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Failure on climate change will 'haunt humanity'
Sydney, September 30 2008 -
Failure to curb global warming would "haunt humanity" forever, Australia's top climate adviser said Tuesday as he urged the country to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 percent by 2050.
www.yahoo.com: Failure on climate change will 'haunt humanity'
Meat must be rationed to four portions a week, says report on climate change
London, September 30 2008 -
People will have to be rationed to four modest portions of meat and one litre of milk a week if the world is to avoid run-away climate change, a major new report warns.
The report, by the Food Climate Research Network, based at the University of Surrey, also says total food consumption should be reduced, especially "low nutritional value" treats such as alcohol, sweets and chocolates.
www.guardian.co.uk: Meat must be rationed to four portions a week, says report on climate change
FMR 31: Climate change and displacement
September 29 2008 -
In response to growing pressures on landscapes and livelihoods, people are moving, communities are adapting. The latest issue of FMR debates the numbers, the definitions and the modalities – and the tension between the need for research and the need to act.
Thirty-eight articles by UN, academic, international and local actors explore the extent of the potential displacement crisis, community adaptation and coping strategies, and the search for solutions.
The issue also includes a range of articles on other aspects of forced migration. This issue will be published in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
www.fmreview.org: Climate Change and Displacement (pdf 3,96 mb)
Kosher / Halal diets not always eco-friendly
September 29 2008 -
The Jewish High Holidays, which begin at sundown tonight, celebrate the turning of the calendar with symbolic foods (apples and honey to signify a sweet new year) and ask the observant to reflect on their actions. Sermons by rabbis often touch on issues of social justice, including the environment, and ask congregants how their choices in those realms do — or do not — represent Jewish values.
So what better time to ask: Is keeping Kosher good for the environment? Turns out, the green perks of keeping kosher are sometimes offset by what's eaten instead of no-nos like pork and shellfish, Emily Gertz reports in Scientific American.
www.sciam.com: Kosher / Halal diets not always eco-friendly
www.sciam.com: Is Keeping Kosher Good for the Environment?
Europe needs to intensify actions to adapt to climate change impacts
Copenhagen (DK), September 29 2008 -
Increasing temperatures, changing precipitation, rising sea level, more intense and frequent extreme weather events and melting glaciers, ice sheets and Arctic sea ice are some of the challenges for Europe already triggered by global climate change, says a report released today by the European Environment Agency, the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.
The report 'Impacts of Europe’s changing climate', based on 40 key indicators, stresses the consequences of both observed and projected changes, including an increased risk of floods and droughts, losses of biodiversity, threats to human health and damage to economic sectors such as energy, transport, forestry, agriculture, and tourism.
www.eea.europa.eu: Europe needs to intensify actions to adapt to climate change impacts
www.eea.europa.eu: Impacts of Europe's changing climate - 2008 indicator-based assessment
Growing Vertical: Skyscraper Farming
September 29 2008 -
Cultivating crops in downtown skyscrapers might save bushels of energy and provide city dwellers with distinctively fresh food.
www.sciam.com: Growing Vertical: Skyscraper Farming
www.sciam.com: Eco-Cities: Urban Planning for the Future
Speak truth to power on CCS
Amsterdam, September 27 2008 -
In “Slouching toward Golgotha” (below), Peter Montague argues compellingly that carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is an unworkable gimmick promoted by the international energy lobby to permit them, while pretending to curb CO2 emissions, to conduct business as usual. Nonetheless, plans to implement CCS on an “experimental” basis are being finalized in Europe and the U.S. Citing Al Gore, Montague justifies the increasing number of acts of non-violent civil disobedience by the young and not-so-young against coal-fired power plants with or without CCS, on the grounds that citizens have a right to attempt to prevent the destruction of a livable planet.
www.stopwarming.eu: Speak truth to power on CCS
Denmark's prime minister travels to U.S. to sell climate treaty talks
New York, (US), September 26 2008 -
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen toured the United States this week to drum up support for the successor to the Kyoto climate treaty that's set to be hammered out in Copenhagen, Denmark, next year. But Rasmussen isn't content to simply host the talks, he wants to see broad agreement on a meaningful treaty to cut emissions 50 percent by 2050 -- and he's not afraid to say so. "The world is at a crossroad. We need to choose a direction that will take us safely through the 21st century," he said in a speech this week in New York. "Right now, we are on the wrong track."
www.grist.org: Denmark's prime minister travels to U.S. to sell climate treaty talks
Carbon Dioxide Auction Launches U.S. Effort to Combat Climate Change
Worcester (MA/US), September 26 2008 -
Six northeastern states in the USA auction off the right to emit global warming pollution. Power plant owners and speculators bid for the right to emit carbon dioxide (CO2) as part of a new multistate government program designed to reduce global warming pollution.
