|
French Government Rushes To Revive Carbon Tax
Paris, December 31 2009 -
French ministers scrambled on Wednesday to rescue a carbon tax aimed at cutting energy consumption, which was annulled by the Constitutional Court just 48 hours before it was due to come into force.
France's highest court stunned President Nicolas Sarkozy's government late on Tuesday by ruling against the tax, saying there were too many loopholes benefiting major industrial polluters.
The new tax was expected to raise 1.5 billion euros ($2.15 billion) next year and the court's decision will put added pressure on the budget deficit, already forecast to come in at a high 8.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2010.
Ministers promised to present a revised text on January 20 but it could take weeks more to get the law back through parliament and badly needed cash flowing into state coffers.
> planetark.org: French Government Rushes To Revive Carbon Tax
Environment preview of 2010 / Post Copenhagen
London, December 29 2009 -
After the debacle at Copenhagen, the world will be hoping that global leaders can make up for lost time this year.
Already Gordon Brown is pushing for another meeting of world leaders to sort out the mess as soon as possible. However he is dead set against the UN process that ended in such confusion last time. Instead it is likely that high level meetings, many behind closed doors, will be held throughout the year under the guise of the Major Economies Forum, G8 and other groupings.
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Environment preview of 2010 / Post Copenhagen
> ec.europa.eu: Copenhagen Accord marks first step towards legally binding global climate agreement
Climate change: Will our grandchildren revile the 'lost decade'?
London, December 29 2009 -
The first decade of the 21st century dawned with a global strategy to fight climate change but ended in chaos and the UN system in tatters while greenhouse gases spewed with few constraints.
"Future generations will rue the years of inaction," Steve Sawyer, a veteran observer who heads the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), a Brussels green industry association, says grimly.
"Some generations will rue it very much - those that survive."
> www.independent.co.uk / Climate change: Will our grandchildren revile the 'lost decade'?
Climate and humans: the long view
London, December 25 2009 -
We seem preoccupied today by looming predictions of imminent climate change. This is understandable as our lifestyles and lives appear to be coming under threat from this global phenomenon of unprecedented scale.
But if we were to use the deep history of this planet as our yardstick, the unusual thing would be for our climate to remain immutable.
> news.bbc.co.uk: Climate and humans: the long view
Mexico wants binding climate accord at 2010 summit
Mexico City, December 25 2009 –
Mexico will push for a binding international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions when it hosts the next climate change summit in Mexico City in the coming year.
> Copenhagen 2009 / COP15: Copenhagen blame game not helpful: U.N. climate chief (Dec 25)
Study: Earth's polar ice sheets vulnerable to even moderate global warming
(Princeton / Harvard) / London, December 16 2009 -
A new analysis of the geological record of the Earth's sea level, carried out by scientists at Princeton and Harvard universities and published in the Dec. 16 issue of Nature, employs a novel statistical approach that reveals the planet's polar ice sheets are vulnerable to large-scale melting even under moderate global warming scenarios. Such melting would lead to a large and relatively rapid rise in global sea level.
> Study: Earth's polar ice sheets vulnerable to even moderate global warming
New evidence confirms land warming record
London, December 18 2009 -
New analysis released today has shown the global temperature rise calculated by the Met Office’s HadCRUT record is at the lower end of likely warming. The study, carried out by ECMWF (the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) with input from the Met Office, performs a new calculation of global temperature rise. This independent analysis is based on information from a wide range of sources. It uses all available surface temperature measurements, together with data from sources such as satellites, radiosondes, ships and buoys.
> www.metoffice.gov.uk: New evidence confirms land warming record
On any measurement, things are heating up
Wednesday, 9 December 2009 -
Both sides of the "debate" over global warming have accused the other of cherry-picking data to suit their competing theses. The issue recently has focused on the past decade, and whether or not global warming in the 21st century has come to a "standstill", as the climate sceptics have suggested.
It is clear from the temperature data released yesterday by the Met Office and the World Meteorological Organisation that this decade has been the warmest since instrumental temperature records began in 1850. The first decade of this century was warmer than the 1990s, which were warmer than the 1980s.
> www.independent.co.uk: On any measurement, things are heating up
Dimas calls for global climate treaty by June 2010
Copenhagen / Brussels 8 December 2009 - (Euractiv.com)
Setting a clear timetable for delivering a comprehensive, legally-binding climate treaty by mid-2010 is a must, the EU's Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told EurActiv in an interview.
> www.euractiv.com: Dimas calls for global climate treaty by June 2010
Global Survey: Concern for Climate Change Cools Off
Oxford, December 6 2009 -
Concern for climate change has declined in the past two years with many countries recording a double digit fall, according to new research released today by The Nielsen Company and the Oxford University Institute of Climate Change. In the latest round of the survey, conducted in October 2009, 37 percent of global consumers said they were very concerned about climate change (compared to 41 percent in 2007), with the highest levels of concern expressed in Latin America (57%) and Asia Pacific (42%). However, North America lagged global regions with 25 percent of respondents saying they were “very concerned” about climate change.
> blog.nielsen.com / Global Survey: Concern for Climate Change Cools Off
Copenhagen climate conference: World risks 4C rise even if there is a deal
London, 4 December 2009 -
The UN summit in the Danish capital is likely to end in a global deal to limit greenhouse gases in order to control global warming.
But writing in the journal Nature, a group of leading academics, have warned that unless countries meet their most ambitious targets temperature rises will go above 3.6F (2C).
If there is a "weak agreement" temperatures may even rise by 7.2F (4C) by the 2060s.
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Copenhagen climate conference: World risks 4C rise even if there is a deal
> www.nature.com: Policymakers must aim to avoid a 2 °C temperature rise, but plan to adapt to 4 °C
Copenhagen climate deal headed for 3.5°c global warming
Potsdam/Cologne/Copenhagen, 3 December 2009 -
A sobering new assessment by the “Climate Action Tracker” of the emission commitments and pledges put forward by industrialized and developing countries for the Copenhagen climate negotiations shows that the world is headed for a global warming of well over 3oC by 2100. Carbon dioxide concentrations are projected to be over 650 ppm, with total GHG concentrations close to 800 ppm CO2 equivalent.
> www.climateactiontracker.org: Copenhagen climate deal headed for 3.5°C
McCartney tips 'Meat-free Monday' to curb warming
Brussels, December 3 2009 -
In a drive to halt climate change and improve public health, ex-Beatle Paul McCartney has told Europeans to abstain from eating meat at least once a week.
> www.euractiv.com: McCartney tips 'Meat-free Monday' to curb warming
EU, US citizens split over climate change
Brussels, December 3 2009 -
The overwhelming majority of EU citizens consider climate change as a serious problem and call for more action against global warming. More than one third of Americans say instead that climate change is not an issue, and only a minor percentage think that it is the consequence of human activity, international polls reveal.
> www.euractiv.com: EU, US citizens split over climate change
Never-Give-Up Fighting Spirit: Lessons From a Grandchild
Washington, November 30 2009 - (by dr. James Hansen) -
Is there any real hope of cutting global carbon emissions? Such negative questions and attitudes are increasing. How refreshing, on cold, windy Thanksgiving Plus One Day, which we spend with our children and grandchildren, when I went outside to shoot baskets with 5-year-old Connor. Connor is very bright, but needs work on his hand-to-eye coordination. I set the basket at a convenient height for him, but his first several shots banged off the backboard off-target. Then he said, very brightly and bravely, “I don’t quit, because I have never-give-up fighting spirit.” It seems his karate lessons are paying off.
> climate.the-environmentalist.org: EU hails US, Chinese climate pledges, calls for more
> www.stormsofmygrandchildren.com/
> More about dr James Hansen and the '350' target
EU hails US, Chinese climate pledges, calls for more
Brussels, 27 November 2009 -
Ten days before the UN climate conference opens in Copenhagen, EU officials welcomed emissions pledges by China and the US as a crucial step towards an agreement, but stressed that the commitments had to match the developed world's "common target" of keeping global warming below 2°C.
"We will continue to urge the US, China and all our other partners in this negotiation to go to the outer limits of what is possible in order to find agreement in Copenhagen," said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in reaction to the US and Chinese offers.
> www.euractiv.com: EU hails US, Chinese climate pledges, calls for more
Analysts' view: China Announces CO2 Intensity Target For 2020
Beijng, 27 November 2009 -
China has unveiled its first firm target to curb greenhouse gas emissions, laying out a "carbon intensity goal" on Thursday that Premier Wen Jiabao will take to key climate talks in Copenhagen next month.
Following are analysts' comments on the impact of the target on the Copenhagen talks and how tough it will be to achieve.
> planetark.org: Analysts' view: China Announces CO2 Intensity Target For 2020
China completes the climate circle
London 26 / 27 November 2009 -
A fair bit of the doubt and confusion surrounding next month's UN climate summit has suddenly cleared, with the world's two biggest greenhouse gas emitters - the US and China - announcing pledges on curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
As is set out in the Bali Action Plan - the agreement made at the UN summit two years ago - the US pledge takes the form of an actual cut in emissions.
China - whose per-capita emissions are far lower - vows to reduce carbon intensity, the amount of CO2 emitted per unit of GDP, by 40-45% from 2005 levels by 2020.
> www.bbc.co.uk: China completes the climate circle
> planetark.org: China Says Carbon "Sinks" Not Covered By Target (27-11)
> planetark.org: Fear Of Low China Target Casts Cloud Over Climate Talks (27-11)
Food security in the Pacific at risk due to climate change
Rome, 26 November 2009 -
Climate change is projected to impact heavily on agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the Pacific islands, leading to increased food insecurity and malnutrition, FAO warned today ahead of the UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen. The agency urged governments and donors to immediately start implementing robust and action-oriented climate change adaptation plans for all Pacific islands.
> www.fao.org: Food security in the Pacific at risk due to climate change
Past regional cold and warm periods linked to natural climate drivers
Pennsylvania, November 26 2009 -
Intervals of regional warmth and cold in the past are linked to the El Niño phenomenon and the so-called "North Atlantic Oscillation" in the Northern hemisphere's jet stream, according to a team of climate scientists. These linkages may be important in assessing the regional effects of future climate change.
"Studying the past can potentially inform our understanding of what the future may hold," said Michael Mann, Professor of meteorology, Penn State.
Mann stresses that an understanding of how past natural changes have influenced phenomena such as El Niño, can perhaps help to resolve current disparities between state-of the-art climate models regarding how human-caused climate change may impact this key climate pattern.
> live.psu.edu: Past regional cold and warm periods linked to natural climate drivers
> www.sciencemag.org: Global Signatures and Dynamical Origins of the Little Ice Age and Medieval Climate Anomaly
> www.sciencemag.org: Transcript interview Michael Mann / starts on page 4
China announces targets on carbon dioxide emission cuts
Beijing, November 25 / 26 2009 -
The State Council announced Thursday that China is going to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 to 45 percent compared with the level of 2005.
This is "a voluntary action" taken by the Chinese government "based on our own national conditions" and "is a major contribution to the global effort in tackling climate change," the State Council said.
In a meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao Wednesday, the State Council reviewed a national task plan addressing climate change.
A press statement released Thursday said the index of carbon dioxide emissions cuts, announced for the first time by China, would be "a binding goal" to be incorporated into China's medium and long-term national social and economic development plans.
New measures would be formulated to audit, monitor and assess its implementation, said the statement.
> news.xinhuanet.com: China announces targets on carbon dioxide emission cuts (Nov 26)
> news.xinhuanet.com: Chinese Premier Wen to attend Copenhagen climate summit (Nov 26)
> news.xinhuanet.com: Key negotiator vows "constructive" contribution at climate summit, refuses "empty" declaration (Nov 25)
Should agriculture pay the climate price?
Brussels, 25 November 2009 -
While agriculture and food production have long been considered untouchable in international climate talks, calls to make the sector contribute to greenhouse gas mitigation efforts have been growing louder.
Food is strategic and agricultural production is a vital sector of many national economies. Yet, discussions are shifting from how to adapt farming to climate change to how to make agriculture contribute to climate change mitigation.
> www.euractiv.com: Should agriculture pay the climate price?
Oceans Absorb Less Carbon Dioxide as Marine Systems Change
London, 25 November 2009 -
The oceans are by far the largest carbon sink in the world. Some 93 percent of carbon dioxide is stored in algae, vegetation, and coral under the sea. But oceans are not able to absorb all of the carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels. In fact, a recent study suggests that the oceans have absorbed a smaller proportion of fossil-fuel emissions, nearly 10 percent less, since 2000.
> www.enn.com: Oceans Absorb Less Carbon Dioxide as Marine Systems Change
> www.worldwatch.org: Oceans Absorb Less Carbon Dioxide as Marine Systems Change (Source)
Can Climate Change Cause Conflict? Recent History Suggests So
New York, 25 November 2009 -
A survey delving into the past 30 years in sub-Saharan Africa reveals that temperature changes match up with a significant increase in the likelihood of civil war.
Some experts call the genocide in Darfur the world's first conflict caused by climate change. After all, the crisis was sparked, at least in part, by a decline in rainfall over the past 30 years just as the region's population doubled, pitting wandering pastoralists against settled farmers for newly scarce resources, such as arable land.
> www.scientificamerican.com: Can Climate Change Cause Conflict? Recent History Suggests So
Climate change 'tipping points' reached if no action taken: WWF
Berlin / Gland, November 23, 2009 -
The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) and Allianz jointly warned that 'tipping points' will be reached if no action is taken to counteract climate change.
"If we don't take immediate action against climate change, we are in grave danger of disruptive and devastating changes," said Kim Carstensen, head of WWF's Global Climate Initiative, in a statement in Berlin.
Titled Major Tipping Points in the Earth's Climate System and Consequences for the Insurance Sector, the report was written by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. It was issued by WWF and Allianz, the world's second largest international insurance and financial services company.
> www.businessgreen.com: Insurance giant warns climate "tipping points" in sight
> english.people.com.cn: Climate change 'tipping points' reached if no action taken: WWF
> knowledge.allianz.com: Climate Tipping Points of No Return
> www.panda.org: Unchecked Climate change will put world at ‘tipping point’, WWF and Allianz report says
> assets.panda.org: Tipping points / Executive Summary
WMO Releases 2008 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin
Geneva, 23 November 2009 -
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released the 2008 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, which provides information on the state of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere using global observations through 2008.
> climate-l.org: WMO Releases 2008 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin
> www.wmo.int: Greenhouse Gas Bulletin 2008 (pdf)
Climate change sceptics and lobbyists put world at risk, says top adviser
London, November 22 2009 –
Climate change sceptics and fossil fuel companies that have lobbied against action on greenhouse gas emissions have squandered the world's chance to avoid dangerous global warming, a key adviser to the government has said.
Professor Bob Watson, chief scientist at the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs, said a decade of inaction on climate change meant it was now virtually impossible to limit global temperature rise to 2C. He said the delay meant the world would now do well to stabilise warming between 3C and 4C.
> www.guardian.co.uk: Climate change sceptics and lobbyists put world at risk, says top adviser
Warming's impacts sped up, worsened since Kyoto
Washington, November 22 2009 –
Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated — beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made back then.
As the world has talked for a dozen years about what to do next, new ship passages opened through the once frozen summer sea ice of the Arctic. In Greenland and Antarctica, ice sheets have lost trillions of tons of ice. Mountain glaciers in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa are shrinking faster than before.
And it's not just the frozen parts of the world that have felt the heat in the dozen years leading up to next month's climate summit in Copenhagen.
> news.yahoo.com: Warming's impacts sped up, worsened since Kyoto
Shun beef to stop climate change, says India
New Delhi (AFP) November 20, 2009 -
India, a stronghold of vegetarianism where the cow is a sacred animal for the majority Hindu population, has urged the rest of the world to give up eating beef to help reduce global warming.
> www.seeddaily.com: Shun beef to stop climate change, says India
U.S. Senate to Put Off Climate Bill Until Spring
Washington, 18 November 2009 -
Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday they would put off debate on a big climate-change bill until spring, in a sign of weakening political will to tackle a long-term environmental issue at a time of high unemployment and economic uncertainty.
Legislation on health care, overhauling financial markets and job creation will be considered before the Senate takes up a measure to cap emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to climate change, Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday.
Climate legislation will be taken up "some time in the spring," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Tuesday after a Democratic caucus meeting.
> online.wsj.com: Senate to Put Off Climate Bill Until Spring
World on course for catastrophic 6° rise, reveal scientists
November 18, 2009 -
The world is now firmly on course for the worst-case scenario in terms of climate change, with average global temperatures rising by up to 6C by the end of the century, leading scientists said yesterday. Such a rise – which would be much higher nearer the poles – would have cataclysmic and irreversible consequences for the Earth, making large parts of the planet uninhabitable and threatening the basis of human civilisation.
We are headed for it, the scientists said, because the carbon dioxide emissions from industry, transport and deforestation which are responsible for warming the atmosphere have increased dramatically since 2002, in a way which no one anticipated, and are now running at treble the annual rate of the 1990s.
This means that the most extreme scenario envisaged in the last report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published in 2007, is now the one for which society is set, according to the 31 researchers from seven countries involved in the Global Carbon Project.
> www.independent.co.uk: World on course for catastrophic 6° rise, reveal scientists
> news.bbc.co.uk: Earth 'heading for 6C' of warming
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Climate change: temperatures to increase 6C by end of century
> www.yahoo.com/afp: Fossil-fuel emissions up 2% in 2008
> www.nature.com: Trends in the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide
> Apocalyptic warnings: Is It Too Late to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change?
Climate change could devastate Europe's spruce forests and hit pasta production
London, November 17, 2009 -
Europe’s rural landscape will be transformed in as little as 25 years by climate change, according to the results of an international study led by the Met Office.
Assuming a global temperature rise of 4C by 2100, the biggest effects are predicted to hit Europe’s northern and southern extremes. By 2035, Mediterranean summers will already be more than 2C hotter than at present and Scandinavian winters up to 2C milder.
> www.timesonline.co.uk: Climate change could devastate Europe's spruce forests and hit pasta production
> www.businessgreen.com: Met Office paints bleak climate picture for Europe
> Apocalyptic warnings: Is It Too Late to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change?
New climate mitigation scenario highlights stark challenge ahead
London, November 17, 2009
Latest research has shown that emissions of CO2 will need to be reduced close to zero by the end of this century if a rise in the mean global temperature beyond 2 °C is to be avoided. A temperature rise of no more than 2 °C is widely acknowledged as the ‘safe’ level to avoid dangerous climate change.
This finding follows the development of a new climate mitigation scenario constructed using the same principles that will be adopted by the next IPCC assessment review using concentrations of greenhouse gases and other forcings as a starting point. Modellers have then been able to establish what level of emissions would need to be achieved so as to restrict global temperature rise.
> www.metoffice.gov.uk: New climate mitigation scenario highlights stark challenge ahead
Apocalypse Fatigue: Losing the Public on Climate Change
November 16, 2009 -
Even as the climate science becomes more definitive, polls show that public concern in the United States about global warming has been declining. What will it take to rally Americans behind the need to take strong action on cutting carbon emissions?
> e360.yale.edu: Apocalypse Fatigue: Losing the Public on Climate Change
World leaders back delay to final climate deal
Singapore, November 15 2009 - U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders on Sunday rallied around plans to avert a failure at next month's climate summit in Copenhagen that would delay legally binding agreements until 2010 or even later.
"Given the time factor and the situation of individual countries we must, in the coming weeks, focus on what is possible and not let ourselves be distracted by what is not possible," Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told the leaders.
