazon rainforest lie ready to be fed into charcoal ovens.
Brasilia, October 3 2007 - Brazil's environment minister said on Wednesday the international community was failing to honor pledges to help protect the Amazon and other tropical forests but that her government rejected specific deforestation targets.
www.reuters.com: Brazil urges world support for Amazon

Ice cap melt seen "very, very alarming"
Secretary-General of WMO talks of need to monitor melting Arctic ice
London, October 3 2007 - Melting Arctic ice is an alarming warning signal. Geographical and scientific gaps in the global meteorological and oceanographic monitoring system have to be filled urgently, the Secretary-General of WMO, Michel Jarraud, said in an interview during the Reuters Environment Summit in London, United Kingdom, yesterday. The ultimate goal, he said, would be to refine climate change forecasting from a coarse global level down towards a regional or even national level so governments could plan in detail how to prepare.
in.reuters.com: Ice cap melt seen "very, very alarming"

Even tougher warming curbs may be needed
London, October, 3 2007 - (Reuters) - Governments may need to step up the fight against global warming to a level beyond even the toughest existing goals to help safeguard the planet, the head of the U.N. climate panel (IPCC) said on Wednesday.
Risks ranging from extinctions of animals and plants to rising sea levels meant that even a strict European Union target of limiting global warming to 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels might be too lax.
www.reuters.com: Even tougher warming curbs may be needed (article)

Call for tougher action on climate
October 3 2007 - As Arctic ice melts at a record rate, the UN's chief climate change scientist warns stiffer curbs on global warming may be needed to safeguard the planet.
Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN's climate change panel, says even the European Union target of a warming limit of 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels may be too lax.
His call for more stringent curbs comes as the UN's top weather-watcher, Michel Jarraud, sounds the alarm over this past summer's record Arctic ice melt.
www.reuters.com: Call for tougher action on climate (video)

World at climate change crossroads: UNEP
London, October 1 2007, - The world went through a tipping point in dealing with climate change in 2007 as public opinion recognised the crisis, but time is running out fast for action, the head of the UN Environment Programme said on Monday.
www.reuters.com: World at climate change crossroads: UNEP

The Folly, Egoism and Dangers of Climate Geo-Engineering
October, 2 2007 - Is humanity so resistant to change that we will tamper with the biosphere's workings to construct a "Frankensphere"; rather than reducing population, consumption and emissions?
www.climateark.org: The Folly, Egoism and Dangers of Climate Geo-Engineering

Environment disasters will swell migrant flows-UN
Geneva, October 1 2007 - Environmental disasters sparked by climate change will increase the number of people seeking to migrate to richer countries from poorer parts of the world, U.N. refugee chief Antonio Guterres warned on Monday.
www.alertnet.org: Environment disasters will swell migrant flows-UN

Sushi craze threatens Mediterranean's giant tuna
Barbate, Spain, October 1 2007 - Fishermen like Diego Crespo have trapped the giant tuna swarming into the warm Mediterranean for over 3,000 years, but he says this year may be one of his last.
www.reuters.com: Sushi craze threatens Mediterranean's giant tuna

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