Interested parties during an online auction offered at least $1.86 per ton of CO2 emitted; there were 12 million allowances (one per ton) to emit climate change–inducing CO2 from power plants in eastern seaboard states from Maine to Maryland available in a market known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, pronounced "Reggie.")
www.sciam.com: Carbon Dioxide Auction Launches U.S. Effort to Combat Climate Change
Slouching toward Golgotha
September 25 2008 - (By Peter Montague) -
Most of my friends want to deny it, but the evidence is compelling: the U.S. and Europe are aggressively advancing the only real plan they've ever had for "solving" the global warming problem.
Their plan -- their only published plan -- is to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) gas, compress it into a liquid, and pump it a mile below ground, hoping it will stay there forever. It will be the largest hazardous waste disposal program ever undertaken...
Read the full article in Rachel's Democracy & Health News #978, Sept. 25, 2008
Gordon Brown - Labour Conference, Brown says CO2 targets must be raised to 80% by 2050
London, 24 September 2008 -
Gordon Brown wants much tougher targets for slashing the UK's greenhouse gas emissions. He said current targets of a 60 per cent cut in CO2 by 2050 should be raised to 80 per cent.
www.telegraph.co.uk: CO2 targets must be raised to 80% by 2050
Crisis must be turned to green benefit, scientist says
London, 23 September 2008 -
Governments need to show the same boldness to intervene in the markets to kickstart a move to a low-carbon economy as they did when they helped the banks stave off financial crisis last week, a leading academic has demanded.
www.guardian.co.uk: Crisis must be turned to green benefit, scientist says
Work together or face 'disastrous consequences' for health in Africa, experts warn
Nairobi, 18 September 2008 —
Faced with the prospect of more variable and changing climates increasing Africa's already intolerable disease burden, scientists must begin to reach out to colleagues in other fields and to the people they want to help if they hope to avert an expected "continental disaster," according to leading climate, health, and information technology experts, who met in Nairobi last week. Spread of malaria, Rift Valley fever, and avian flu are far more likely if researchers continue to 'operate in silos' and if solutions ignore local conditions.
www.eurekalert.org: >Work together or face 'disastrous consequences' for health in Africa, experts warn
Global warming's ecosystem double whammy
Reno (Nev/USA), September 15 2008 -
Plants and soils act like sponges for atmospheric carbon dioxide, but new research on the cover of this week's Nature finds that one abnormally warm year can suppress the amount of carbon dioxide taken up by some grassland ecosystems for up to two years. The findings followed a four-year study of 12-ton containerized grassland plots at Nevada's Desert Research Institute. Plots were extracted intact from the Oklahoma prairie and sealed inside four, living-room-sized environment chambers.
www.eurekalert.org: Global warming's ecosystem double whammy
Warming World in Range of Dangerous Consequences
San Diego (Cal/USA), September 15 2008 -
Even if greenhouse gas emissions are fixed at 2005 levels, new analysis shows that irreversible warming will lead to biodiversity loss and substantial glacial melt.
scrippsnews.ucsd.edu: Warming World in Range of Dangerous Consequences
Investors press for disclosure of tar sands' climate risk
New York / London, September 15, 2008 -
F&C Management, the UK's oldest investment trust, has teamed up with a group of US and Canadian fund managers to halt Wall Street financial regulators softening the rules on tar sands, arguing that new rules should take account of the carbon impact of reserves disclosed by oil and gas companies.
www.guardian.co.uk: Investors press for disclosure of tar sands' climate risk
Curbing coal emissions alone might avert climate danger, say researchers
Columbia (USA), September 12, 2008 -
An ongoing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels might be kept below harmful levels if emissions from coal are phased out within the next few decades, say researchers. They say that less plentiful oil and gas should be used sparingly as well, but that far greater supplies of coal mean that it must be the main target of reductions. Their study appears in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles.