"The Copenhagen Agreement should finally mandate continued legal negotiations and set a deadline for their conclusion," said the Copenhagen talks host, who flew into Singapore overnight to lay out his proposal over breakfast at an Asia-Pacific summit.
> www.reuters.com: World leaders back delay to final climate deal
> news.bbc.co.uk: Apec leaders drop climate target
TEEB report released on the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for National and International Policymakers
Brussels, 13 November 2009 - Policy-makers who factor the planet's multi-trillion dollar ecosystem services into their national and international investment strategies are likely to see far higher rates of return and stronger economic growth in the 21st century, a new report issued today says.
The new report, prepared by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) initiative hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), calls on policy-makers to accelerate, scale-up and embed investments in the management and restoration of ecosystems.
> www.unep.org: TEEB report released on the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for National and International Policymakers
Record High Temperatures Far Outpace Record Lows Across U.S.
Boulder (Col / USA), 12 November 2009 -
Spurred by a warming climate, daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows over the last decade across the continental United States, new research shows. The ratio of record highs to lows is likely to increase dramatically in coming decades if emissions of greenhouse gases continue to climb.
"Climate change is making itself felt in terms of day-to-day weather in the United States," says Gerald Meehl, the lead author and a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "The ways these records are being broken show how our climate is already shifting."
> www.ucar.edu: Record High Temperatures Far Outpace Record Lows Across U.S.
Non-industrial emissions key for meeting Kyoto targets
Brussels, 12 November 2009 -
A report by the European Environment Agency released today shows that the European Union and all Member States but one are on track to meet their Kyoto Protocol commitments to limit and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
> www.eea.org: Non-industrial emissions key for meeting Kyoto targets
Reducing Greenhouse Gases May Not Be Enough To Slow Climate Change
ScienceDaily (Nov. 11, 2009) —
Georgia Tech City and Regional Planning Professor Brian Stone is publishing a paper in the December edition of Environmental Science and Technology that suggests policymakers need to address the influence of global deforestation and urbanization on climate change, in addition to greenhouse gas emissions.
> www.sciencedaily.com: Reducing Greenhouse Gases May Not Be Enough To Slow Climate Change
The time has come to make the hard choices needed to combat climate change
London, November 10 2009 -
The time has come to make the hard choices needed to combat climate change and enhance global energy security, says the latest IEA World Energy Outlook.
"World leaders gathering in Copenhagen next month for the UN Climate summit have a historic opportunity to avert the worst effects of climate change. The World Energy Outlook 2009 seeks to add momentum to their negotiations at this crucial stage by detailing the practical steps needed for a sustainable energy future as part of a global climate deal,” said Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency today in London at the launch of the new WEO – the annual flagship publication of the IEA.
> www.iea.org: The time has come to make the hard choices needed to combat climate change.
> www.worldenergyoutlook.org: Summary
Climate change may push migrants to cooler Britain
London, November 8 2009 -
The government’s chief scientific adviser has warned that climate change could destabilise populations across Europe, potentially triggering a wave of migrants heading for cooler regions such as the British Isles and Scandinavia.
Professor John Beddington believes that, without deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, average temperatures could rise by about 6C by 2060 in countries including Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey.
> www.timesonline.co.uk: Climate change may push migrants to cooler Britain
Emissions increase, despite crisis
Oslo, November 5 2009 -
Fossil CO2 emissions increased by 40 percent from 1990 to 2008, according to new findings. Coal has now bypassed oil as the largest source of CO2 emissions.
> www.cicero.uio.no: Emissions increase, despite crisis
A 350 ppm Emergency Pathway
Stockholm, November 4 2009 -
The first phase of the 350 campaign has been a wild success. "350" is now an international symbol of emergency climate stabilization. More importantly, the 350 target reflects a scientifically-grounded assessment of what global climate protection really means. But what would it actually take to bring the atmospheric carbon-dioxide (CO2) concentration back to 350 parts per million? This memo provides a quick, up-to-date overview of the issues here - issues significant to any plausible emergency emissions reduction target. To that end, it focuses on the extremely limited size of the remaining global CO2 budget, and on the emissions pathways that would enable us to keep within it. And, by way of context, it compares 350 to the 2°C temperature target, and offers a very brief glimpse of the challenges that such emergency targets raise on this North / South divided world.
> gdrights.org: A 350 ppm Emergency Pathway
Climate Change: Russia Skeptical of Global Warming
Moscow, November 4 2009 -
Moscow's support is key to passing a meaningful treaty at December's climatesummit in Copenhagen. But Russia -- one of the world's largest polluters-- is sounding more skeptical about global warming than ever.
> www.time.com: Climate Change: Russia Skeptical of Global Warming
Global warming could create 150 million 'climate refugees' by 2050
London, November 03 2009 -
An Environmental Justice Foundation report says 10% of the global population is at risk of forced displacement due to climate change.
Global warming will force up to 150 million "climate refugees" to move to other countries in the next 40 years.
In 2008 alone, more than 20 million people were displaced by climate-related natural disasters, including 800,000 people by cyclone Nargis in Asia, and almost 80,000 by heavy floods and rains in Brazil, the NGO said.
> www.guardian.co.uk: Global warming could create 150 million 'climate refugees' by 2050
> www.ejfoundation.org: Climate Refugees - No Place Like Home
Giant jewels and spray toads: The world's rarest species
Gland, November 03 2009 -
More species than ever before are facing extinction, according to the latest Red List of Threatened Species from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Out of the 47,677 species in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 17,291 were deemed to be at serious risk.
These included 21% of all known mammals, 30% of amphibians, 70% of plants and 35% of invertebrates.
Conservationists warned that not enough was being done to tackle the main threats, such as habitat loss.
> www.newscientist.com: Giant jewels and spray toads: The world's rarest species
> news.bbc.co.uk: Species' extinction threat grows
Set That 110 Limit....
Berlin, October 31 2009 -
Every single person should set a cap of a total of 110 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the next four decades to avoid irreversible and uncontrollable consequences of climate change, under a new proposal.
The German advisory council on global changes (WBGU, after its original name), which advises the German government on climate change, says in its report 'Solving the climate dilemma' that the best solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is to allocate them worldwide on a per capita basis.
WBGU spokesperson Benno Pilardeaux told IPS that a per capita cap for industrialised and developing countries alike could become a cornerstone of international negotiations towards a new treaty on reducing greenhouse gases, after the likely failure of the UN conference on climate change scheduled to take place in Copenhagen Dec. 7-18.
"Copenhagen will most likely not succeed in ratifying a treaty, and shall only set the framework for a further conference, probably next March," Pilardeaux said.
> www.ipsnews.net: Set That 110 Limit
> www.wbgu.de: Solving the climate dilemma: The budget approach
> www.wbgu.de: Taking stock before Copenhagen
Rethinking Jobs for a Sustainable Economy
Atlanta, Georgia, October 31 (IPS/IFEJ) -
The possibility of environmental catastrophe has led many leaders, scholars and average citizens to reconsider an economy based on constant growth. It is becoming clear that people, especially in the United States, will need to consume less in the way of natural resources to avoid planetary peril.
> www.ipsnews.net: Rethinking Jobs for a Sustainable Economy
EU Can Cut CO2 By 30 Percent By 2020 At No Cost: Report
London, October 29 2009 -
The European Union can cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 at almost no cost, according to a report by climate consultancy firm Ecofys released on Wednesday.
EU leaders have a target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. They have pledged to increase the target to 30 percent if other world leaders at a U.N. climate summit this December agree to join in.
By replacing all energy equipment at the end of its life with low-carbon technologies, the 27-nation bloc could halve its greenhouse gas emissions within two decades, the report found.
> planetark.org: EU Can Cut CO2 By 30 Percent By 2020 At No Cost: Report
> www.ecofys.com: Ambitious emission reductions will
be cost-neutral for the EU (pdf)
The climate change game
London, October 29 2009 -
Hopes are fading that a strong treaty will emerge from next month's negotiations in Copenhagen. Researchers who study cooperation, though, aren't surprised. Mason Inman reports in Nature.
> www.nature.com: The climate change game
Club of Rome convenes in Amsterdam for Global Assembly 2009
Amsterdam, October 26, 2009 -
The Club of Rome convenes two days in Amsterdam for its 2009 annual Global Assembly. This year’s Assembly is the last of seven international conferences of the Club of Rome in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
Keynote speakers like NASA’s James Hansen and former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev will address the interdependency of the climate, energy and economic crisis and the opportunities they offer for sustainable growth.
The Club of Rome will write the Amsterdam Declaration, proposing key ingredients for a Global Green New Deal, as a last message to Copenhagen.
> www.clubofrome.at: Perfect storm of interconnected crises
Grassroots Campaign Calls for Bold Steps
Wellington (NZ) / New York, October 24 - Through nearly 5,000 different actions planned in 170 countries for Saturday, climate change activists will try to raise public awareness on the need for a new global climate treaty which would set an upper limit for atmospheric carbon dioxide that would effectively prevent environmental catastrophes.
> www.timesonline.co.uk: 20,000 people, 192 countries. Welcome to the carbon circus
> www.nytimes.com: Campaign Against Emissions Picks Number
> edition.cnn.com: International day of demonstrations on climate change
> www.ipsnews.net: Grassroots Campaign Calls for Bold Steps
> news.yahoo.com: Thousands gather for worldwide climate protests
> www.citizen-times.com: Area activists rally for action on climate
> www.350.org: Photo's actions worldwide
Government launches map to highlight global warming threat
London, 22 October 2009 -
A nightmare in the not-very-distant future: the map below shows the enormous temperature rises which British scientists believe the planet may be experiencing in as a little as 50 years from now if global warming remains unchecked.
Released by the Government today, it illustrates a rise in global average temperature of four degrees Centigrade by 2060, and as such represents a dramatic acceleration of previous forecasts made as recently as 2007 by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
> www.independent.co.uk: Government launches map to highlight global warming threat
> www.telegraph.co.uk: The Day after Torrow Map
Livestock and Climate Change
Washington, 22 october 2009 -
The environmental impact of the lifecycle and supply chain of animals raised for food has been vastly underestimated, and in fact accounts for at least half of all human-caused greenhouse gases (GHGs), according to Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, co-authors of "Livestock and Climate Change".
A widely cited 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Livestock's Long Shadow, estimates that 18 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions are attributable to cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, camels, pigs, and poultry. But recent analysis by Goodland and Anhang finds that livestock and their byproducts actually account for at least 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, or 51 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions.
> www.worldwatch.org: Livestock and Climate Change (pdf)
World Must Use GM Crops, Says UK Science Academy
London, October 22 2009 -
The world needs genetically modified crops both to increase food yields and minimize the environmental impact of farming, Britain's top science academy said on Wednesday.
The Royal Society said in a report the world faced a "grand challenge" to feed another 2.3 billion people by 2050 and at the same time limit the environmental impact of the farm sector.
The world will have to increase food output by 70 percent and invest $83 billion annually in developing countries by mid-century, the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization said earlier this month.
"The problem is such an acute one, doing that sustainably without eroding soil, overusing fertilizers is an enormous challenge," said the chair of the Royal Society report, Cambridge University's David Baulcombe.
> www.worldwatch.org: World Must Use GM Crops, Says UK Science Academy
The Economic Case for Slashing Carbon Emissions
October 21, 2009 -
The climate change news from Washington is cautiously encouraging. No one in power is listening to the climate skeptics any more; the economic stimulus package included real money for clean energy; a bill capping U.S. carbon emissions emerged, battered but still standing, from the House of Representatives, and might even survive the Senate. This, along with stricter emission standards in Europe and a big push for clean energy and efficiency standards in China, provides grounds for hope for genuine progress on emissions reduction. But while climate policy is finally moving forward, climate science is moving faster.
> www.reuters.com: The Economic Case for Slashing Carbon Emissions
"Albedo Yachts" and Marine Clouds: A Cure for Climate Change?
October 21, 2009 -
Here's an idea to cool Earth: make marine clouds into better reflectors of sunlight. After all, clouds already reflect more of the sun's radiation back into space than the amount trapped by human emissions of carbon dioxide. So why not make them even more effective?
> www.scientificamarican.com: Albedo Yachts" and Marine Clouds: A Cure for Climate Change?
Deadlines loom for creating new economy to avoid climate catastrophe
Gland (Switserland), 19 october 2009 -
The world has just five years to initiate a low carbon industrial revolution before runaway climate change becomes almost inevitable. But the good news is that it can be done and that the long term benefits will be immense, according to a new analysis from WWF.
Climate Solutions 2 (CS2) is the first analysis to put timetables to the industrial transformations needed to limit global carbon emissions to below the 2°C level scientists identify as presenting unacceptable risks of runaway climate change. It was prepared for WWF by Climate Risk, a company known for its work on climate change for global insurers and infrastructure providers.
> www.panda.org: Deadlines loom for creating new economy to avoid climate catastrophe
Researching the Potential and the Pitfalls of Geoengineering
New Haven, 18 october 2009 -
Many scientists have shied away from the subject of geoengineering — the large-scale, deliberate manipulation of the Earth’s climate system — because they feel it is a wrongheaded and dangerous path to pursue. But climate scientist Ken Caldeira has not been so dismissive, in part because his climate modeling has demonstrated that some geoengineering schemes may indeed help reduce the risks of climate change.
> www.e360.yale.edu: Researching the Potential and the Pitfalls of Geoengineering
Stern: Massive aid to developing countries, binding targets, halt deforestation for climate rescue
London, 18 october 2009 - (By Nicholas Stern) -
Energy and environment ministers from the world's major economies are meeting in London today to try to accelerate crucial negotiations over an international treaty on climate change.
Strong progress has been made in the past few weeks, with Japan, for example, announcing that it will cut its emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 25% by 2020 relative to levels in 1990.
But there are still major obstacles and some doubt whether a strong global deal can be hammered out in time for the United Nations's conference on climate change in Copenhagen, now just seven weeks away.
> www.stopwarming.eu: Stern: Massive aid to developing countries, binding targets, halt deforestation for climate rescue
Reducing abrupt climate change risk using the Montreal Protocol and other regulatory actions to complement cuts in CO2 emissions
by Mario Molina a, Durwood Zaelke, K. Madhava Sarma, Stephen O. Andersen, Veerabhadran Ramanathan and Donald Kaniaru;
La Jolla, October 15 / 16, 2009 -
Current emissions of anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs) have already committed the planet to an increase in average surface temperature by the end of the century that may be above the critical threshold for tipping elements of the climate system into abrupt change with potentially irreversible and unmanageable consequences.
This would mean that the climate system is close to entering if not already within the zone of “dangerous anthropogenic interference” (DAI).
Scientific and policy literature refers to the need for “early,” “urgent,” “rapid,” and “fast-action” mitigation to help avoid DAI and abrupt climate changes. We define “fast-action” to include regulatory measures that can begin within 2–3 years, be substantially implemented in 5–10 years, and produce a climate response within decades.
We discuss strategies for short-lived non-CO2 GHGs and particles, where existing agreements can be used to accomplish mitigation objectives. Policy makers can amend the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) with high global warming potential.
Other fast-action strategies can reduce emissions of black carbon particles and precursor gases that lead to ozone formation in the lower atmosphere, and increase biosequestration, including through biochar. These and other fast-action strategies may reduce the risk of abrupt climate change in the next few decades by complementing cuts in CO2 emissions.
> www.pnas.org: www.planetark.org: Supporters Say Summit Won't Reach Climate Deal
IEA Ministers confirm commitment to stabilise CO2 emissions and ensure transition to low-carbon economy, welcome closer co-operation with China, India and Russia
Paris, October 15 / 16, 2009 -
“The world faces unprecedented economic, environmental and security challenges, all of which relate to energy. Ministers from the 28 member countries of the International Energy Agency and the European Commission have expressed their determination to tackle these challenges together to ensure a more secure, sustainable and clean energy future,” said Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), today at the closing of the Agency’s Ministerial meeting in Paris. “This is a historic moment,” added the Chair of the Ministerial meeting, Netherlands’ Minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven. “35 years ago, the IEA was founded to provide an effective response to oil supply disruptions and to ensure access to reliable, affordable energy. Today, we chart a course to a low-carbon economy, adequate energy investment and greater global engagement.”
> www.iea.org: IEA Ministers confirm commitment to stabilise CO2 emissions
No easy way out
London, October 15 2009 -
Concerned by escalating greenhouse gas emissions, scientists are now looking in earnest at the possibility of global temperatures rising by 4 °C or more. Gathering this month at the University of Oxford, they sketched out a world affected by severe climate change, which they now see as increasingly probable.
> www.nature.com: No easy way out
Climate no longer top policy issue with Australians
Canberra, October 13 2009 -
Australian voters no longer see the environment as the top policy issue, but the government remained committed Tuesday to an emissions trading scheme which, if defeated in November, could see a snap election.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was swept to power on his promise to tackle climate change in 2007, but a new opinion poll on Tuesday found that saving jobs was now the top priority for Australians and fighting climate change had fallen to seventh.
> www.enn.org: Climate no longer top policy issue with Australians
World needs 100 CO2 capture projects by 2020: IEA
London, October 13 2009 -
The world will need to have 100 large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects by 2020, with thousands more built over the following three decades, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.
> www.ipsnews.net: World needs 100 CO2 capture projects by 2020: IEA
Agriculture to 2050 – the challenges ahead
Rome, October 12 2009 -
Agriculture must become more productive if it is to feed a much larger world population while responding to the daunting environmental challenges ahead, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said here today.
Opening a two-day High-Level Expert Forum on How to Feed the World in 2050 Diouf told the 300 delegates that over the next 40 years: "The combined effect of population growth, strong income growth and urbanization ... is expected to result in almost the doubling of demand for food, feed and fibre."
> www.fao.org: Agriculture to 2050 – the challenges ahead
New fears for species extinctions
London, October 11 2009 -
Scientists have warned of an alarming increase in the extinction of animal species, because of threats to biodiversity and ecosystems.
The threats are posed by pollution, climate change and urban spread.
The comments come two days ahead of a meeting of the Diversitas group of global experts on biodiversity in the South African city of Cape Town.
> news.bbc.co.uk: New fears for species extinctions
10:10 can make a real impact
London, October 10 2009 -
Last month an ambitious environmental campaign was launched, asking individuals and organisations to cut their emissions by 10% in 2010. Here Kevin McCloud introduces a special supplement on its progress so far.
> 10:10 can make a real impact
Oil production could peak in 10 years' time
London, October 9 2009 -
There is a 'significant risk' that global oil production will peak in less than ten years' time, say researchers in a report from the UK Energy Research Centre.
The report's authors add there is a growing consensus that the age of cheap oil is coming to an end.
> planetearth.nerc.ac.uk: Oil production could peak in 10 years' time
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Era of cheap, easy oil is over, warns study
Rare tropical fish caught in British waters for first time
London, October 9 2009 -
Neil McDonnell, 37, is the first angler on record to use a rod and line to catch an almaco jack – a fish normally found in the Caribbean.
Experts say the fish could be a sign of global warming and hotter seas as the species usually stay in much milder waters off Florida.
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Rare tropical fish caught in British waters for first time
Pulling CO2 from the Air: Promising Idea, Big Price Tag
New Haven, October 8 2009 -
Of the various geoengineering schemes being proposed to cool an overheated planet, one approach — extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using “artificial trees” — may have the most potential. But both questions and big hurdles remain before this emerging technology could be widely deployed.
> e360.yale.edu: Pulling CO2 from the Air: Promising Idea, Big Price Tag
Last time carbon dioxide levels were this high: 15 million years ago, scientists report
Los Angeles, October 7 2009 -
"The last time carbon dioxide levels were apparently as high as they are today — and were sustained at those levels — global temperatures were ~3 to 6°C warmer and sea level 25 to 40 meters higher than present, there was no permanent sea ice cap in the Arctic and very little ice on Antarctica and Greenland," said the paper's lead author, Aradhna Tripati, a UCLA assistant professor in the department of Earth and space sciences and the department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.
> www.ucla.edu: Last time carbon dioxide levels were this high: 15 million years ago, scientists report
> e360.yale.edu: Current CO2 Levels May Be Highest in 15 Million Years
> www.sciencemag.org: Coupling of CO2 and Ice Sheet Stability Over Major Climate Transitions of the Last 20 Million Years
Temperatures of sea water fringing South Pole were tropical 50 million years ago
Utrecht / London, October 7 2009 -
Fossil Greenhouse world was warm from pole to pole. The temperature difference between equatorial and polar sea waters was minimal during the extremely warm 'Greenhouse world' 60 to 50 million years ago.
This is the main conclusion drawn by a team of scientists from Utrecht University, the Netherlands, the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and the University of California, Santa Cruz. The team of scientists, headed by Peter Bijl, show that circum-Antarctic sea water exceeded 30ºC at that time. The results were published in Nature of October 8 2009.
> www.nwo.nl: Temperatures of sea water fringing South Pole were tropical 50 million years ago
> www.earthtimes.org: Temperatures of sea water fringing South Pole were tropical 50 million years ago
> scienceblips.dailyradar.com: Early Palaeogene temperature evolution of the southwest Pacific Ocean
> www.nature.com: Early Palaeogene temperature evolution of the southwest Pacific Ocean
See also:
> Peering under the ice of a collapsing polar coast (Oct 07)
IEA releases special early excerpt of the World Energy Outlook 2009
Bangkok / Paris, 6 October 2009 -
IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka released a special early excerpt of the World Energy Outlook 2009 at the Bangkok UNFCCC meeting entitled “How the energy sector can deliver on a climate agreement in Copenhagen”. The excerpt sets out the latest greenhouse-gas emissions trends, updated in light of the financial crisis, as well as detailing a pathway for the energy sector to achieve a transition to a low-carbon world.
> www.iea.org: IEA releases special early excerpt of the World Energy Outlook 2009
> /www.worldenergyoutlook.org: Climate Change Excerpt
> www.iea.org: Download the Excerpt...
The Other Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis in Global Land Use
New Haven (Connecticut/USA), October 5, 2009 -
As the international community focuses on climate change as the great challenge of our era, it is ignoring another looming problem — the global crisis in land use. With agricultural practices already causing massive ecological impact, the world must now find new ways to feed its burgeoning population and launch a "Greener" Revolution.
> e360.yale.edu: The Other Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis in Global Land Use
Nations Urged to Share Low Carbon Development Costs
Bangkok, October 4 -
Following a strict global carbon budget is the only way to ride out climate change — and this is as much the responsibility of developing countries as it is of developed ones.
Globally, all countries need to have reduced their total greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050 below 1990 levels for the world to stay below two degrees Celsius warming of the earth’s surface. There is a growing international consensus that this target is essential to avoid the most dangerous effects of global warming.
"Climate change is happening now," said a senior energy analyst with the World Wide Fund (WWF), Stephan Singer, in an interview with IPS. "The storms that have devastated the Philippines and are now wreaking havoc in the rest of South-east Asia are a further wake-up call. Inaction is not an option if we are to save jobs, lives and nature," he said.
> www.ipsnews.net: Nations Urged to Share Low Carbon Development Costs
> www.reuters.com: World needs "CO2 budget" to limit warming: WWF
> www.panda.org: Strict Global Carbon Budget needed to tacke Climate Change - WWF Report
> 4 Degrees and Beyond: Planned recession could avoid catastrophic climate change
Most people in denial over climate change, according to psychologists
London, October 3 2009 -
The Met Office has warned that if the world continues to burn fossil fuels at the current rate temperatures will rise above four degrees C in the next fifty years.
This will cause sea level rise, droughts, floods and mass collapse of eco-systems.
However Clive Hamilton, Professor of public ethics at the Australian National University, said the majority of the population is still in denial about the risks of climate change.
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Most people in denial over climate change, according to psychologists
> Oxford Conference 4 Degrees and Beyond
How to limit risk of climate catastrophe
Massachusetts (USA), October 2 2009 -
A new analysis of climate risk, published by researchers at MIT and elsewhere, shows that even moderate carbon-reduction policies now can substantially lower the risk of future climate change. It also shows that quick, global emissions reductions would be required in order to provide a good chance of avoiding a temperature increase of more than 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level — a widely discussed target. But without prompt action, they found, extreme changes could soon become much more difficult, if not impossible, to control.
> www.physorg.com: How to limit risk of climate catastrophe
> features.csmonitor.com: Reducing greenhouse gases now may lower climate change risk
Rich countries 'must slash living standards' to fight climate change
London, October 2 2009 -
Living standards in Britain and other rich countries must fall sharply over the next decade if the world is to avoid catastrophic global warming, according to a leading climate research centre.
Consumption of energy-intensive goods and services should be cut and remain capped until low-carbon alternatives are available, said the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
The study says that Britain’s carbon dioxide emissions need to fall twice as fast as planned by the Government. It concludes that global greenhouse gas emissions are rising much faster than previously thought.
It says that Britain should commit to making all energy, including for electricity, heating and cars, zero-carbon by 2025, at least 25 years earlier than planned.
> www.timesonline.co.uk: Rich countries 'must slash living standards' to fight climate change
> 4 Degrees and Beyond: Planned recession could avoid catastrophic climate change
Another Inconvenient Truth: The World's Growing Population Poses a Malthusian Dilemma
By 2050, the world will host nine billion people—and that's if population growth slows in much of the developing world. Today, at least one billion people are chronically malnourished or starving. Simply to maintain that sad state of affairs would require the clearing (read: deforestation) of 900 million additional hectares of land, according to Pedro Sanchez, director of the Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment Program at The Earth Institute at Columbia University.
> www.scientificamerican.com / Another Inconvenient Truth: The World's Growing Population Poses a Malthusian Dilemma
World needs "CO2 budget" to limit warming: WWF
Bangkok, October 2 2009 -
The world is in danger of spending its "carbon budget" by about 2025 and risks temperatures rising beyond 2 degrees Celsius unless nations adopt a flexible carbon accounting system, conservation group WWF says in a report.
> www.reuters.com: World needs "CO2 budget" to limit warming: WWF
A Timely Reminder of the Real Limits to Growth
New Haven, October 1, 2009 -
It has been more than 30 years since a groundbreaking book predicted that if growth continued unchecked, the Earth’s ecological systems would be overwhelmed within a century. The latest study from an international team of scientists should serve as an eleventh-hour warning that cannot be ignored.
> Bill Mckibben: A Timely Reminder of the Real Limits to Growth
NATO chief warns of climate change security risks
London, October 1, 2009 -
Climate change has "potentially huge security implications" and NATO countries should use the alliance as a forum to address the challenges it creates, the new NATO chief said Thursday.
> www.terradaily.com: NATO chief warns of climate change security risks
Britons creating 'more emissions'
London, September 30 2009 -
Greenhouse gas emissions created by Britons are probably twice as bad as figures suggest, says the government's new chief energy scientist.
Professor David MacKay told the BBC that reductions in carbon dioxide emissions since 1990 are "an illusion".
"Our energy footprint has decreased over the last few decades and that's largely because we've exported our industry," he said.
> news.bbc.co.uk: Britons creating 'more emissions'
Climate Change to Increase Malnutrition, Raise Food Prices, and Lower Crop Yields
Washington, September 30 2009 -
A new report from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) examines the interplay between climate change, agriculture, and food security and provides projections for climate change’s impact on crop production, food prices, and malnutrition.
Climate Change: Impact on Agriculture and Costs of Adaptation projects that in 2050, there will be 25 million additional malnourished children, a 90% increase in wheat prices, and a 15% decline in irrigated rice yields in developing countries, all compared to a scenario without climate change. Critically, agricultural productivity investments of US$7.1–7.3 billion are essential to avoid these negative impacts.
The report is the first to combine detailed modeling of crop growth under climate change with insights from an extremely detailed global agriculture model, and it also uses two climate scenarios to simulate future climate.
> www.ifpri.org: Climate Change to Increase Malnutrition, Raise Food Prices, and Lower Crop Yields
> features.csmonitor.com: How will climate change affect agriculture?
Netherlands: Environmental Balance 2009
Bilthoven (NL), September 29 2009 -
The feasibility of meeting both the short-term and long-term targets of environmental policy is heavily influenced by the consequences of the current recession. In the short term, the environment will profit from the recession because the decline in economic activity will result in lower emissions, especially to the air.
In the long term, the recession will have unfavourable effects on the environment because it will slow down the development and introduction of environmentally-friendly technologies.
Until 2015 the targets for climate and air policy will probably be achieved or are within reach. Also, targets for soil remediation and waste management are within reach. Targets for the environmental conditions within nature conservation areas in the rural areas will probably not be achieved by 2015. The same applies to the targets for noise, odours and external safety in the urban environment.
> www.pbl.nl: Environmental Balance 2009
Risky business: insuring countries against climate catastrophe
Hong Kong, September 28, 2009 -
The last fifty years have borne witness to a spate of climate related disasters across the world causing over 800,000 fatalities and $1 trillion in economic loss.
Those stark facts come from the Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA) Working Group, a group of NGOs and corporations that has produced a report warning that if countries do not take active steps to build resilience to climate change soon, they are likely to suffer even larger economic losses in the coming decades.
According to the ECA report published on September 14, climate catastrophes have risen in direct proportion to global temperatures over the last several years.
> edition.cnn.com: Risky business: insuring countries against climate catastrophe
Over-Allocation of Pollution Permits Would Result in No Emissions Reduction Requirement in Early Years of Climate Program
Washington, September 28 2009 -
The large decline in U.S. emissions in 2008 and 2009 due to the economic recession means that if the House-passed Waxman-Markey climate legislation becomes law, the bill's emissions reduction cap will require no reduction of carbon emissions over the first two to five years of the program. The resulting oversupply of emissions permits will allow regulated firms to continue business as usual emissions through as late as 2018, according to a new analysis by Breakthrough Institute based on new Energy Information Administration emissions projections that take into account the impacts of the global recession.
> scitizen.com: Over-Allocation of Pollution Permits Would Result in No Emissions Reduction Requirement in Early Years of Climate Program
Promises? Leaders must act to spur climate talks
Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva speaks during the opening session of the Bangkok Climate Change Talks September 28, 2009. The Bangkok talks, part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), run to October 9 and will aim to draft a long-term cooperative action to fight against global warming.
Washington, September 28 2009 -
World leaders pledged last week to step up efforts to reach a U.N. deal to fight climate change, but they will have to match rhetoric with rapid action to break a crippling deadlock before a December deadline.
At a United Nations meeting on climate change in New York and a subsequent summit of G20 leaders in Pittsburgh, leaders from U.S. President Barack Obama to Chinese President Hu Jintao laid out measures to advance talks on global warming. It was not enough.
The 'Bangkok talks', part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), started the 28 of September andrun to October 9. They will aim to draft a long-term cooperative action to fight against global warming.
> www.reuters.com: Promises? Leaders must act to spur climate talks
> www.reuters.com: Negotiators urged to speed up climate pact talks
10:10 climate campaign gathers momentum
London, September 27 2009 -
The mobile phone giant O2, Manchester city council and In the Loop actor Peter Capaldi have become the latest big names to sign up to the 10:10 climate change campaign.
> More about 10:10
Water wars forecast as feeding India's hungry leaves the land thirsty
Balawas Village (India), September 26 2009 -
India is destined for water wars, one of its leading environmentalists has concluded after studying the effects of modern agriculture for more than 20 years.
''In a decade India could look like Darfur in Sudan,'' says Dr Vandana Shiva, a nuclear physicist turned environmental activist. ''When you run out of water it's a recipe for killing. Water really makes people so desperate.''
> www.smh.com.au: Water wars forecast as feeding India's hungry leaves the land thirsty
Related:
> www.terradaily.com: India heading for worst drought since 1972
Impacts of Climate Change Coming Faster and Sooner
Washington, September 25 2009 -
The pace and scale of climate change may now be outstripping even the most sobering predictions of the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC).
An analysis of the very latest, peer-reviewed science indicates that many predictions at the upper end of the IPCC's forecasts are becoming ever more likely.
Climate researchers now predict the planet will warm by 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century even if the world's leaders fulfill their most ambitious climate pledges, a much faster and broader scale of change than forecast just two years ago, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations Environment Program.
Other findings include the fact that sea level might rise by as much as six feet by 2100 instead of 1.5 feet, as the IPCC had projected, and the Arctic may experience a sea-ice summer by 2030, rather than by the end of the century.
> www.unep.org: New Science Report Underlines Urgency for Governments to Seal the Deal in Copenhagen
> www.reuters.com: Droughts, melts signal climate change quickening: U.N.
> www.washingtonpost.com: New Analysis Brings Dire Forecast Of 6.3-Degree (Fahrenheit) Temperature Increase
> www.physorg.com: Planned emission cuts still mean far hotter Earth
El Nino shift could boost hurricanes, intensify drought: study
Paris (AFP) September 24, 2009 - Global warming periodically shifts El Nino thousands of miles to the west, potentially intensifying Asian droughts and weakening its dampening effect on Atlantic hurricanes, reports a study published Thursday. Up to now, the tropical weather phenomenon, which strikes on average every four or five years, has generally occurred along a wide stretch of the equator in the eastern Pacific. ...
> www.terradaily.com: El Nino shift could boost hurricanes, intensify drought: study
> www.physorg.com: Global warming may dent El Nino's protective shield from Atlantic hurricanes, increase droughts
We will back a global deal to cut emissions, says Obama
New York, 23 September 2009 -
Barack Obama insisted at a climate change summit yesterday that the US was committed to a new global treaty on greenhouse gases – explicitly distancing himself from George Bush – even while acknowledging that he faced an uphill task getting the necessary legislation passed in Washington. Listing actions taken in the US to curb carbon output since he took office, the President called his pledge "an historic recognition on behalf of the American people and their government. We understand the gravity of the climate threat. We are determined to act. And we will meet our responsibility to future generations".
> www.independent.co.uk: We will back a global deal to cut emissions, says Obama
International scientists set boundaries for survival
London, September 23 2009 -
Human activities have already pushed the Earth system beyond three of the planet's biophysical thresholds, with consequences that are detrimental or even catastrophic for large parts of the world; six others may well be crossed in the next decades, conclude 29 European, Australian and U.S. scientists in an article in the Sept. 24 issue of the scientific journal Nature.
Scientists have been warning for decades that the explosion of human activity since the industrial revolution is pushing the Earth's resources and natural systems to their limits. The data confirm that 6 billion people are capable of generating a global geophysical force the equivalent to some of the great forces of nature - just by going about their daily lives.
This force has given rise to a new era - Anthropocene - in which human actions have become the main driver of global environmental change...
> www.physorg.com: International scientists set boundaries for survival
> e360.yale.edu: Provocative New Study Warns of Crossing Planetary Boundaries
> www.stockholmresilience.org: Tipping towards the unknown
> www.nature.com: Planetary Boundaries
> www.nature.com / Editorial: Earth Boundaries
> www.nature.com: A safe operating space for humanity
> blogs.nature.com: Earth Boundaries / Commentaries
Antarctic coastal ice thinning surprises experts
Oslo, September 23 2009 -
Scientists are surprised at how extensively coastal ice in Antarctica and Greenland is thinning, according to a study Wednesday that could help predict rising sea levels linked to climate change.
> www.reuters.com: Antarctic coastal ice thinning surprises experts
Lasers from space show thinning of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (Sep 23)
Lasers from space show thinning of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (Sep 23)
Public scepticism takes the steam out of debate
(Financial Times) September 22 2009 -
Climatologists are to meet in Oxford next week for a deeply depressing conference. Over three days they will discuss the world warming by a potentially calamitous 4°C as a result of human activities.
Such a temperature rise is about twice that forecast by the latest Intergovern- mental Panel on Climate Change report in 2007 - the 2°C rise that scientists and increasingly politicians agree is the level beyond which global warming may have dire consequences. But while political urgency over climate change is growing - and few world leaders are outright "deniers" - there is little sign that broader public opinion is following in the wake of the mounting scientific concerns.
> www.ft.com: Public scepticism takes the steam out of debate
Professor Kevin Anderson: Point of no return
Oxford, 21 September 2009 -
The importance of the international climate summit to be held in Copenhagen later this year cannot be over- emphasised; 2009 is literally a make-or-break year in terms of climate-change negotiations.
After almost two decades of increasingly heated debate on how to tackle climate change, and notwithstanding the current recession, emissions of global greenhouse gases – from energy use, agriculture, deforestation and industrial processes – are rising at a faster rate now than they have done throughout our history.
As we enter the second decade of this new millennium, the international community is faced with a very clear and stark choice: to cut emissions urgently and radically, or to lock the next and future generations into "dangerous climate change".
> www.independent.co.uk / Professor Kevin Anderson: Point of no return
> www.independent.co.uk / Stephen Hale: It's now or never
Scientific consensus over dire consequences
New York, September 21 2009 -
A sense of urgency that has led to Tuesday’s meeting of world leaders in New York has been driven by an increasingly troubling consensus of scientific opinion.
Nearly all scientific experts agree that allowing greenhouse gas emissions to continue to rise, unchecked, will lead to substantial – some say dramatic – warming.
www.ft.com: Scientific consensus over dire consequences
Climate deal in peril, says Brown and Barosso
London, September 21 2009 -
The climate deal planned for Copenhagen in 10 weeks' time is in grave danger of failure, the prime minister has said.
Gordon Brown has become the first world leader to offer to go to the Danish capital to help seal the deal.
> news.bbc.co.uk: British prime minister Gordon Brown will go to Copenhagen to help to seal the deal
> www.reuters.com: EU's Barroso warns climate talks in dangerous state
> www.bloomberg.com: Climate-Talks Deadlock May Ease After Obama, Hu Meet (Sep-21)
Such drastic climate therapy could make things worse
London, September 20 2009 -
Better, perhaps, to let the earth look after itself than try to regulate its system through mirrors, clouds and artificial trees.
Better, perhaps, to learn from the wiser physicians of the early 19th century; they knew no cure for common diseases but also knew that by letting nature take its course, the patient often recovered. Perhaps we, too, had better use our energies to adapt and leave recovery to Gaia; after all, she has survived more than three billion years and has kept life going all that time.
> James Lovelock: Such drastic climate therapy could make things worse
> Gaia proponent Lovelock says it’s time to adapt to inevitable global heating
Recession results in 'steep fall' in emissions
London, September 20 2009 -
The recession has resulted in an unparalleled fall in greenhouse gas emissions, providing a “unique opportunity” to move the world away from high-carbon growth, an International Energy Agency study has found.
In the first big study of the impact of the recession on climate change, the IEA found that CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels had undergone “a significant decline” this year – further than in any year in the last 40. The fall will exceed the drop in the 1981 recession that followed the oil crisis.
> www.reuters.com: CO2 emissions down about 2.6 percent in 2009: IEA
> www.ft.com: Recession results in steep fall in emissions
Best way to get around: bicycle, car or on foot?