www.earth.columbia.edu: Curbing coal emissions alone might avert climate danger, say researchers
Not guilty: the Greenpeace activists who used climate change as a legal defence
London, September 11, 2008 -
Six Greenpeace climate change activists have been cleared of causing £30,000 of criminal damage at a coal-fired power station in a verdict that is expected to embarrass the government and lead to more direct action protests against energy companies.
www.guardian.co.uk: Not guilty: the Greenpeace activists who used climate change as a legal defence
Germany Tests Coal Plant Answer to Climate Change
Schwarze Pumpe, Germany, September 10, 2008 -
Swedish energy company Vattenfall opened a small coal plant in Germany on Tuesday which will produce almost carbon-free power in a test of technology that could help the fight against climate change.
www.planetark.com: Germany Tests Coal Plant Answer to Climate Change
To slow global warming, install white roofs
Los Angeles, September 10, 2008 -
Such roofs and reflective pavement in the world's 100 largest cities would have a massive cooling effect, according to data released at California's annual Climate Change Research Conference.
Builders have known for decades that white roofs reflect the sun's rays and lower the cost of air conditioning. But now scientists say they have quantified a new benefit: slowing global warming.
www.enn.com: To slow global warming, install white roofs
www.climatechange.ca.gov: Global Cooling: Increasing World-wide Urban Albedos to Offset CO2
London Mayor Unveils Climate Crisis Plan
London, September 1 2008 -
Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled a plan on Friday to help London tackle the challenge of climate change with less carbon dioxide, more trees, better drainage and increased water efficiency.
www.planetark.com: London Mayor Unveils Climate Crisis Plan
www.independent.co.uk: Johnson warns of climate threat to London
Climate Fight Hit by Global Slowdown, Russia Fears
London, September 1, 2008 -
The fight against global warming is in danger of being downgraded on more urgent fears over energy security, heightened by a Russian war with Georgia, and a global economic slowdown.
www.planetark.com: Climate Fight Hit by Global Slowdown, Russia Fears
Can Carbon Dioxide Be Turned to Concrete?
Frankfurt, August 28 2008 -
Engineers are constantly coming up with new ways to dispose of greenhouse gases. The latest idea is to hide carbon dioxide exhaust in cement. The method could revolutionize one of the most carbon-intensive industries in the world.
www.spiegel.de: Can Carbon Dioxide Be Turned to Concrete?
Food Riots as Indian Floods Destroy 250,000 Homes
Patna, (India) August 28 2008 -
Food riots erupted on Wednesday in eastern India, where more than 2 million people have been forced from their homes and about 250,000 houses destroyed in what officials say are the worst floods in 50 years.
www.planetark.com: Food Riots as Indian Floods Destroy 250,000 Homes
www.planetark.com: India's "River of Sorrow" Threatens More Floods
'The Cow Is a Climate Bomb'
Frankfurt, August 27, 2008 -
Whether cattle are reared organically or with conventional farming methods, the end effect is bad for the environment, according to a new German consumer report. The agricultural lobby, however, is preventing politicians from tackling this massive source of greenhouse gas emissions.
www.spiegel.de: 'The Cow Is a Climate Bomb'
Climate change: In search of world justice
London, August 19, 2008 -
The burden of climate change solutions can only be equitably shared via an international court.
'It is a trite observation that environmental problems, although they closely affect municipal laws, are essentially international; and that the main structure of control can therefore be no other than that of international law." Thus wrote Robert Jennings QC, a former president of the international court of justice, in his foreword to the first edition of Philippe Sands's Principles of International Environmental Law, published in 1995 - years before the potential effects of climate change had transformed public perceptions. Yet even today, after all the millions of words that have been written on the subject of climate change, we seem no closer to establishing that "structure of control". Indeed, Jennings's observation that the problem is mainly to be solved by legal means might now seem not so much trite as unorthodox, bold or even eccentric.
www.guardian.co.uk: In search of world justice
Drier, warmer springs in US Southwest stem from human-caused changes in winds
London, August 19, 2008 -
Human-driven changes in the westerly winds are bringing hotter and drier springs to the American Southwest, according to new research from the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Since the 1970s the winter storm track in the western US has been shifting north, particularly in the late winter. As a result, fewer winter storms bring rain and snow to Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, western Colorado and western New Mexico.