Brussels, September 16 2009 -
Every day, millions of Europeans make short trips to work, school or the shops. Their choice of how to reach their destination has a significant impact on the environment. During European Mobility Week from 16 to 22 September 2009, Europe will focus on sustainable mobility in urban areas. The European Environment Agency has tips to help you make your daily trips more environmentally friendly.
> www.eea.europa.eu: Best way to get around: bicycle, car or on foot?
Warning: bigger carbon cut needed to avoid disaster
London, September 15 2009 -
Leading researchers say government has misled public and call for 90% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050.
Drastic action is needed if Britain is to have any chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change, a ground-breaking environmental report warns today.
> www.guardian.co.uk: Warning: bigger carbon cut needed to avoid disaster
World Bank’s World Development Report Calls for Financial Assistance for Low Carbon Development
New York, September 15 2009 -
The World Bank has launched “World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change.”
The Report says developing countries can shift to lower-carbon paths while promoting development and reducing poverty, but only if financial and technical assistance from high-income countries is forthcoming.
> www.terradaily.com: Rich nations must lead global warming battle: World Bank
> climate-l.org: World Bank’s World Development Report Calls for Financial Assistance for Low Carbon Development
> econ.worldbank.org: World Development Report 2010
> news.bbc.co.uk: $100bn a year for climate safety
> www.worldbank.org: Adapting to Climate Change to Cost US$75-100 Billion a year
EU delays van emissions clampdown
Brussels, September 14 2009 -
The auto industry will have to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new vans sold in the European Union by 14 percent by July 2013 or face fines, a draft EU document shows.
The ban would be a year later than first envisaged.
> www.reuters.com: EU delays van emissions clampdown
Better world: Tax carbon and give the money to the people
London, 13 September 2009 -
Consider this injustice: Governments tax labour and profit, the engines of prosperity, while pollution and the depletion of resources - arguably the greatest threats to our economic well-being - remain largely untouched. So while we're thinking about how to rebuild our broken economies, here's a plea for a new cornerstone: a universal carbon tax.
Better world: Tax carbon and give the money to the people
Stern: Rich nations will have to forget about growth to stop climate change
London, 12 September 2009 -
Economic expansion cannot be achieved forever if greenhouse gases are to be curbed, warns the leading economist and author of the UK's government's report on climate change.
> www.guardian.co.uk: Stern: Rich nations will have to forget about growth to stop climate change
100 Days to Unite 1 Million Global Youth
New York, September 11, 2009 -
With just 100 days to go until the critical U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15), a Web campaign launched today with the aim of uniting 1 million global youth on a declaration that calls for a bold new climate treaty to safeguard the future of our planet.
In addition to signing the declaration, which will be handed over to the host of COP15 the Danish Government in December, the website www.PlanetCall.org, which is endorsed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Danish Minister for Climate and Energy Connie Hedegaard, also asks young people to make their "Call" for the solutions they feel should be supported by a necessary successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
> www.PlanetCall.org: 100 Days to Unite 1 Million Global Youth
UN climate talks could fail, EU ministers warn
Copenhagen (AFP) September 10, 2009 -
European ministers warned that December's landmark UN climate talks could fail, as the EU Commission urged rich nations Thursday to stump up tens of billions of euros to help the developing world combat global warming.
"The Copenhagen deal is hanging in the balance," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters. "It's a real danger that the world will not come together in the way that is necessary to agree on an ambitious and comprehensive deal in December," warned Miliband, in Denmark to meet with his Danish, Finnish, French and Swedish counterparts on the issue.
> www.terradaily.com: UN climate talks could fail, EU ministers warn
> politiken.dk: Climate Summit fiasco danger
Prospects or U.N. Climate Deal Brighter: De Boer
Oslo, September 9 2009 -
Prospects for a new U.N. climate pact in Copenhagen have brightened but negotiations must speed up to meet a December deadline, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said on Tuesday.
Yvo de Boer said moves by countries including Japan, China and India to curb greenhouse gases had helped the 190-nation talks in recent weeks despite disappointing progress on financing the fight against climate change by the Group of 20.
> planetark.org / Yvo de Boer: Prospects or U.N. Climate Deal Brighter
Perspectives: Why EOS Matters, 10 years later
Montana, September 8 2009 -
Ten years ago, NASA-funded ecologist Steve Running, of the University of Montana, wrote an essay for the Earth Observatory about why NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) mission was so important. In this opinion essay, he talks about how changes in the Earth system documented over the past decade make satellite-based Earth observation more important than ever.
earthobservatory.nasa.gov: Perspectives: Why EOS Matters, 10 years later
David Miliband sets out to shock on global warming tour
London, September 7 2009 -
The spectre of a 4C warmer world, with alligators basking off the coast of Sweden, a vast desert surrounding the Mediterranean and a largely uninhabitable mainland Europe, is to be presented to European Union countries by the foreign secretary David Miliband.
As part of a diplomatic push by Britain to persuade rich countries to put climate change at the top of their agendas, Miliband will address EU, French, Swedish and Danish foreign ministries in the next 48 hours.
> www.guardian.co.uk: David Miliband sets out to shock on global warming tour
> www.actoncopenhagen.decc.gov.uk: Foreign Secretary drives Europe for Copenhagen deal
Humans Causing Erosion Comparable To World’s Largest Rivers And Glaciers, Study Finds
ScienceDaily, September 7 2009 -
A new study finds that large-scale farming projects can erode the Earth's surface at rates comparable to those of the world's largest rivers and glaciers.
Published online in the journal Nature Geoscience, the research offers stark evidence of how humans are reshaping the planet. It also finds that - contrary to previous scholarship - rivers are as powerful as glaciers at eroding landscapes.
> www.sciencedaily.com: Humans Causing Erosion Comparable To World’s Largest Rivers And Glaciers, Study Finds
EU chief: 'Energy and climate are today's coal and steel'
Brussels, 7 September 2009 -
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, who is running for a second term at the EU executive's helm, likened EU policies to address climate change and improve energy security to the coal and steel community, which paved the way for European reconciliation after the Second World War.
> www.euractiv.com / EU chief: 'Energy and climate are today's coal and steel'
Climate change: melting ice will trigger wave of natural disasters
London, 6 September 2009 -
Scientists at a London conference next week will warn of earthquakes, avalanches and volcanic eruptions as the atmosphere heats up and geology is altered. Even Britain could face being struck by tsunamis.
> www.guardian.co.uk: Melting ice will trigger wave of natural disasters">
'Industrialized Nations Are Facing CO2 Insolvency'
Berlin, 4 September 2009 -
In a SPIEGEL ONLINE interview, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, the German government's climate protection adviser, argues that drastic measures must be taken in order to prevent a catastrophe. He is proposing the creation of a CO2 budget for every person on the planet, regardless whether they live in Berlin or Beijing.
> www.spiegel.de: 'Industrialized Nations Are Facing CO2 Insolvency'
UN Climate Change Gateway Website Updated
New York, September 4, 2009 -
The website that presents the UN System’s Work on Climate Change has been updated. The website offers pages regarding, inter alia: the 2009 Summit, to take place on 22 September 2009, in New York, US; Science; Themes; Negotiations; Secretary-General; News and Media; Calendar; Documents; and Youth. It also offers links to the climate change websites for the UN System’s organizations, programmes and agencies.
www.un.org: UN Climate Change Gateway Website Updated
www.un.org: World on Track to Meet Worst Climate Change Projections
Towards greener grazing
London, September 3, 2009 -
Emissions from cattle and sheep are significant contributors to planetary warming. But how close are we to creating low-emitting livestock? Kevin Morrison reports.
www.nature.com: Towards greener grazing
World heading for abyss on climate change: UN chief
Geneva, September 3, 2009 -
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Thursday for swifter work on a new climate treaty to fend off what he said could be economic disaster with a surge in sea levels of up to 2 meters (6.5 ft) by 2100.
The world is accelerating towards an abyss on climate change, the UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned, urging rapid progress in troubled talks to cut emissions and tackle global warming.
"Our foot is stuck on the accelerator and we are heading towards an abyss," the United Nations Secretary General said in a speech to the World Climate Conference.
"We will pay a high price if we do not act," he told a 155-nation climate conference in Geneva of negotiations on a new United Nations deal to combat global warming that is due to be agreed in December in Copenhagen.
"Unless we fight climate change, unless we stop this trend, we’ll have devastating consequences for humanity."
> www.un.org: From Polar ice rim, Ban issues call for urgent action on climate change
> www.reuters.com: U.N.'s Ban seeks tough climate pact, warns of disaster
> news.yahoo.com: World heading for abyss on climate change: UN chief
> www.google.com: UN's Ban to see climate change effects on North Pole trip (Aug 25)
> blog.norway.com: Video from Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Svalbard
Related:
> WWF: Warming Arctic's global impacts outstrip predictions
Prescott: cutting emissions by 80% will not be enough
London, September 3, 2009 -
Europe's climate targets of cutting carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050 may not be tough enough to get developing countries into a worldwide global warming deal, John Prescott has warned.
In an interview with The Independent, the former Deputy Prime Minister, who brokered the current climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, said a 90 per cent cut might be needed in order to secure an agreement at December's UN climate conference in Copenhagen.
> www.independent.co.uk / Prescott: cutting emissions by 80% will not be enough
> www.europarl.europa.eu: Greenhouse gases should be cut 80% by 2050, Climate Committee (Dec 3, 2008)
India Says Greenhouse Gas Pollution To Jump
New Delhi, September 3, 2009 -
India said it expects its greenhouse gas emissions to jump to between 4 billion tons and 7.3 billion tons in 2031, a report said on Wednesday.
Per capita emissions are estimated to rise to 2.1 tons by 2020 and 3.5 tons by 2030.
The report is the nation's most sweeping emissions summary, highlighting India's growing role as a key player in U.N.-led climate negotiations aimed at winning agreement of all nations to curb the growth in planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
"The results should set at rest any apprehensions that India's GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions are poised for runaway increase over the next two decades," the government report said.
> www.planetark.org: India Says Greenhouse Gas Pollution To Jump
> news.bbc.co.uk: India emissions 'triple by 2030'
> www.guardian.co.uk: India will be key player at Copenhagen conference
EU's Barroso plans "radical" action to cut CO2
Brussels, September 3 2009 -
Europe must take bold steps to strip carbon emissions out of its transport and electricity generation systems, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said on Thursday.
> www.reuters.com: EU's Barroso plans "radical" action to cut CO2
From Polar ice rim, Ban issues call for urgent action on climate change
Svalbard (No), 2 September 2009 –
Standing on rapidly melting polar ice, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to the world for urgent measures to be taken to combat climate change to protect the planet for future generations.
“I feel the power of nature, and at the same time, a sense of vulnerability,” Mr. Ban told reporters from the Polar ice rim yesterday. “This is a common resource for human beings, and we must do all we can to preserve this Arctic ice.”
> www.un.org: From Polar ice rim, Ban issues call for urgent action on climate change
Public figures and business sign up to 10:10 climate campaign
London, September 1 / 2 2009 -
An unprecedented coalition of scientists, companies, celebrities and organisations spanning the cultural and political spectrum will today commit to slashing their carbon emissions as part of an ambitious campaign to tackle global warming.
> More about 10: 10
Outlook "poor" for Great Barrier Reef: study
Canberra, September 2 2009 -
Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest living organism, is under grave threat from climate warming and coastal development, and its prospects of survival are "poor," a major new report found on Wednesday.
> www.reuters.com: Outlook "poor" for Great Barrier Reef
U.N. chief calls for urgent action on climate
Longyearbyen, (Svalbard) September 1 2009 -
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on world leaders on Monday to take urgent action to combat climate change for the sake of "the future of humanity."
Ban, on a tour of Svalbard, the remote Norwegian-controlled Arctic archipelago, said the region might have no ice within 30 years if present climate trends persisted.
> www.reuters.com: U.N. chief calls for urgent action on climate
> www.reuters.com: On thinning Arctic ice, U.N.'s Ban urges climate deal
UN World Economic and Social Survey 2009 Calls for Integrated Policy Responses to Climate Change
New York, September 1 2009 -
The UN has launched a report on “The World Economic and Social Survey 2009: Promoting Development, Saving the Planet,” which calls for integrated policy responses to development and climate challenges.
> climate-l.org:
UN World Economic and Social Survey 2009 Calls for Integrated Policy Responses to Climate Change (WESS)
> www.un.org:
The World Economic and Social Survey (WESS)
Risky schemes may be only hope for cooling planet
(Physorg /Nature /New Scientist / Science Daily), September 1 / August 31 2009 -
As atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide soar and political efforts to control emissions stagnate it is time to (re-) consider radical intervention.
Sci-fi proposals to cool the planet are laden with risk but may be Earth's only hope if politicians fail to tackle global warming, scientists said on Tuesday in their biggest evaluation to date of "geo-engineering" concepts.
> www.nature.com: Climate-control plans scrutinized
> www.physorg.com: Risky schemes may be only hope for cooling planet
> www.newscientist.com: Top science body calls for geoengineering 'plan B'
> www.sciencedaily.com: Stop Emitting Carbon Dioxide, Or Geoengineering Could Be Only Hope For Earth's Climate, Experts Warn
> royalsociety.org: Geoengineering the climate: science, governance and uncertainty
Climate Change: Early Warning Systems for the Coming Storm
Geneva, August 31 2009 -
Climate change is here. The challenge in Geneva this week is to find ways to help the world cope with a climate that will have more and worse extremes in terms of temperatures, floods, and storms.
> www.ipsnews.net: Early Warning Systems for the Coming Storm
Annual cost of climate change 'will be £190 bn'
London, August 28 2009 -
British experts have discovered that the UN has seriously underestimated the expected annual cost of dealing with climate impacts.
The true global cost of adapting to climate change is likely to be many times greater than official United Nations' estimates: in 2030 alone, the world could be spending more than three times the budget of the Beijng olympics.
> www.independent.co.uk: Annual cost of climate change 'will be £190bn'
> www.physorg.com: Costs of adapting to climate change significantly underestimated
> news.bbc.co.uk: Climate protection 'to cost more'
Agreement on new climate change pact crucial to future of humanity, says Ban
Vienna, August 28 2009 -
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today underscored the need for countries to 'seal the deal' at a major climate change conference later this year in Copenhagen, stressing that a successful outcome is crucial for the planet and the future of humanity.
“We have about three months until the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December in Copenhagen – three months to reach an agreement that will determine the future of our planet,” Mr. Ban said at a ceremony in the Austrian capital to mark the 30th anniversary of the UN headquarters there, known as the Vienna International Centre.
> www.un.org: Agreement on new climate change pact crucial to future of humanity, says Ban
World’s first concise report by engineers reveals how artificial trees and ‘seaweed’ could pave the way to a cleaner future
London, August 27 2009 -
Engineers have published a groundbreaking new review which shows the world’s first 100-year action plan on how to tackle climate change using mechanical trees and algae. If the initiatives, put forward by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) are adopted it could create at between one to two million new green jobs for the UK economy by 2050 – under the Mitigation, Adaptation and Geo-Engineering approach (MAG).
www.imeche.org: Artificial trees and ‘seaweed’ could pave the way to a cleaner future
www.telegraph.co.uk: 'Fake trees' could fight climate change
Germany falling short on climate goals
Berlin, August 27 2009 -
Germany may be a world leader in the production of renewable energies, but a study commissioned by Greenpeace predicts the country won't make its ambitious 2020 target of a 40 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
> www.spiegel.de: Germany falling short on climate goals
Costs of adapting to climate change significantly underestimated
London, August 27 2009 -
Scientists led by a former co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will warn today that the UN negotiations aimed at tackling climate change are based on substantial underestimates of what it will cost to adapt to its impacts.
www3.imperial.ac.uk: Costs of adapting to climate change significantly underestimated
More Than 300 Groups Ask Senate for Stronger Climate Bill
Washington, August 26 2009 -
A broad coalition of more than 300 faith, human-rights, social justice, and environmental groups sent a letter to U.S. senators today calling for energy and climate legislation that is much stronger than the Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House of Representatives June 26. That bill contained massive giveaways to polluting special interests and would fail to ensure a rapid transition to clean energy.
www.enn.com: More Than 300 Groups Ask Senate for Stronger Climate Bill
Top U.N. climate scientist backs big CO2 cuts, 350-ppm goal
Paris, August 25 / 26 2009 -
Barely 100 days before the world hopes to seal a global climate treaty, the U.N.‘s top climate scientist has given his personal endorsement to hugely ambitious goals for slashing emissions.
“As chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], I cannot take a position because we do not make recommendations,” said Rajendra Pachauri when asked if he supported calls to keep atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations below 350 parts per million (ppm).
“But as a human being I am fully supportive of that goal. What is happening, and what is likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be really ambitious and very determined at moving toward a 350 target,” he told AFP in an interview.
www.guardian.co.uk: Pachauri's call for 350ppm is breakthrough moment for climate movement (26-08)
> www.terradaily.com: Top UN climate scientist backs ambitious CO2 cuts
> www.grist.org / AFP: Top U.N. climate scientist backs big CO2 cuts, 350-ppm goal
> www.grist.org: Pachauri’s call for 350 ppm is breakthrough moment for climate movement
> climateprogress.org / Bill McKibben 350.org: Today may have been the biggest breakthrough of all: Rajendra Pachauri, head of the IPCC, said clearly and unequivocally that 350 is the number
IPCC's Pachauri: World on Track to Meet Worst Climate Change Projections
New York, August 27 2009 -
Global greenhouse gas emissions are on an accelerating trend and if left unchecked, could lead to a 6.4 degree C (11.5 degree F) temperature increase by the end of the century, exceeding conservative estimates, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) told delegates at the UN on 26 August.
> www.un.org: World on Track to Meet Worst Climate Change Projections
The Key to Safe Subsurface Storage of CO2
Seattle, August 25 2009 -
Oil exploration and production technology may hold the key to secure CO2 storage, a report published by the CO2 Capture Project (CCP) today highlights. The report provides a definitive treatment of the CO2 storage subsurface technical issues and how oil and gas experience technology and protocols are available now to address them.
> www.enn.com: The Key to Safe Subsurface Storage of CO2
Africa seeks climate change cash
Addis Abeba, August 25 2009 -
Ministers from 10 African countries have met in Ethiopia to try to agree a common position on climate change, months before a crucial UN meeting.
> news.bbc.co.uk: Africa seeks climate change cash
> planetark.org: Africa wants $67 billion a year to fight climate change
Report Predicts Urban Meltdown from Heat Waves
New York, August 25 2009 -
Climate change will bring more heat waves to U.S. cities, upping risk to poor and elderly, a new report argues. Global warming will bring increased summer heat waves nationwide that are especially harmful to low-income and minority populations in urban areas and the elderly.
> www.scientificamerican.com: Report Predicts Urban Meltdown from Heat Waves
Tipping Elements remain ‘hot’ issue
Potsdam, August 24 2009 -
The article “Tipping elements in the Earth’s climate system” has been named one of the most highly-cited in the field of Geosciences published during the past two years. The media corporation Thomson Reuters has identified the article that appeared in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” in February 2008 as a New Hot Paper.
> www.pik-potsdam.de: Tipping Elements remain ‘hot’ issue
Emissions of air pollutants down in EU-27
Brussels, August 21 2009 -
The European Community's air pollutant emission inventory report released by the European Environment Agency finds that in 2007, sulphur oxides (SOx) emissions were down by 72 % from 1990 levels. The downward emission trend of three main pollutants which cause ground-level ozone continued in 2007: carbon monoxide (CO) fell by 57 %, non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) were down by 47 % and nitrogen oxides (NOx) have dropped 36 %. EU-27 emissions of all four pollutants were lower in 2007 than in 2006.
> www.eea.europa.eu: Emissions of air pollutants down in EU-27
No Matter How Well You Model it, Humans are to Blame
Los Angeles, August 18 2009 -
New research appearing in the online issue of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and a group of international researchers found that climate model quality does not affect the ability to identify human effects on atmospheric water vapor. Since atmospheric water vapor is an important driver of temperatures and rainfall, the results of this study will help convince skeptics that man's impacts are causing at least part of the problem.
www.enn.com: No Matter How Well You Model it, Humans are to Blame
U.N. Summit on Climate Change Under Fire
New York, August 18 2009 -
A much-ballyhooed U.N. summit on climate change, scheduled to take place on Sep. 22 in New York, is mired in controversy even before it gets off the ground.
www.ipsnews.net: U.N. Summit on Climate Change Under Fire
Climate Change - new findings and unintended consequences
London, August 17 2009 -
The Copenhagen conference on climate change demonstrated that scientists are trying hard to communicate their work to the public. But some of the media headlines showed that this process still needs work, as Hazel Jeffery and Peter Cox explain.
planetearth.nerc.ac.uk: Climate Change - new findings and unintended consequences
China study urges greenhouse gas caps, peak in 2030
Beijing, August 17 2009 -
China should set firm targets to limit greenhouse gas emissions so they peak around 2030, a study by some of the nation's top climate change policy advisers has proposed ahead of contentious talks on a new global warming pact.
The call for "quantified targets" to cap greenhouse gas pollution marks a high-level public departure from China's reluctance to spell out a proposed peak and date for it.
> www.reuters.com: China study urges greenhouse gas caps, peak in 2030
> www.reuters.com: China says its carbon emissions to fall by 2050: report (August 14)
Climate change: '15 Days to Copenhagen'
Berlin, August 17 2009 -
The disappointing results of negotiations in Bonn last week are indication that industrialised countries are unwilling to make substantial contributions to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
They failed once again to meet the expectations formulated in 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In a report in February 2007, the IPCC called for reductions of up to 40 percent up to 2020. Without substantial reductions, it warned, the average earth temperature would rise by more than two degrees Celsius by 2050.
> www.ipsnews.net: Climate change: '15 Days to Copenhagen'
> UN's climate chief warns of real risk of failure at climate change talks
Early farmers 'began global warming process'
Baltimore (US), August 17 2009 -
Farmers who used "slash and burn" methods of clearing forests to grow crops thousands of years ago could have increased carbon dioxide levels enough to change the climate, researchers have claimed.
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Early farmers 'began global warming process'
> www.eurekalert.org: Agricultural methods of early civilizations may have altered global climate, study suggests
> www.cnn.com: Global warming sparked by ancient farming methods
NOAA: Warmest Global Ocean Surface Temperatures on Record for July
Washington, August 14, 2009 -
The planet’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for July, breaking the previous high mark established in 1998 according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2009 ranked fifth-warmest since world-wide records began in 1880.
> www.noaanews.noaa.gov: Warmest Global Ocean Surface Temperatures on Record for July
Beijing sets date for emissions cut
Beijng, August 14 2009 -
China’s carbon emissions will start falling by 2050, its top climate change policymaker said, the first time the world’s largest emitter has given such a time-frame.
> www.ft.com: Beijing sets date for emissions cut
Australia's carbon reduction scheme blocked by senate
Sydney, August 13 2009 -
The Australian government's plan to bring in the world's most ambitious carbon emissions trading scheme has been dealt a severe blow after opposition and Green senators voted the leglistation down in the upper house.
The bill, which would have led to the introduction of a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in July 2011, will return to the senate in three months. If it is blocked again, it will give the government the trigger to call a snap election on the issue, taking the country to the polls as early as December.
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Where to Now for Australia Carbon Trade, Election
> planetark.org: Australia's carbon reduction scheme blocked by senate
Steven Chu, A Political Scientist
Beijing, August 13, 2009 -
"What the U.S. and China do over the next decade," declared US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize – winning physicist who is leading President Obama's push for a clean-energy economy, "will determine the fate of the world."
> www.time.com / Chu: "Is this the legacy we want to leave our children and grandchildren?"
How to spend $100 billion?
London, August 11, 2009 -
Politicians say we should invest in helping vulnerable people adapt to climate change. But how should we spend the money? Chris Huntingford and John Burrows of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology say better climate models will provide the answers.
> planetearth.nerc.ac.uk: How to spend $100 billion?
UN chief warns of 'incalculable' suffering without climate deal
Incheon, (South Korea) August 11, 2009 -
UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday of "incalculable" human suffering if the world fails to reach a deal at crucial climate change talks this December. The United Nations is orchestrating the talks in the Danish capital in hopes of securing an agreement to slash greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
"As we move toward Copenhagen in December, we must seal a climate change deal that secures our common future," Ban told an environmental forum in Incheon.
> www.terradaily.com: UN chief warns of 'incalculable' suffering without climate deal
> www.reuters.com: U.N. chief warns of dire future without climate deal
> More about Copenhagen 2009 (COP 15)
Climate change fight seen costing $300 billion a year
Bonn, August 11 2009 -
Cutting greenhouse gas emissions to slow global warming and adapting to impacts such as droughts and rising sea levels are likely to cost about $300 billion a year, the top U.N. climate change official said.
Yvo de Boer also told Reuters on Tuesday, on the sidelines of August 10-14 U.N. climate talks in Bonn, that cuts in emissions by 2020 so far promised by rich nations were "miles away" from long-term goals set by a Group of Eight summit last month.
> www.reuters.com: Climate change fight seen costing $300 billion a years
> More about Copenhagen 2009 (COP 15)
Climate talks begin in Bonn
Bonn, August 10 2009 -
Delegates from nearly 190 countries are meeting in the German city of Bonn for the latest round of talks ahead of a major climate-change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.
The Bonn meeting, held from Aug. 10-14, is the third in Germany this year, added because time is running out to find an agreement on a negotiation text for the major Copenhagen summit in December.
In Copenhagen, the world's environment ministers are expected to agree to a global climate protection deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which runs out in 2012.
> www.terradaily.com: Climate talks begin in Bonn
UN climate change deal needs more sacrifices by West, John Prescott warns
London, August 8 2009 –
Vital UN climate change talks in Copenhagen are likely to collapse unless rich nations agree a "social justice deal" built around equalising emissions per head in each country, according to the former deputy prime minister John Prescott.
Speaking to the Guardian, Prescott admitted that the formula would require far greater sacrifices by rich nations, especially the US. Prescott, one of three politicians to broker the original UN climate change deal in December 1997, is to become deeply involved in trying to ensure there is a successor to Kyoto.
> www.guardian.co.uk: UN climate change deal needs more sacrifices by West, John Prescott warns
Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security
Washington, August 8, 2009 —
The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say.
> www.nytimes.com: Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security
In-vitro meat: Would lab-burgers be better for us and the planet?
Atlanta, August 8 2009 -
A pioneering group of scientists are working to grow real animal protein in the laboratory, which they not only claim is better for animal welfare, but actually healthier, both for people and the planet. It may sound like science fiction, but this technology to create in-vitro meat could be changing global diets within ten years.
> edition.cnn.com: In-vitro meat: Would lab-burgers be better for us and the planet?
Psychological factors help explain slow reaction to global warming, says APA task force
Toronto, August 7 2009 –
While most Americans think climate change is an important issue, they don't see it as an immediate threat, so getting people to "go green" requires policymakers, scientists and marketers to look at psychological barriers to change and what leads people to action, according to a task force of the American Psychological Association.
> www.eurekalert.org: Psychological factors help explain slow reaction to global warming, says APA task force
> www.apa.org: Full text of the APA task force report
Millennium Project Report Issued on the Future of the World
New York, August 4 2009 -
A major report issued by the United Nations Millenium Project has just been released. It finds that half the world appears vulnerable to social instability and violence due to increasing and potentially prolonged unemployment from the recession as well as several longer-term issues: decreasing water, food, and energy supplies per person; the cumulative effects of climate change; and increasing migrations due to political, environmental, and economic conditions. It also finds some good in the global financial crisis, which may be helping humanity to move from its often selfish, self-centered adolescence to a more globally responsible adulthood.
> www.enn.com: New El Niño threatens world with weather woe (Aug 3 2009)
> The planet's future: Climate change 'will cause civilisation to collapse' (July 10 2009)
Report: California must adapt to changing climate
Seattle, August 3 2009 -
Even if the world is successful in cutting carbon emissions in the future, California needs to start preparing for rising sea levels, hotter weather and other effects of climate change, a new state report recommends.
> seattletimes.nwsource.com: Report: California must adapt to changing climate
New El Niño threatens world with weather woe
London, August 3 2009 -
A new El Niño has begun. The sporadic Pacific Ocean warming, which can disrupt weather patterns across the world, is intensifying, say meteorologists.
So, over the next few months, there may be increased drought in Africa, India and Australia, heavier rainfall in South America and increased extremes in Britain, of warm and cold. It may make 2010 one of the hottest years on record.
> www.independent.co.uk: New El Niño threatens world with weather woe (Aug 3 2009)
> planetark.org: Australian Weather Bureau Sees El Nino By Sept-Nov (Aug 3 2009)
World temperatures set for record highs
London, July 28 2009 -
World temperatures are set to rise much faster than expected as a result of climate change over the next ten years, according to meteorologists.
In the last few years the world has experienced a "cooler period" since record high temperatures in summer 1998.
This has been used by global warming sceptics as proof that greenhouse gases are not causing a rise in temperatures.
However a new study by Nasa said the warming effect of greenhouse gases has been masked since 1998 because of a downward phase in the cycles of the sun that means there is less incoming sunlight and the El Nino weather pattern causing a cooling period over the Pacific.
www.telegraph.co.uk: World temperatures set for record highs
U.S. and China sign memorandum on climate change
Washington, July 28 2009 -
The United States and China, the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases, signed an agreement on Tuesday that promises more cooperation on climate change, energy and the environment without setting firm goals.
www.reuters.com: U.S. and China sign memorandum on climate change
The planet's future: Climate change 'will cause civilisation to collapse'
London, July 10 2009 -
An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if humanity is to have a fighting chance of surviving the ravages of climate change. The stakes are high, as, without sustainable growth, "billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse".
This is the stark warning from the biggest single report to look at the future of the planet – obtained by The Independent on Sunday ahead of its official publication next month. Backed by a diverse range of leading organisations such as Unesco, the World Bank, the US army and the Rockefeller Foundation, the 2009 State of the Future report runs to 6,700 pages and draws on contributions from 2,700 experts around the globe. Its findings are described by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN, as providing "invaluable insights into the future for the United Nations, its member states, and civil society".
> www.independent.co.uk / The planet's future: Climate change 'will cause civilisation to collapse'
Nature Can't Take Unrestrained Economic Growth: Prince Charles
London, July 10 2009 -
The quest for unlimited economic growth is unsustainable and could bankrupt the environment through climate change and depleted natural resources, Britain's Prince Charles said Wednesday.
Charles, next-in-line to succeed Queen Elizabeth, said a new economic model must be found because the Earth can no longer support the demands of a growing "consumerist society" where growth is an end in itself.
planetark.org: Nature Can't Take Unrestrained Economic Growth: Prince Charles
New method may help allocate carbon emissions responsibility among nations
Petten (Netherlands), July 10 2009 -
Just months before world leaders are scheduled to meet to devise a new international treaty on climate change, a research team led by Princeton University scientists, and including ECN researcher Heleen de Coninck, has developed a new way of dividing responsibility for carbon emissions among countries.
> www.ecn.nl: New method may help allocate carbon emissions responsibility among nations
Global warming time bomb: The path from science to action
Corvallis, July 9 2009 -
Earth's climate history has long made clear that huge climate fluctuations occurred in the past. However, the implications of climate inertia and dangers of passing climate tipping points only became clear in the last few years. Communication of an emerging crisis is hampered by confusion of weather and climate and by the reluctance of the fossil fuel and related industries to accept the implications of the climate crisis. This unprecedented situation presents scientists with uncomfortable choices.
> www.pages-osm.org: Global warming time bomb: The path from science to action
> See also: Nasa climate expert makes personal appeal to Obama
> Hansen: 'Democratic process isn't working' to curb emissions
> Hansen: Threat to the planet: implications for energy policy and intergenerational
justice (pdf)
'Historic consensus' at G8 on climate change
L'Aquila, Italy (AFP) July 9, 2009 -
US President Barack Obama hailed Thursday what he said was an "historic consensus" on battling climate change between the leaders of the world's 17 leading economic powers.
"We also agree that developed countries, like my own, have a historic responsibility to take the lead. We have the much larger carbon footprint per capita," Obama said at an expanded G8 summit in Italy.
> www.terradaily.com: 'Historic consensus' at G8 on climate change
More evidence doesn't change minds
London, 7 July 2009 -
More and better scientific data on climate change will only convince the convinced - a new study shows that people will question the research behind climate change if the results clash with their beliefs.
> planetearth.nerc.ac.uk: More evidence doesn't change minds
Animals of the Disappearing Mangroves
New York, 3 July 2009 -
As mangrove forests shrink worldwide, a menagerie of specially adapted animals that depend on them are at risk, too.
In the watery limbo between sea and river, where salt and fresh water mingle in the roots of mangrove trees, a handful of uniquely adapted species—terrestrial and aquatic—have evolved to fill the novel niche.
But more than 40 percent of the land-dwelling animals that live in mangrove forests are now under pressure from habitat loss, concludes an analysis published this week in BioScience.
www.scientificamerican.com: Animals of the Disappearing Mangroves are Disappearing
Brazil Wants C02 Cuts Based On Historic Emissions
Brasilia, 3 July 2009 -
Brazil wants historic emissions to be the basis for greenhouse gas pollution targets, slated for discussion during December climate talks in Copenhagen, Brazil's top climate negotiator said in an interview.
> planetark.org: Brazil Wants C02 Cuts Based On Historic Emissions
> planetark.org: India Will Reject Greenhouse Gas Emission Targets
September Smoke Over the Amazon from 2005-2008
Brasilia, 1 July 2009 -
Prior to widespread human settlement and forest clearing, there was no such thing as a fire season in the Amazon Rainforest. The ability of trees to draw water up from deep underground during the annual dry season and a lack of natural fire triggers—lightning rarely occurs without rain—meant that in most places, a fire might occur once in several hundred—or perhaps as many as 1,000—years. Today, burning begins in August, generally peaks in September, and tapers off by October; during these months, the skies over the Amazon fill with smoke.
earthobservatory.nasa.gov: September Smoke Over the Amazon from 2005-2008
Third of open ocean sharks threatened with extinction
Gland (Switserland) 25 June 2009 -
The first study to determine the global conservation status of 64 species of open ocean (pelagic) sharks and rays reveals that 32 percent are threatened with extinction, primarily due to overfishing, according to the IUCN Shark Specialist Group.
The percentage of open ocean shark species threatened with extinction is higher for the sharks taken in high-seas fisheries (52 percent), than for the group as a whole.
www.iucn.org: Third of open ocean sharks threatened with extinction
Carbon Dioxide Higher Today Than Last 2.1 Million Years
ScienceDaily, June 21, 2009 —
Researchers have reconstructed atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over the past 2.1 million years in the sharpest detail yet, shedding new light on its role in the earth's cycles of cooling and warming.
> www.sciencedaily.com: Carbon Dioxide Higher Today Than Last 2.1 Million Years
> Close relationship between past warming and sea-level rise
The outlook for the rest of the century: 40C summer days
London, 19 June 2009 -
Frightening temperature increases which would make life difficult if not intolerable are forecast for Britain during the course of the coming century, according to the latest detailed Government predictions of how climate change may affect the United Kingdom.
The most detailed set of climate change projections ever produced will show the risks of sea level rise, droughts and floods in Britain over the next 80 years to within 16 miles of your front door.
UK Climate Projections 2009 (UKCP09) is a climate analysis tool, funded by Defra, which features the most comprehensive climate projections ever produced. Projections are broken down to a regional level across the UK and are shown in probabilistic form — illustrating the potential range of changes and the level of confidence in each prediction.
> www.independent.co.uk: The outlook for the rest of the century: 40C summer days
> www.guardian.co.uk: Here is the weather for 2080: floods, droughts and heatwaves
> news.bbc.co.uk: UK 'must plan' for warmer future
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Met Office predict likelihood of climate change on your doorstep
> www.defra.gov.uk: UK Climate Projections 2009 – planning for our future climate
> www.metoffice.gov.uk: UK Climate Projections 2009 (UKCP09) / Preparing for climate change
> www.ukcip.org.uk: The climate is changing - what's the outlook for you?
Rising ocean temperatures near worst-case predictions
Brussels, 19 June 2009 -
The ocean is warming about 50 per cent faster than reported two years ago, according to an update of the latest climate science.
A report compiling research presented at a science congress in Copenhagen in March says recent observations are near the worst-case predictions of the 2007 report by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
In the case of sea-level rise, it is happening at an even greater rate than projected - largely due to rising ocean temperatures causing thermal expansion of seawater.
> www.theage.com.au: Rising ocean temperatures near worst-case predictions
> www.terradaily.com (AFP): Climate catastrophe getting closer, warn scientists
> freeinternetpress.com: World Warming Faster Than Thought; Is Yesterday's Worst Case Scenario Today's Reality?
> climatecongress.ku.dk / Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges & Decisions
> See also page on sea level rise
Copenhagen Climate Report: “Inaction is inexcusable”
Potsdam, 18 June 2009 -
Key climate indicators such as global mean surface temperature, sea-level rise and extreme climatic events are already moving beyond the patterns of natural variability within which contemporary society and economy have developed. This is one of the key messages of a report presented by leading scientists in Brussels today in preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. The up-to-date overview of research relevant to climate change was handed over to the Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the host of the conference.
www.pik-potsdam.de: “Inaction is inexcusable”
Obama targets U.S. public with call for climate action
Washington, 17 June 2009 -
The Obama Administration on Tuesday released a report showing climate disruption is already leaving deep imprints on every sector of the environment and that the consequences of these changes will grow steadily worse in coming decades.
The 196-page report crisscrosses the United States and finds that global warming has touched every corner: Heavier downpours, strengthened heat waves, altered river flows and extended growing seasons.
These changes, the report notes, will place increasing stress on water, health, energy and transportation systems and have, in several instances, already crossed tipping points to irreversible change.
> wwwp.dailyclimate.org: Obama targets U.S. public with call for climate action
> wwwp.dailyclimate.org: Key findings of the Global Change Impacts report
> www.usatoday.com: 'Game-changer': Report on climate change urges action
> www.time.com: 'Climate-Change Report: From Bad to Worse
> www.globalchange.gov: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States - Home (Entry to full report)
UN warns of 'megadisasters' linked to climate change
New York, June 17th, 2009 -
Some of the world's biggest cities are at growing risk of "megadisasters", the UN's humanitarian chief said Tuesday, warning that climate change was behind a rising number of natural catastrophes.