www.eurekalert.org: Drier, warmer springs in US Southwest stem from human-caused changes in winds
Electric-car visionary would overhaul the way we get around
August 19, 2008 - (source: www.grist.org) -
Could the global auto infrastructure be overhauled in a way that's profitable for business, cheap for drivers, and easy on the planet? Meet Better Place's Shai Agassi and his plans for an electric-car future, featured in the latest issue of Wired. In Agassi's vision, gas stations are replaced with omnipresent recharging spots for electric cars. Vehicles are cheap, perhaps even free; money is made off electricity, and renewable energy is incentivized. Drivers purchase electricity on subscription, paying for unlimited miles, a certain number of miles per month, or pay-as-you-go. No time to recharge? Head to your nearest battery exchange station and swap in a fully charged one. An onboard system is energy monitor, GPS unit, help center, and personal assistant in one. Think it could never happen? Think again: 100,000 electric cars will roll out in Israel by the end of 2011, and Denmark will also provide a testing ground. And wherever Agassi goes, he convinces CEOs, mayors, investors, and statesmen that the world could become a Better Place.
www.wired.com: Driven: Shai Agassi's Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road
www.betterplace.com: 'Our bold plan, the electric car'
Peak water crisis dominates World Water Week
Stockholm, (SE) August 18 2008 -
The world is getting thirstier, and drier. More than 2,500 experts from around the world will discuss the issues facing one of the world's most precious natural resources at World Water Week this week in Stockholm, from the millions of gallons of water hidden inside biofuels to the ongoing scandal of poor sanitation.
www.sciam.nl: Peak water crisis dominates World Water Week
Living a green dream on Danish island
Samso, (DK) August 18 2008 -
Concerns about energy security may run high elsewhere in Europe, but on the windswept Danish island of Samso the inhabitants have achieved a decade-long target of self-sufficiency in renewable power.
www.reuters.com: Living a green dream on Danish island
Spain sweats amid 'water wars'
Barcelona, August 18, 2008 -
Spain is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years. Climate experts warn that the country is suffering badly from the impact of climate change and that the Sahara is slowly creeping north - into the Spanish mainland.
news.bbc.co.uk: Spain sweats amid 'water wars'
Scripps Scientist Warns of Mass Extinctions and 'Rise of Slime'
San Diego (US) August 13, 2008 -
Human activities are cumulatively driving the health of the world's oceans down a rapid spiral, and only prompt and wholesale changes will slow or perhaps ultimately reverse the catastrophic problems they are facing.
scrippsnews.ucsd.edu: Oceans on the Precipice
The Bad News Website
U.S. Retools Economy, Curbing Thirst for Oil
August 12, 2008 -
The U.S. economy is starting to figure out how to curb its legendary appetite for energy.
Consumers are buying fewer sport-utility vehicles and more energy-saving washing machines. Some trucking companies have rejiggered their engines to max out at lower speeds. Gridlock is easing in California. Americans drove 9.66 billion fewer miles in May than they did a year earlier, a 3.7% decline, according to the Transportation Department.
online.wsj.com: U.S. Retools Economy, Curbing Thirst for Oil
www.grist.org: U.S. economy shifting to -- gasp! -- efficiency
High street banks face consumer boycott over investment in coal projects
London, August 11, 2008 -
High street banks, including Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays, face a consumer boycott if they continue to channel billions of pounds of new investment into coal projects, campaigning groups warned last night.
www.guardian.co.uk: High street banks face consumer boycott over investment in coal projects (Aug 11)
www.guardian.co.uk: Kingsnorth protester diary
www.guardian.co.uk: Coal plant protesters injured in skirmishes with police (Aug 10)
www.guardian.co.uk: The coalface of climate change (Aug 11)
Climate Change Equals Stronger Rains
August 8, 2008 -
As the globe continues to warm, the rainiest parts of the world are very likely to get wetter, according to a new study in Science. Desert dwellers, however, are likely to see what little rain they receive dry up, as the rain becomes even more concentrated in high-precipitation areas.
www.sciam.com: Climate Change Equals Stronger Rains
www.eurekalert.org: When it rains it (really) pours
Cement from CO2: A Concrete Cure for Global Warming?