The United Nations on Tuesday raised the prospect of "megadisasters" affecting millions of people in some of the world's biggest cities unless more is done to heed the threat of climate change.
www.physorg.com: UN warns of 'megadisasters' linked to climate change
German blue chip firms throw weight behind north African solar project
Muenchen, June 17 2009 -
Twenty blue chip German companies are pooling their resources with the aim of harnessing solar power in the deserts of north Africa and transporting the clean electricity to Europe.
www.guardian.co.uk: German blue chip firms throw weight behind north African solar project
Scientists Debate Shading Earth As Climate Fix
June 16 2009 -
Engineering our climate to stop global warming may seem like science fiction, but at a recent National Academy of Sciences meeting, scientists discussed some potential geoengineering experiments in earnest.
www.npr.org: Scientists Debate Shading Earth As Climate Fix
New Russian Arctic Park to protect key polar bear habitat
WNF, June 16 2009 -
Russia will create a new 1.5 million hectare park in the Arctic, a central area for the Barents and Kara Sea polar bear populations.
The ‘Russian Arctic’ park is located on the northern part of Novaya Zemlya, a long island that arcs out into the Arctic Ocean between the Barents and Kara Seas. It also includes some adjacent marine areas.
www.panda.org: New Russian Arctic Park to protect key polar bear habitat
Australians Demand More Action On Climate Change
Sydney, June 14 2009 -
Hundreds of environmental activists took to the streets of Australia's main cities on Saturday, saying the Labor government was not doing enough on climate change.
The protests came ahead of a vote in the upper house Senate next week on the government's planned emissions trading scheme, which the protesters regard as inadequate.
> planetark.org: Australians demand more action on climate change
> www.smh.com.au: Rally declares climate emergency
> www.greenleft.org.au: Thousands rally for 100% renewables by 2020
UN Climate Talks Advance, Poor Urge More CO2 Cuts
Bonn, June 14 2009 -
Climate talks made progress on Friday toward a new U.N. treaty to curb global warming but ended far short of calls by developing nations for the rich to make deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
Four years of talks to widen the existing Kyoto Protocol have struggled to agree on how to share the cost of efforts to curb greenhouses gas mainly emitted by burning fossil fuels.
The United States and Europe warned in closing remarks on Friday that the private sector would finance the climate fight, not their governments.
planetark.org: Australians demand more action on climate change
Climate change: 'We Have Run Out of Time'
Rome, June 14 2009 -
New scientific research suggests that climate change is taking place faster than foreseen in studies considered so far, according to environmental experts at a forum on climate change called by the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE).
> www.ipsnews.net: 'We Have Run Out of Time'
> www.globe-europe.eu
> www.ipsnews.net: Science vs Politics at the Edge of the North Pole
Plant leaf pores co-evolved with carbon dioxide
June 12th, 2009 -
Scientists have found that the size and number of pores in plants' leaves depends on how much carbon dioxide (CO2) was the atmosphere when those plants first appeared.
> planetearth.nerc.ac.uk: Plant leaf pores co-evolved with carbon dioxide
Climate pledges bound to breach key warming target: scientists
June 11th, 2009 -
Pledges currently on the table at the UN climate talks will doom Earth to a warming of more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), a figure that has been widely endorsed as a safe limit, scientists said on Thursday.
Climate pledges bound to breach key warming target: scientists
Halfway to Copenhagen, no way to 2 °C
June 11th, 2009 -
National targets give virtually no chance of constraining warming to 2 °C and no chance of protecting coral reefs.
International climate negotiations are picking up speed as the deadline for agreeing a global treaty approaches. Countries are now making clear their own commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions under amendments to the Kyoto Protocol1 and under a new agreement or protocol to be decided in Copenhagen in December2.
Nature compiles all of the current position statements from developed and developing countries and asks three questions: what do they add up to in terms of global greenhouse gas emissions, what are the consequences for the global climate system and how do they collectively compare to the goals of limiting warming to 1.5 °C or 2 °C above pre-industrial levels?
www.nature.com: Halfway to Copenhagen, no way to 2 °C
Population and Sustainability: Can We Avoid Limiting the Number of People?
New York, June 11 (IPS) -
Slowing the rise in human numbers is essential for the planet--but it doesn't require population control.
Population and Sustainability: Can We Avoid Limiting the Number of People?
The Greening of the French, Finally
Paris, June 11 (IPS) -
Compost boxes on the balcony of small apartments. Queues at market stalls selling organic produce. Massive audiences for a film about the state of the earth. Unprecedented votes for environmental politicians in the European elections.
www.ipsnews.net: The Greening of the French, Finally
Climate change could drive vast human migrations
This is the Nile delta, with sea level rises of 1 meter (dark blue) and 2 meters (light blue), along with population density (lighter to darker browns) and urban areas (hatching). Of the 40.2 million people here in 2000, 10.7 million would be inundated by a 2-meter rise. The inset shows the distribution of farmlands. Credit: Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University
Bonn, June 10 2009 -
By mid-century, people may be fleeing rising seas, droughts, floods and other effects of changing climate, in migrations that could vastly exceed the scope of anything before, says a major new report. The document, authored by researchers at Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), the United Nations University and CARE International, was released at a news conference in Bonn.
www.physorg.com: Climate change could drive vast human migrations
www.terradaily.com: Water stress, ocean levels to unleash climate exodus: study
A new measure of global warming from carbon emissions
Victoria, June 10th, 2009 -
Damon Matthews, a professor in Concordia University's Department of Geography, Planning and the Environment has found a direct relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming. Matthews, together with colleagues from Victoria and the U.K., used a combination of global climate models and historical climate data to show that there is a simple linear relationship between total cumulative emissions and global temperature change.
www.physorg.com: A new measure of global warming from carbon emissions
El Niño could develop within weeks
Singapore, June 9 2009 -
El Niño is driven by an abnormal warming of the eastern Pacific and the forecaster said conditions were favorable for a switch to El Niño conditions during June to August 2009.
The forecast is the latest warning of the increased chances of El Niño developing after months of rising ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific.
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said on Wednesday that if recent trends in Pacific climate patterns held up, there was an above-50 percent chance an El Niño event would be established by July.
www.reuters.com: El Niño could develop within weeks: US forecaster
thestar.com.my: Temperatures may go up by 3?C with El Nino phenomenon
discovery.com: El Niño is coming back
Greta Scacchi, Emilia Fox and Terry Gilliam pose naked to save bluefin tuna
London, June 9 2009 –
The world's most expensive fish, already recognised as being as endangered as the giant panda, is still being served in celebrity restaurants around the world.
However a study of the bluefin tuna on the Japanese market by fisherman-turned whistle blower Robert Mielgo found the majority of fish for sale were immature, meaning the current population has little chance of recovery because of a shortage of breeding adults.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Greta Scacchi, Emilia Fox and Terry Gilliam pose naked to save bluefin tuna
Agriculture Holds Key to Solving Global Warming
Bonn, 3 June 2009 –
Agriculture, so often cited as a factor in global decline - for claiming natural grasslands that store carbon, soil erosion and pesticide runoff - could become a big part of the solution to global warming, according to a hopeful report by Worldwatch Institute released today.
www.enn.com: Agriculture Holds Key to Solving Global Warming
www.worldwatch.org: Mitigating Climate Change Through Food and Land Use
Discussions on negotiating texts on pact to combat global warming kick off
Bonn, 1 June 2009 –
Delegates from 182 nations are gathering in Bonn, Germany, today to initiate discussions on negotiating texts which could form the basis of an ambitious United Nations-backed climate change deal, to slash greenhouse gas emissions, expected to be clinched in December.
www.un.org: Discussions on negotiating texts on pact to combat global warming kick off
Author says challenging simple concepts can save planet
Bonn, 1 June 2009 –
Author and democracy activist Frances Moore Lappé says we already know how to solve the pressing issues of our time, such as climate change and world hunger. But she says our own pre-conceived ideas about how things should work -- our mental map of the world -- is actually preventing us from taking action.
www.eurekalert.org: Author says challenging simple concepts can save planet
gettingagrip.org: Getting a grip on a world gone mad
Climate Change responsible for 300,000 deaths a year
London, 29 May 2009 -
First ever report exclusively focused on the global human impact of climate change calculates more than 300 million people are seriously affected by climate change at a total economic cost of $125 billion per year.
www.ghf-geneva.org: Climate Change responsible for 300,000 deaths a year
China Praised At Climate Talks For Planned Curbs
Paris, 27 May 2009 -
China won praise for moves to cap its surging greenhouse gas emissions at a meeting of major economies on Tuesday, even as Germany criticised the lack of progress towards a new United Nations climate treaty.
www.planetark.com: China Praised At Climate Talks For Planned Curbs
www.reuters.com: CO2 cost will make China curb emissions: IEA (June 2007)
India One of the Least Carbon Intensive Countries in the World
New Delhi, May 25 2009 -
India's stand that the current climate change negotiations under the auspices of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) are being skewed in favor of of the industrialized nations got another shot in the arm this week.
Purported pre-release of a McKinsey report projects that India will continue to be one of the Least Carbon Intensive countries in the world despite an economic growth rate of 7.5%. This second endorsement follows the recent report by the World Bank saying that India is right in resisting the mandatory emissions reduction.
www.reuters.com: India One of the Least Carbon Intensive Countries in the World
Ban Urges the Business Community to Lobby Governments to Power Green Growth and Seal the Deal on Climate Change
Copenhagen, 25 May 2009 -
On Sunday UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Nobel Laureate Al Gore called on over 500 world business leaders meeting in Copenhagen to use their business acumen to urge government leaders to reach an agreement on reducing greenhouse gases.
> www.unep.org: Ban Urges the Business Community to Lobby Governments to Power Green Growth and Seal the Deal on Climate Change.
> www.eubusiness.com: Blanchett urges top global execs to act now on climate
> planetark.org: EU Chief "Confident" Climate Deal Will Be Reached
Will Canada's Tar Sands Destroy the Global Climate?
May 22 2009 -
A new report from the Council on Foreign Relations says no, but also that they won't wean the U.S. off of other oil supplies.
www.scientificamerican.com: New CFR report addresses impacts of tar sands on climate change.">
Global warming may be twice as bad as previously expected
May 22 2009 -
Global warming will be twice as severe as previous estimates indicate, according to a new study published this month in the Journal of Climate, a publication of the American Meteorological Society.
The research, conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), predicts a 90% probability that worldwide surface temperatures will rise more than 9 degrees (F) by 2100, compared to a previous 2003 MIT study that forecast a rise of just over 4 degrees.
> www.usatoday.com: Global warming may be twice as bad as previously expected
> www.sciencedaily.com: Climate Change Odds Much Worse Than Thought
> web.mit.edu: Climate change odds much worse than thought
> web.mit.edu: Revised MIT Climate Model Sounds Alarm
Europe’s amphibians and reptiles under threat - IUCN
Brussels, May 22 2009 -
One fifth of Europe’s reptiles and nearly a quarter of its amphibians are threatened, according to new studies carried out by IUCN for the European Commission.
The studies, released on International Biodiversity Day, are the first European Red Lists for amphibians and reptiles, and reveal alarming population trends. More than half of all European amphibians (59 percent) and 42 percent of reptiles are in decline, which means that amphibians and reptiles are even more at risk than European mammals and birds.
> www.iucn.org: Europe’s amphibians and reptiles under threat
See also:
> www.iucn.org: International Biodiversity Day sounds the alarm on invasive species
> www.ipsnews.net: Alien Species Eroding Ecosystems and Livelihoods
> www.eea.europa.eu: Progress towards the European 2010 biodiversity target
Cement Makers Eye Big Cuts To Greenhouse Gases
Brussel, May 21 2009 –
Nearly a third of the world's cement industry has united on a strategy to cut global warming gases in a way that will not slow a construction boom in poor countries, backers of the initiative said on Wednesday.
planetark.org: Cement Makers Eye Big Cuts To Greenhouse Gases
Power Plants: Artificial Trees That Harvest Sun and Wind to Generate Electricity
New York, May 21 2009 –
A start-up proposes forests of fake trees with "leaves" that soak up sunshine and flutter in the breeze to generate clean solar and wind power. Could it just be crazy enough to work?
www.scientificamerican.com: Artificial Trees That Harvest Sun and Wind to Generate Electricity
Wader populations decline faster than ever
London, May 20 2009 –
More than half the populations of waders in Europe, West Asia and Africa are declining at an accelerating rate. There is a need for better protection of the key wetlands along their flyways, especially in Africa and the Middle East. This is the conclusion of the Wetlands International’s Wader Atlas, the first comprehensive overview of key site networks for waders in Europe, West-Asia and Africa, launched in London today.
> www.wetlands.org: Water populationa decline faster than ever
> www.wetlands.org: The Wader Atlas: a milestone publication for policy makers and Wader fans
Russia's climate policy fails to raise hopes
Moskwa, 19 May 2009 -
Russia's new climate doctrine hints at Moscow's growing willingness to engage with the international community in fighting climate change, but EU observers are not pinning their hopes on ambitious commitments from their Eastern neighbour to aid the passage of a post-Kyoto climate treaty.
> www.wbcsd.org: Russia's climate policy fails to raise hopes
World city chiefs told to act fast to save planet
Seoul, May 19 2009 –
Former US President Bill Clinton urged leaders of the world's cities, which produce over two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions, to act swiftly to save the planet for their grandchildren.
www.afp.com: World city chiefs told to act fast to save planet
Drafting the next global treaty to combat climate change
New York, May 18 2009 -
Negotiations on a new global treaty to combat climate change continue to heat up, even though a meeting in Copenhagen that is meant to forge a final deal remains months away.
www.scientificamerican.com: Drafting the next global treaty to combat climate change
UN: Growth of slums boosting natural disaster risk
In this Friday, Jan. 4, 2008 file photo, the slum of Kibera is seen in foreground from the air with the Nairobi skyline in the background, in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Riccardo Gangale
Dubai, (United Arab Emirates), May 17 2009 —
The rampant growth of urban slums around the world and weather extremes linked to climate change have sharply increased the risks from "megadisasters" such as devastating floods and cyclones, a U.N. report said Sunday.
www.chron.com / UN: Growth of slums boosting natural disaster risk
Obama praises breakthrough on climate legislation in weekly address
Washington, May 16 2009 -
In his weekly address on Saturday, President Barack Obama praised Democratic Congressional leaders for their breakthrough on climate and energy legislation as a “promising sign of progress” on a top issue for his administration.”
www.grist.org: Obama praises breakthrough on climate legislation in weekly address
From a Theory to a Consensus on Emissions
Washington, May 16 2009 —
As Congress weighs imposing a mandatory limit on climate-altering gases — an outcome still far from certain — it is likely to turn to a system that sets a government ceiling on total emissions and allows polluting industries to buy and sell permits to meet it.
www.nytimes.com: From a Theory to a Consensus on Emissions
China Calls For Deeper CO2 Cuts From Developed World
Beijng, May 14 2009 -
China called on rich nations to sign up to carbon emission cuts of 25-40 percent by 2020, an official with China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Wednesday.
The official also said China, the world's top emitter of planet-warming greenhouse gases, wanted to commit to emissions reductions in certain industries but was still figuring out how to do this.
"The success of Copenhagen needs strengthened and deeper cuts and more aggressive targets from developed countries," said Li Liyan, deputy head of the Climate Change Office of the NDRC, China's chief economic planning agency.
planetark.org: China Calls For Deeper CO2 Cuts From Developed World
Rules Proposed To Save The World's Coral Reefs
Manado, May 12, 2009 —
An international team of scientists has proposed a set of basic rules to help save the world’s imperiled coral reefs from ultimate destruction.
> www.sciencedaily.com: Rules Proposed To Save The World's Coral Reefs
> assets.panda.org: The coral triangle and climate change: Ecosystems, people and societies at risk (pdf)
New U.N. Climate Deal: Not Much Bolder Than Kyoto?
Oslo, 8 May 2009 -
A planned new U.N. climate pact is shaping up to be a mildly tougher version of the existing Kyoto Protocol rather than a bold treaty to save what U.S. President Barack Obama has called a "planet in peril."
"There's not a lot of ambition around," said Jennifer Morgan, of the London-based think-tank E3G, of submissions to the United Nations published this month to meet a deadline for consideration in a deal to be agreed in Copenhagen in December.
New U.N. Climate Deal: Not Much Bolder Than Kyoto?
Kabul, May 8 2009 - Afghanistan's only known pig has been locked in a room, away from visitors to Kabul zoo where it normally grazes beside deer and goats, because people are worried it could infect them with the virus popularly known as swine flu.
The pig is a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan, where pork and pig products are illegal because they are considered irreligious, and has been in quarantine since Sunday after visitors expressed alarm it could spread the new flu strain.
"For now the pig is under quarantine, we built it a room because of swine influenza," Aziz Gul Saqib, director of Kabul Zoo, told Reuters. "We've done this because people are worried about getting the flu." (Foto: Radu Sigheti)
> planetark.org: Afghanistan's Only Pig Quarantined In Flu Fear
Biodiversity loss and climate change: the need for an ecosystem approach
Brussels, May 6 2009 -
Biodiversity loss and climate change are now a part of our lives. Both are rooted in overexploitation of natural resources. Both require a coherent policy response. The Syracuse Charter and the Athens Conference underline the strong political commitment to take action. To ensure our society and economy have a healthy future, we need a way to assess our impacts on the natural world. The European Environment Agency's European Ecosystem Assessment (EURECA) responds to that need.
www.eea.europa.eu: Biodiversity loss and climate change: the need for an ecosystem approach
World can burn only 25 percent of oil, coal "safely"
London, April 30 2009 -
The world can burn only a quarter of proven reserves of oil, gas and coal to be confident of staying within safer climate limits, unless untested carbon fixes work, experts said on Wednesday.
> www.reuters.com: World can burn only 25 percent of oil, coal "safely"
> www.independent.com: Climate chaos predicted by CO2 study
> www.telegraph.com: World 'unlikely to stop global warming reaching critical levels'
> news.bbc.co.uk: 'Safe' climate means 'no to coal'
> www.scientificamerican.com: How Much Is Too Much?: Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Two-Degree Rise Ever More Likely, Scientists Warn
Anchorage, Alaska, Apr 30 (IPS) -
Climate scientists are calling for a phase-out of fossil fuels because humans are now pumping so much carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere that the '2-degree-C climate balloon' will burst otherwise, new studies show.
> www.ipsnews.nl: Two-Degree Rise Ever More Likely, Scientists Warn
> Indigenous groups hold climate summit in Alaska (Apr 19)
The Climate Crunch
London, April 30 2009 -
Research reveals that once a trillion tonnes of anthropogenic carbon has been released into the atmosphere, a peak global warming exceeding 2°C is likely. Yet only a third of economically recoverable oil, gas and coal reserves can be burned before 2100 if that 2°C warming is to be avoided.
Faced with this climate crunch, three news features ask: will cutting back on carbon be tougher than we think? Can we drag CO2 directly from the air? And could we cool the planet with a wisp of mist? The worst-case scenario is a world in 2100 that has twice the level of pre-industrial CO2 in the atmosphere. If we want to avoid that, the time for action is now, says Nature.
> www.nature.com: The Road to Copenhagen / The Climate Crunch
> www.newscientist.comHumanity's carbon budget set at one trillion tonnes
Summer forecast 2009
London, April 29 2009 -
The coming summer is 'odds on for a barbecue summer', according to long-range forecasts. Summer temperatures across the UK are likely to be warmer than average and rainfall near or below average for the three months of summer.
> www.guardian.co.uk: Warm, dry summer on the way, says Met Office
> www.metoffice.gov.uk: Summer forecast 2009
> www.metoffice.gov.uk: Summer 2009 forecast toolkit
“Methane levels rose in 2008 for the second consecutive year"
Washington, April 25 2009 -
Two of the most important climate change gases increased last year, according to a preliminary analysis for NOAA’s annual greenhouse gas index, which tracks data from 60 sites around the world.