August 8, 2008 -
A new technique could turn cement from a source of climate changing greenhouse gases into a way to remove them from the air.
www.sciam.com / Cement from CO2: A Concrete Cure for Global Warming?
Attenborough alarmed as children are left flummoxed by test on the natural world
London, August 1 2008 -
Children have lost touch with the natural world and are unable to identify common animals and plants, according to a survey.
www.independent.co.uk: Attenborough alarmed as children are left flummoxed by test on the natural world
Trade Failure Clouds Climate Talks and Beyond
Geneva, July 31, 2008 -
The collapse of world trade talks deals such a blow to international negotiations that the prospect of agreeing effective solutions to global warming or the spread of nuclear weapons seems more remote than ever.
www.planetark.com: Trade Failure Clouds Climate Talks and Beyond
Journalistic whiplash
July 29, 2008 -
Andy Revkin has a good article in the Science Times today on the problem of journalistic whiplash in climate change (also discussed here). This phenomena occurs with the more uncertain parts of a science that are being actively researched and where the full story is only slowly coming together. In such cases, new papers often appear in high profile journals (because they meet the 'of general interest' test), and are often parsed rather simplistically to see what side of the fence they fall - are they pro or anti? This leads to wide press interest, but rather shallow coverage, and leaves casual readers with 'whiplash' from the 'yes it is', 'no it isn't' messages every other week.
www.realclimate.org: Journalistic whiplash
Facing the Freshwater Crisis
July 29, 2008 -
As demand for freshwater soars, planetary supplies are becoming unpredictable. Existing technologies could avert a global water crisis, but they must be implemented soon.
www.sciam.com: Facing the Freshwater Crisis
Scraping the bottom of the oil barrel a significant new climate risk
Alberta's oil sands (Photo: enn.com)
July 29, 2008 -
Exploitation of North America’s shale and tar-sand oil reserves could increase atmospheric CO2 levels by up to 15%, a new report from WWF-UK and the major UK financial group Co-Operative Financial Services (CFS) has warned.
Extraction of the projected 1,115 billion barrels of recoverable oil from unconventional fuel sources such as Alberta’s oil sands and Colorado’s oil shale, which involve much more energy intensive procedures for extraction than traditional oil reserves, would significantly increase global risks of dangerous climate change, the report said.
www.enn.com: Scraping the bottom of the oil barrel a significant new climate risk
Transport remains main source of health-damaging pollutants
Document Actions
Brussels, July 28, 2008 -
A report launched today by the European Environment Agency shows that road transport remains the single main source of nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), and the second-most important source of fine particulate emissions (PM10 and PM2.5) in the EU-27. This report contains essential data that helps understand the evolution of air pollutant emissions since 1990.
www.eea.europa.eu: Transport remains main source of health-damaging pollutants
Climate Change Effects Health, Renewable Energy Ready Now
July 24, 2008 -
The EPA finds climate change will have a "substantial" impact on human health in the coming decades; worsening wildfires, hurricanes, smog and summer heat waves.
scitizen.com: Climate Change Effects Health, Renewable Energy Ready Now
Oil turbulence in the next decade
The Hague, July 9, 2008 -
Oil turbulence in the next decade A CIEP analysis of the recent development of demand and supply for crude oil indicates that the mismatch in supply and demand growth could cause tighter oil markets than we already experience today. In the World Energy Outlook 2007, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned of a possible 'energy crunch'. But what was anticipated to happen in the first part of the next decade has been fast-forwarded to today, more than 5 years earlier, and could shake the very foundation of our energy systems if no action is undertaken. The essay "Oil Turbulence in the Next Decade" analyses oil price formation and the impact on global economic relations and geopolitics.
www.clingendael.nl: Oil turbulence in the next decade
Pressure piled on the UN now as G8 leaders fail to rise to the challenge of a world in crisis
Flood in Bangladesh (Photo: Oxfam.org)
Toyako (Japan), July 9, 2008 -
The 2008 G8 Summit in Japan failed to tackle the grievous problems facing the world that are hitting poor people first and hardest, said international agency Oxfam at the summit’s end.
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