Researchers measured an additional 16.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) — a byproduct of fossil fuel burning — and 12.2 million tons of methane in the atmosphere at the end of December 2008. This increase is despite the global economic downturn, with its decrease in a wide range of activities that depend on fossil fuel use.
> climateprogress.org: Methane levels rose in 2008 for the second consecutive year"
> www.noaanews.noaa.gov: Greenhouse Gases Continue to Climb Despite Economic Slump
See also:
> Permafrost Thaw
> More about Methane and Arctic Thaw
Fires seen making climate change worse
Washington, April 23 2009 -
In a vicious cycle made worse by humans, scientists now believe fires spur climate change, which in turn makes blazes bigger, more frequent and more damaging to the environment.
www.reuters.com: Fires seen making climate change worse
www.physorg.com: Fire influences global warming more than previously thought
Wetlands likely source of methane from ancient warming event
San Diego, April 23 2009 -
An expansion of wetlands and not a large-scale melting of frozen methane deposits is the likely cause of a spike in atmospheric methane gas that took place some 11,600 years ago, according to an international research team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
www.physorg.com: Wetlands likely source of methane from ancient warming event
Greenland's 'good news' methane finding
Sydney, April 23 2009 -
Ice core research has revealed that a vast, potential source of the potent greenhouse gas, methane, is more stable in a warming world than previously thought.
www.eurekalert.org: Greenland's 'good news' methane finding
Hazy skies boost plant carbon intake
London / Zürich, April 22 2009 -
Particle pollution in the air is making plants absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by diffusing sunlight, new research reveals.
planetearth.nerc.ac.uk: Hazy skies boost plant carbon intake
Oxfam warns of climate disasters
London, April 20 2009 -
The world's relief agencies will be overwhelmed by a rise in the number of people affected by climate-related disasters by 2015 unless the quantity and quality of aid improves, a report said on Tuesday.
The number of people hit by climate-related disasters is expected to rise by about 50%, to reach 375m a year by 2015, according to the report The Right to Survive.
> www.reuters.com: Climate change, wars could sink aid system: Oxfam
> news.bbc.co.uk: Oxfam warns of climate disasters
> www.guardian.co.uk: Climate change will overload humanitarian system, warns Oxfam
> publications.oxfam.org.uk: The Right to Survive
Predators starve as we plunder oceans
London, April 19 2009 -
Starving sea life – from whales to puffins, tuna to seals – is being found all over the world's oceans, as the food on which it depends is being fished out, startling new evidence shows. And much of the depletion, ironically, is caused by raising captive fish – for the table.
www.independent.co.uk: Predators starve as we plunder oceans
www.eubusiness.com: EU seeks deep cuts in fishing capacity
Indigenous groups hold climate summit in Alaska
Anchorage, Al/USA, April 19 2009 –
Indigenous people from around the world are gathering in Anchorage this week for a conference on climate change, a subject participants say disproportionately affects them though they share relatively little responsibility for it.
news.yahoo.com: Indigenous groups hold climate summit in Alaska
news.yahoo.com: Indigenous peoples’
global summit on climate change
Sellafield: the most hazardous place in Europe
London, April 19, 2009 -
Last week the government announced plans for a new generation of nuclear plants. But Britain is still dealing with the legacy of its first atomic installation at Sellafield - a toxic waste dump in one of the most contaminated buildings in Europe. As a multi-billion-pound clean-up is planned, can we avoid making the same mistakes again?
www.guardian.co.uk / Sellafield: the most hazardous place in Europe
E.P.A. Clears Way for Greenhouse Gas Rules
Washington, April 17, 2009 -
The Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) on Friday formally declared carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants that endanger public health and welfare, setting in motion a process that will lead to the regulation of the gases for the first time in the United States.
www.nytimes.com: E.P.A. Clears Way for Greenhouse Gas Rules
www.reuters.com: U.S. clears way to regulate greenhouse gases
Severity, length of past megadroughts dwarf recent drought in West Africa
Accra (Ghana), April 17, 2009 -
Droughts far worse than the infamous Sahel drought of the 1970s and 1980s are within normal climate variation for sub-Saharan West Africa, according to new research.
For the first time, scientists have developed an almost year-by-year record of the last 3,000 years of West African climate. In that period, droughts lasting 30 to 60 years were common. Surprisingly, however, these decades-long droughts were dwarfed by much more severe droughts lasting three to four times as long, scientists report in the 17 April issue of the journal Science.
www.eurekalert.org: Severity, length of past megadroughts dwarf recent drought in West Africa
www.sciencedaily.com: Mega-droughts In Sub-Saharan Africa Normal For Region: Droughts Likely To Worsen With Climate Change
www.cleveland.com: Long pattern of West Africa droughts could worsen with climate change
EU seeks deep cuts in fishing capacity
Brussels, 16 April 2009 -
EU fishing fleet capacity should be cut drastically to revive dwindling fish stocks, the European Commission warns in a draft paper seen Thursday, despite fears of the social impact of such a move.
www.eubusiness.com: EU seeks deep cuts in fishing capacity
www.eubusiness.com: EU to check whether French aid for fishermen is legal
Cuts in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Would Save Arctic Ice, and Reduce Sea Level Rise
New computer simulations show the extent that average air temperatures at Earth's surface could warm by 2080-2099 compared to 1980-1999, if (top) greenhouse gases emissions continue to climb at current rates, or if (bottom) society cuts emissions by 70 percent. In the latter case, temperatures rise by less than 2°C (3.6°F) across nearly all of Earth's populated areas. However, unchecked emissions could lead to warming of 3°C (5.4°F) or more across parts of Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia. (Graphic courtesy Geophysical Research Letters, modified by UCAR.)
Boulder, April 14 2009 -
The threat of global warming can still be greatly diminished if nations cut emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 70 percent this century, according to a new analysis. While global temperatures would rise, the most dangerous potential aspects of climate change, including massive losses of Arctic sea ice and permafrost and significant sea level rise, could be partially avoided.
www.ucar.edu / Global Warming: Cuts in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Would Save Arctic Ice, Reduce Sea Level Rise
World will not meet 2C warming target, climate change experts agree
London, April 14 2009 -
Almost nine out of 10 climate scientists do not believe political efforts to restrict global warming to 2C will succeed, a Guardian poll reveals today. An average rise of 4-5C by the end of this century is more likely, they say, given soaring carbon emissions and political constraints.
> www.guardian.co.uk: World will not meet 2C warming target, climate change experts agree
> www.guardian.co.uk: Scientists fear worst on global warming
> www.guardian.co.uk: Climate change explained - the impact of temperature rises
> www.guardian.co.uk: To stop a climate catastrophe we must first believe we can make a difference
Stern advice for Copenhagen
London, April 9 2009 -
In this new book, economist Nicholas Stern makes a sweeping proposal for a global climate deal.
www.nature.com: Stern advice for Copenhagen
U.S. plays down hopes at climate talks
Bonn, April 8, 2009 -
U.S. negotiators tried to dampen expectations on Wednesday of rapid progress on climate change after President Barack Obama vowed new U.S. leadership, on the closing day of U.N. talks in Bonn.
www.reuters.com: U.S. plays down hopes at climate talks
www.ecoearth.info: The Only Way Forward Is Back to Gaia's Garden
EU: Earth warming faster
Oslo / Bonn, April 7 2009 -
Global warming is likely to overshoot a 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) rise seen by the European Union and many developing nations as a trigger for "dangerous" change, a Reuters poll of scientists showed on Tuesday.
www.reuters.com: Earth warming faster
G20 Commit to Reach Agreement in Copenhagen
London, April 2 2009 -
In the Leaders’ Statement adopted at the close of the G20 Summit, which took place in London, UK, on 2 April 2009, the leaders of the Group agreed to make the best possible use of investment funded by fiscal stimulus programmes towards the goal of building a resilient, sustainable and green recovery.
They also indicated their will to make the transition towards “clean, innovative, resource efficient, low carbon technologies and infrastructure” and to encourage multilateral development banks to contribute to reaching this objective. The leaders further reaffirmed their commitment to address the threat of irreversible climate change, based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and to reach agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.
www.g20.org: G20 Commit to Reach Agreement in Copenhagen
G20 summit: Campaigners claim more money spent on car industry than tackling climate change
London, March 30, 2009 -
The Government spent seven times more on paying off bankers and 20 times more money bailing out the car industry than on environmental initiatives, campaigners have claimed.
www.telegraph.co.uk: G20 summit: Campaigners claim more money spent on car industry than tackling climate change
Leaders to meet in summer for special climate change talks
London, March 29, 2009 -
Leaders attending the G20 meeting in London plan to gather again in the summer for a special summit on tackling climate change, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
The new summit – which is being called on the initiative of President Barack Obama as part of a US drive to get a new international agreement on tackling global warming – is to take place alongside the annual G8 gathering of world leaders on the island of La Maddalena off Sardinia.
www.independent.co.uk: Leaders to meet in summer for special climate change talks
Among Climate Scientists, a Dispute Over ‘Tipping Points’
London, March 29, 2009 -
The language was apocalyptic. Last month, a leading climate scientist warned that Earth’s rising temperatures were poised to set off irreversible disasters if steps were not taken quickly to stop global warming.
“The climate is nearing tipping points,” the NASA climate scientist James E. Hansen wrote in The Observer newspaper of London. “If we do not change course, we’ll hand our children a situation that is out of their control.”
The resulting calamities, Dr. Hansen and other like-minded scientists have warned, could be widespread and overwhelming: the loss of untold species as ocean reefs and forests are disrupted; the transformation of the Amazon into parched savanna; a dangerous rise in sea levels resulting from the melting of the mile-high ice sheets in West Antarctica and Greenland; and the thawing of the Arctic tundra, which would release torrents of the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere.
But the idea that the planet is nearing tipping points — thresholds at which change suddenly becomes unstoppable — has driven a wedge between scientists who otherwise share deep concerns about the implications of a human-warmed climate.
www.nytimes.com: Among Climate Scientists, a Dispute Over ‘Tipping Points’
U.S. to push for U.N. climate deal
Bonn, March 29, 2009 -
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration promised to push for a new global treaty to fight global warming at United Nations climate talks on Sunday but cautioned it had no magic wand.
"The United States is going to be powerfully and fully engaged," U.S. special envoy for climate change Todd Stern said at the opening of 175-nation U.N. talks in Bonn.
"But we are all going to have to do this together, we don't have a magic wand," he told a news conference at the March 29-April 8 meeting in Bonn, the first since Obama took office. The U.S. delegation was greeted by applause at the opening.
www.reuters.com: U.S. to push for U.N. climate deal
www.iisd.ca: Bonn Climate Change Talks 29 March - 8 April 2009 / Daily reports
www.iisd.ca: Bonn Climate Change Talks 29 March - Curtainraiser
‘Tipping Points’ and the Climate Challenge
London, March 27, 2009 -
In early assessments of global warming, most curves were smooth. Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases would raise temperatures. Then glaciologists started finding evidence of extraordinarily abrupt jumps in regional temperatures. Other evidence revealed past eras when seas rose precipitously. The possible shutdown of important Atlantic Ocean currents added to the sense of nonlinear and disruptive risk. A certain best seller propelled the phrase “tipping point” deep into popular discourse. Add that all together and what do you get? The prospect that human-driven warming is poised to push Earth past dangerous tipping points is now a cornerstone of many environmental campaigns.
dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com: ‘Tipping Points’ and the Climate Challenge
www.climateark.org: ‘Tipping Points’ and the Climate Challenge
Pyrolising the Planet
London, March 28, 2009 -
Well that got ‘em going. So far James Lovelock, Jim Hansen and Pushker Kharecha, Chris Goodall and Peter Read have all responded in the Guardian to my column on biochar.
www.monbiot.com: Pyrolising the Planet
Home / More from Monbiot
PIK presents report on Global Green Recovery to German Foreign Minister Steinmeier
Potsdam, March 26, 2009 -
Measures of G20 members for economic recovery can trigger a boost of both sustainable growth and climate protection. This is the result of a policy paper presented in Berlin today. The report was authored by a team led by Ottmar Edenhofer of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Lord Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
www.pik-potsdam.de: PIK presents report on Global Green Recovery to German Foreign Minister Steinmeier
God 'will not give happy ending'
London, March 26, 2009 -
God will not intervene to prevent humanity from wreaking disastrous damage to the environment, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.
In a lecture, Dr Rowan Williams urged a "radical change of heart" to prevent runaway climate change.
news.bbc.co.uk: God 'will not give happy ending'
Gore to publish new global warming book in November
New York, March 25, 2009 -
Nobel Peace Prize winner and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore will publish a follow-up to his global warming awareness bestseller "An Inconvenient Truth" on November 3.
The book will be called "Our Choice" and will describe solutions to global warming, the environmental crusader and U.S. publisher Rodale Inc. said in a statement on Tuesday.
www.reuters.com: Gore to publish new global warming book in November
Wildfire response to rapid climate change
New York, March 24 2009 -
Scientists investigating the effects of a comet that reportedly exploded over North America 12,900 years ago, find no evidence of widespread fires associated with the impact.
planetearth.nerc.ac.uk: Wildfire response to rapid climate change
Woodchips With Everything
London, March 24, 2009
Here comes the latest utopian catastrophe: the plan to solve climate change with biochar.
Whenever you hear the word miracle, you know there’s trouble just around the corner. But however many times they lead to disappointment or disaster, the newspapers never tire of promoting miracle cures, miracle crops, miracle fuels and miracle financial instruments. We have a bottomless ability to disregard the laws of economics, biology and thermodynamics when we encounter a simple solution to complex problems. So welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the new miracle. It’s a low-carbon regime for the planet which makes the Atkins Diet look healthy: woodchips with everything.
www.monbiot.com: Woodchips With Everything
'If people now realise I wasn't talking complete nonsense then I'm delighted'
Johannesburg (SA), March 21, 2009 -
By delivering a keynote speech on climate change during his tour of South America last week, the Prince of Wales has finally gained respect for his environmental views.
www.telgraph.co.uk: 'If people now realise I wasn't talking complete nonsense then I'm delighted'
The Big Question: Does an impending shortage of vital resources threaten catastrophe?
London, March 20, 2009 -
The Government's appointed Chief Scientist and latter-day Nostradamus, Professor John Beddington, has predicted that within 20 years the world could face "a perfect storm" of food, energy and water shortages that will create a crisis of unprecedented proportions. Yesterday, in a speech to the Sustainable Development UK conference, the Prof Beddington predicted that food and energy demand will grow by 50 per cent and water supplies 30 per cent greater than current ones will be required by 2030. "There's not going to be a complete collapse," he said, "but things will start to get really worrying if we don't tackle these problems" – chief among them that the global population will grow to 8.3 billion by 2030. "This is a very gloomy picture," he concluded.
www.independent.co.uk / The Big Question: Does an impending shortage of vital resources threaten catastrophe?
www.independent.co.uk / The Big Question: Does an impending shortage of vital resources threaten catastrophe? (graphic)
Global crisis 'to strike by 2030' (March 19)
Delivering Tomorrow's Economy and Job Market Today
Nairobi, March 19, 2009 -
Investing one per cent of global GDP, or around $750 billion, into five key sectors could be the key to a Global Green New Deal.
The five sectors, from renewable energy to freshwaters, could in conjunction with other measures play an important role in reviving the global economy and boosting employment while accelerating the fight against climate change, environmental degradation and poverty.
These are among the findings of a new policy brief by economists and the United Nations launched in advance of the G20 meeting of world leaders in London in early April.
www.unep.org: Delivering Tomorrow's Economy and Job Market Today)
Global crisis 'to strike by 2030'
London, March 19th, 2009 -
Growing world population will cause a "perfect storm" of food, energy and water shortages by 2030, the UK government chief scientist has warned.
By 2030 the demand for resources will create a crisis with dire consequences, Prof John Beddington said.
Food, water and energy shortages will unleash public unrest and international conflict.
Demand for food and energy will jump 50% by 2030 and for fresh water by 30%, as the population tops 8.3 billion, he told a conference in London.
news.bbc.co.uk: Global crisis 'to strike by 2030'
www.guardian.co.uk: World faces 'perfect storm' of problems by 2030, chief scientist to warn
> More apocapyptic warnings
$750 billion "green" investment could revive economy: U.N.
Oslo, March 19th, 2009 -
Investments of $750 billion could create a "Green New Deal" to revive the world economy and protect the environment, perhaps aided by a tax on oil, the head of the U.N. environment agency said on Thursday.
www.reuters.com: $750 billion "green" investment could revive economy
World faces 'perfect storm' of problems by 2030, chief scientist to warn
London, March 18, 2009 -
A "perfect storm" of food shortages, scarce water and insufficient energy resources threaten to unleash public unrest, cross-border conflicts and mass migration as people flee from the worst-affected regions, the UK government's chief scientist will warn tomorrow.
www.guardian.co.uk: World faces 'perfect storm' of problems by 2030, chief scientist to warn
China seeks export carbon relief
London, March 17 2009 -
China has proposed that importers of Chinese-made goods should be responsible for the carbon dioxide emitted during their manufacture.
China's top climate change negotiator, Li Gao, said his country should not pay for cutting emissions caused by the high demands of other countries.
news.bbc.co.uk: China seeks export carbon relief
Scientists warn on climate tipping points
March 17th, 2009 -
A survey of top climate scientists has revealed there is a real chance of key climate tipping points being passed with serious consequences for the planet.
In a major study involving 43 of the world’s leading climate experts, scientists have for the first time worked out the likelihood of one of the major climate thresholds being breached.
In this latest research - published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - the internationally-renowned climate team conclude there is a 1 in 6 chance of at least one threshold being passed with a rise of just 2-4 degrees in global average temperature.
If the average increase in temperature is higher than this, then the probability becomes 1 in 2.
www.physorg.com: Scientists warn on climate tipping points
www.pnas.org: Imprecise probability assessment of tipping points in the climate system (+ link to full article)
Drought and water overuse in Europe
Copenhagen, March 17, 2009 -
From golf courses to books, olive oil to vaccinations, all the goods and services that we rely on, together with many of our daily activities, require a vital resource: water. A new report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) confirms that in many parts of Europe water use is unsustainable and provides recommendations for a new approach to managing water resources.
www.eea.europa.eu: Drought and water overuse in Europe
Shell dumps wind, solar and hydro power in favour of biofuels
London, March 17, 2009 -
Shell will no longer invest in renewable technologies such as wind, solar and hydro power because they are not economic, the Anglo-Dutch oil company said today. It plans to invest more in biofuels which environmental groups blame for driving up food prices and deforestation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk: Shell dumps wind, solar and hydro power in favour of biofuels
Chernobyl animals worse affected than thought: study
London, March 17, 2009 -
Radiation has affected animals living near the site of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear disaster far more than was previously thought, a study showed Wednesday, challenging beliefs that local wildlife was on the rebound.
www.reuters.com: Chernobyl animals worse affected than thought: study
China seeks export carbon relief
London, March 17 2009 -
China has proposed that importers of Chinese-made goods should be responsible for the carbon dioxide emitted during their manufacture.
China's top climate change negotiator, Li Gao, said his country should not pay for cutting emissions caused by the high demands of other countries.
news.bbc.co.uk: China seeks export carbon relief
BirdLife campaigns to save migratory birds
London, March 16, 2009 -
More than 40% of migrant bird passing between Africa, the Middle East and Europe, have declined in the last three decades. Of these 10% are classified by BirdLife as Globally Threatened or Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. “Every year, migratory birds brave mountains, oceans, deserts and storms on their journeys to survive”, said Dr Marco Lambertini - CEO of BirdLife International.
> www.birdlife.org: BirdLife campaigns to save migratory birds
Global climate feedback from microscopic algae
East Lansing, (Mich/USA), March 16, 2009 -
Tiny creatures at the bottom of the food chain called diatoms suck up nearly a quarter of the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide, yet research by Michigan State University scientists suggests they could become less able to “sequester” that greenhouse gas as the climate warms. The microscopic algae are a major component of plankton living in puddles, lakes and oceans.
news.msu.edu: Global climate feedback from microscopic algae
A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
London, March 16, 2009 -
If you think preventing climate change is politically difficult, look at the political problems of adapting to it.
Quietly in public, loudly in private, climate scientists everywhere are saying the same thing: it’s over. The years in which more than two degrees of global warming could have been prevented have passed, the opportunities squandered by denial and delay. On current trajectories we’ll be lucky to get away with four degrees. Mitigation (limiting greenhouse gas pollution) has failed; now we must adapt to what nature sends our way. If we can.
www.monbiot.com: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Plan B: scientists get radical in bid to halt global warming ‘catastrophe’
London, March 15 2009 -
The director of a Nasa space laboratory will this week lead thousands of climate change campaigners through Coventry in an extraordinary intervention in British politics.
James Hansen plans to use Thursday’s Climate Change Day of Action to put pressure on Gordon Brown to wake up to the threat of climate change - by halting the construction of new power stations and the expansion of airports, with schemes such as the third runway at Heathrow.
www.timesonline.co.uk / Plan B: scientists get radical in bid to halt global warming ‘catastrophe’
Scientists are grim, economists more optimistic about climate change's effects
New York / Copenhagen, March 13 2009 -
Scientists are gloomy; economists are more upbeat. Such was the bottom line of an epic, three-day international congress of climate change experts that ended here yesterday.
At the congress, it seemed that all the scientists had to share with their peers was bad news, but a number of economists saw the climate crisis rather as an historic opportunity to reorganize the world economy and develop new, clean and job-creating activities.
www.nytimes.com: Scientists are grim, economists more optimistic about climate change's effects
WWF-Canada: Polar Bear States Obliged to Take Action on Climate Change at Historic Meeting
Toronto, (Ont/Can) March 13 2009 -
An agreement signed in 1973 obliges the five Arctic states with polar bear populations to take action on climate change at a meeting next week, WWF said today.
www.msnbc.msn.com: Polar Bear States Obliged to Take Action on Climate Change at Historic Meeting
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Polar bears will not survive without action to tackle climate change (photo series)
European leadership on the road to Copenhagen
Brussels, March 13 2009 -
The financial and economic crisis continues to dominate the news, and understandably so. In the short term we all face a painful reduction in global prosperity. But in the long term perhaps the greatest threat of all – not only to our prosperity but also to the survival of millions of people in vulnerable areas of the globe – comes from climate change.
en.cop15.dk: European leadership on the road to Copenhagen
World faces 'irreversible' climate change, researchers warn
Copenhagen, (DK) March 12 2009 -
The world is facing an increasing risk of "irreversible" climate shifts because worst-case scenarios warned of two years ago are being realized, an international panel of scientists has warned.
Drought, flooding, storms and mass extinction in the future will have a heavy social cost as well.
Temperatures, sea levels, acid levels in oceans and ice sheets were already moving "beyond the patterns of natural variability within which our society and economy have developed and thrived," scientists said in a report released during the Climate Change Congress in Copenhagen.
> www.cnn.com: World faces 'irreversible' climate change, researchers warn
> Copenhagen 2009:
Stern attacks politicians over climate 'devastation' / Lord Stern on global warming: It's even worse than I thought / Worst-case scenarios are being realised
Carbon sinks losing the battle with rising emissions
Copenhagen, (DK) March 11 2009 -
The stabilising influence that land and ocean carbon sinks have on rising carbon emissions is gradually weakening, say scientists attending this week’s international Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.
“Forests, grasslands and oceans are absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere faster than ever but they are not keeping pace with rapidly rising emissions,” says CSIRO scientist and co-Chair of the Global Carbon Project, Dr Mike Raupach.
> www.csiro.au: Carbon sinks losing the battle with rising emissions
> Copenhagen 2009: Stern attacks politicians over climate 'devastation' / Lord Stern on global warming: It's even worse than I thought / Worst-case scenarios are being realised
Jane Goodall accuses China of plundering Africa
Washington, (USA) March 11 2009 -
China's thirst for natural resources including wood and minerals is leading to massive deforestation in Africa and the destruction of crucial wildlife habitat, world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall said on Tuesday.
www.mg.co.za: Jane Goodall accuses China of plundering Africa
Lovelock labels Europe's carbon trading scheme a 'scam'
London, March 10 2009 -
Gaia scientist joins former minister Michael Meacher in saying 'disastrous' scheme has profited industry but not helped to reduce emissions.
Europe's carbon trading scheme has proved to be "disastrous" and a "scam" in which companies have profited with no effect on emissions, a leading politician and a scientist said yesterday.
www.guardian.co.uk: Lovelock labels Europe's carbon trading scheme a 'scam
China's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Threaten to Double
Berlin, March 6 2009 -
Can a climate catastrophe still be averted? Scientists voice pessimism in a new study, which concludes that no matter what the Western industrialized nations do, China's greenhouse emissions will be hard to stop.
www.spiegel.de: China's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Threaten to Double
EU and US vow to use crisis for green new deal
Brussels, March 6 2009 -
Secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Friday said the Obama administration was committed to take EU-US co-operation to a new level, particularly in regards to climate change and the current economic crisis, which had to be dealt with together.
"We are committed to a cap-and-trade system, but also to a number of other things. We are making major investments now in our stimulus package in alternative energy, in basic science research, in new forms of fueling transportation, as well as upgrading our grid. The European Union is taking a similarly broad approach," Ms Clinton told a press conference after meeting with EU representatives.
euobserver.com: EU and US vow to use crisis for green new deal
The Geoengineering Option: A Last Resort Against Global Warming?
London, March 5 2009 -
As climate change accelerates, policymakers may have to consider "geoengineering" as an emergency strategy to cool the planet. Engineering the climate strikes most as a bad idea, but it is time to start taking it seriously.
www.foreignaffairs.org: The Geoengineering Option / A Last Resort Against Global Warming?
Can sea levels diagnose the health of part of the world's ocean circulation?
London, March 5 2009 -
New research suggests subtle changes in sea level on the eastern coast of the United States may give clues to the strength of the most important ocean circulation in the North Atlantic.
planetearth.nerc.ac.uk: Can sea levels diagnose the health of part of the world's ocean circulation?
EU ministers shirk third-world climate finance
Brussels, March 4 2009 -
Poorer countries have been left hanging by EU environment ministers, who at a meeting in Brussels failed to produce any clear funding commitments to help the developing world tackle climate change.
> euobserver.com: EU ministers shirk third-world climate finance
> www.enn.com: Europe’s new climate gambit - shifting the heat onto developing nations?
International agencies launch 50% global fuel economy plan to key industry players at Geneva Motor Show
Geneva, March 4 2009 -
A roadmap towards greater global fuel economy that would halve greenhouse gas emissions from cars must be embarked upon immediately, and integrated into financial support for the car industry, according to a joint international agency report issued today.
> www.iea.org: International agencies launch 50% global fuel economy plan to key industry players at Geneva Motor Sho
U.S. Climate Official Urges Congress To Curb Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
Washington, March 3 2009 -
The top U.S. negotiator of international climate-change agreements urged Congress to pass legislation curbing greenhouse-gas emissions in advance of an international summit this December, saying it would give other countries "a powerful signal" to cut their own emissions.
> www.enn.com: U.S. Climate Official Urges Congress To Curb Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
World Faces Last Chance To Avoid Fatal Warming - EU
Budapest, 2 March 2009 -
The world faces a final opportunity to agree an adequate global response to climate change at a UN-led meeting in Copenhagen in December, the European Union's environment chief said on Friday.
World leaders from about 190 countries meet in Copenhagen in December to try to agree a global framework to replace the Kyoto Protocol on fighting global warming, which expires in 2012.
"It is now 12 years since Kyoto was created. This makes Copenhagen the world's last chance to stop climate change before it passes the point of no return," European Union Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told a climate conference in Budapest on Friday.
"Having an agreement in Copenhagen is not only possible, it is imperative and we are going to have it," Dimas said.
planetark.org: World Faces Last Chance To Avoid Fatal Warming - EU
Support Obama and the Washington mass protest against dirty coal
Amsterdam, 2 March 2009, -
Today James Hansen of NASA, America's foremost climate scientist, will join hundreds of activists, many of them college students in an act of civil disobedience outside the coal plant that powers the US Capitol. Hansen has argued that preventing catastrophic climate change requires an end to new coal plants; now he will get arrested to make that point.
The Washington protest is indirectly supported in a letter of February 26 by the heads of the Democratic majority in the Congress, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, calling on the acting architect of the Capitol to convert the Capitol power plant from coal to 100% natural gas.
Barack Obama has executed a welcome U-turn in American environmental policy by making the fight against global warming one of the top priorities of his administration, and we applaud the letter by Democratic congressional leaders. But without the help of an aroused public opinion, at home and internationally, corporate energy lobbies and a business-as-usual attitude in Washington and elsewhere may block the rapid progress needed.
For this reason, we express our solidarity with the effort of James Hansen and the activists of Greenpeace, the Rainbow Forest Coalition and more than fifty other civil society groups to close down the U.S. government's coal power station.
In the name of our common future, we call on the governments of the United States, the Netherlands, and all other countries to halt immediately the construction of all new coal-fired power centrals, to phase out existing coal centrals and to stimulate the most rapid possible conversion to renewable energy.
www.greenpeace.nl
www.haagsmilieucentrum.nl
Concerned Citizens against Climate Change
See also:
Power Shift 2009 climate-action conference
Med Nations Top EU's Climate Change Risk List
Brussels, 2 March 2009, -
Italy, Spain and Greece could bear the brunt of climate change in Europe this century, with heatwaves and wildfires hitting tourism earnings and food production, according to a draft European Commission report.
The economic impact of climate change could be 6.2 billion euros (US$7.9 billion) a year by 2020 if the EU's 27 nations do nothing to adapt, says an early draft of the "Adapting to Climate Change" report, seen by Reuters on Friday.
That could rise to 54-63 billion euros a year by 2060, depending on the success of measures to cut emissions, says the draft, which has not yet been approved by Europe's environment commissioner and will not be officially adopted until April.
> planetark.org: Med Nations Top EU's Climate Change Risk List
World fisheries must prepare for climate change
Rome, 2 March 2009, -
The fishing industry and national fisheries authorities must do more to understand and prepare for the impacts that climate change will have on world fisheries, says a new FAO report published today.
> www.fao.org: World fisheries must prepare for climate change
> www.fao.org: The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture
Millions warned as Australia braces for renewed fire threat
Melbourne March 2, 2009 -
Australia braced Monday for the worst conditions since firestorms killed 210 people last month, prompting authorities to send warning text messages to the mobile phones of five million people.
> www.terradaily.com: Millions warned as Australia braces for renewed fire threat
Congressional leaders call for Capitol plant to can coal, just days before major protest
Washington, February 28 2009 -
Some 10,000 yoots are descending on D.C. today for the Power Shift 2009 climate-action conference. On Monday, many of them will join a massive protest at the coal-fired plant that provides power to the U.S. Capitol. Organizers from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Rainforest Action Network, and Greenpeace anticipate that it will be the largest display of civil disobedience against global warming in United States history. But yesterday, Congressional leaders took some of the wind out of their disobedient sails: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to the Acting Architect of the Capitol asking that the plant switch to 100 percent natural gas. The protest is still meaningful, organizers say -- the coal problem ain't exactly limited to that one facility.
> gristmill.grist.org: Powershift 2009
> www.worldwatch.org: Climate Change Activists Pour into D.C.
> www.guardian.co.uk: Capitol Hill coal power plant targeted by environmentalists
> gristmill.grist.org: Jim Hansen wants you to join
> Jim Hansen: "The President 'has four years to save Earth"
California declares drought emergency
Sacramento / San Francisco, February 28 2009 -
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday declared a state emergency due to drought and said he would consider mandatory water rationing in the face of nearly $3 billion in economic losses from below-normal rainfall this year.
> www.reuters.com: California declares drought emergency
Risks of Global Warming Rising: Is It Too Late to Reverse Course?
February 28 2009 -
The negative impacts of climate change are beginning to appear--and we may soon cross a threshold of significant damage.
The risk of catastrophic climate change is getting worse, according to a new study from scientists involved with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Threats—ranging from the destruction of coral reefs to more extreme weather events like hurricanes, droughts and floods—are becoming more likely at the temperature change already underway: as little as 1.8 degree Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) of warming in global average temperatures.
> www.sciam.com: Risks of Global Warming Rising: Is It Too Late to Reverse Course?
> dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com: Why 2007 I.P.C.C. Report Lacked ‘Embers’
Mayors of Major African Cities Voice Concerns Over Climate Change
Nairobi, February 27 2009 -
Despite their relatively low contribution to global warming, African cities are being disproportionately affected by rising emissions.
This was one of the conclusions that emerged from a discussion on African cities and climate change on Friday. The dialogue was part of a two day conference of mayors of African capital cities being hosted by UN-HABITAT in Nairobi, Kenya.> www.unep.org: Mayors of Major African Cities Voice Concerns Over Climate Change
Kilimanjaro Climb to raise Climate Change Awareness
Nairobi, February 25 / 27 2009 -
In cooperation with the UN’s UNite to Combat Climate Change campaign and as a part of the Kilimanjaro Initiative’s fourth annual ascent to the “rooftop of Africa,” ten underprivileged youth from urban areas in Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana will summit Mount Kilimanjaro, beginning 28 February 2009.
> www.unep.org: Kilimanjaro Climb to raise Climate Change Awareness
> The Vanishing Glacier of Mount Kilimanjaro
Study Urges U.S.-China Climate Change Summit
Beijng / Washington, February 27 2009 -
The United States and China should hold a summit featuring an agreement on climate change, helping to create international support for a new global pact by the end of 2009, a former White House adviser said on Thursday.
> planetark.org: Study Urges U.S.-China Climate Change Summit
Pressure Builds To Delay Australian Carbon Trading
Canberra, February 27 2009 -
Australia's government on Thursday came under renewed pressure to delay plans for carbon trading, with the nation's leading industry body saying the global downturn made a 2010 start unrealistic.
> planetark.org: Pressure Builds To Delay Australian Carbon Trading
Rich-Nation 2020 Greenhouse Gas Cuts Seen At about 15 Percent
Petrochemistry is a long way from making necessary cuts in carbondioxide output
Oslo, February 2009 -
Rich nations have converged on targets of around 15 percent for cutting greenhouse gases by 2020, but recession across much of the world could impede efforts to agree a new U.N. climate pact by the end of the year.
Cuts of 15 percent from current levels would fall far short of reductions advised by U.N.-backed scientists, but the recession is limiting government ambitions, analysts say.
"We're beginning to see a rough alignment for the numbers for developed countries," said Elliot Diringer of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in Washington, of proposals for cuts of around 15 percent.
> planetark.org: Deeper cuts needed
"Gaia" Scientist Lovelock Says Life Doomed By Climate Woes
James Lovelock with Gaia, the godess Mother Earth (Photo: http://www.ecolo.org/lovelock/lovebioen.htm)
London, February 26 2009 -
Climate change will wipe out most life on Earth by the end of this century and mankind is too late to avert catastrophe, a leading British climate scientist said.
James Lovelock, 89, famous for his Gaia theory of the Earth being a kind of living organism, said higher temperatures will turn parts of the world into desert and raise sea levels, flooding other regions.
His apocalyptic theory foresees crop failures, drought and death on an unprecedented scale. The population of this hot, barren world could shrink from about seven billion to one billion by 2100 as people compete for ever-scarcer resources.
> planetark.org: "Gaia" Scientist Lovelock Says Life Doomed By Climate Woes
> www.telegraph.co.uk: Britain will become one big city in order to cope with climate change refugees
> www.telegraph.co.uk / James Lovelock: Reducing emissions could speed global warming
> 'The Revenge of Gaia' Books & Debate (2006)
> Lovelock: Enjoy life while you can (March 1 2008)
How to survive the coming century
As deserts encroach on fertile land, as it has near Dunhuang, China, people will be forced to move towards the poles
London, February 25 2009 -
Alligators basking off the English coast; a vast Brazilian desert; the mythical lost cities of Saigon, New Orleans, Venice and Mumbai; and 90 per cent of humanity vanished. Welcome to the world warmed by 4 °C."
Clearly this is a vision of the future that no one wants, but it might happen. Fearing that the best efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions may fail, or that planetary climate feedback mechanisms will accelerate warming, some scientists and economists are considering not only what this world of the future might be like, but how it could sustain a growing human population. They argue that surviving in the kinds of numbers that exist today, or even more, will be possible, but only if we use our uniquely human ingenuity to cooperate as a species to radically reorganise our world.
www.newscientist.com: How to survive the coming century
CO2 rise in atmosphere accelerates in 2008
London, February 25 2009 -
Increases in the amount of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere accelerated last year, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told Reuters on Wednesday.
The new data may dampen hopes that a slowdown in industrial output and carbon emissions, which started at the end of last year, will temporarily deflect climate.
> www.reuters.com: CO2 rise in atmosphere accelerates in 2008
CO2 hits new peaks, no sign global crisis causing dip (Feb 12)
Polar research reveals new evidence of global environmental change
Geneva, 25 February 2009 –
Multidisciplinary research from the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 provides new evidence of the widespread effects of global warming in the polar regions. Snow and ice are declining in both polar regions, affecting human livelihoods as well as local plant and animal life in the Arctic, as well as global ocean and atmospheric circulation and sea level. These are but a few findings reported in “State of Polar Research”, released today by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Council for Science (ICSU). In addition to lending insight into climate change, IPY has aided our understanding of pollutant transport, species’ evolution, and storm formation, among many other areas.
> www.wmo.int: Polar research reveals new evidence of global environmental change
> www.wmo.int: The State of Polar research (full report / pdf)
> Arctic Melt
> Antarctic melt
Obama puts climate and energy atop his priorities list in his first address to Congress
Barack Obama with Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi
Washington, February 25, 2009 -
President Barack Obama devoted a significant portion of his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night to energy and environmental concerns, talking up the need for energy investments and calling on legislators to send him a cap-and-trade bill this Congress.
gristmill.grist.org: Obama puts climate and energy atop his priorities list in his first address to Congress
www.reuters.com: Battle lines drawn in Capitol Hill climate debate
Developed countries need to pay up
London, 25 February 2009
A financial package to support sustainable investments in the poorest countries could boost development, stimulate manufacturing in richer countries and lead to global environmental sustainability, says Jeffrey Sachs. The developed world had promised Africa US$60 billion in aid per year up to 2010. Developed countries need to pay up now.
www.scidev.net: Developed countries need to pay up
Global "Green" Energy Stimulus Hits $200 Bln: Bank
New York, February 25, 2009 -
Governments around the world have committed more than $200 billion toward technologies to cut dependence on fossil fuels, which should help keep green development moving despite the global economic crunch, an analyst for Deutsche Bank said on Tuesday.
Governments in the United States, Europe and Asia have also developed more than 250 policies since July last year that support alternative energy such as solar and wind power and climate-change mitigation.
www.sciencedaily.com: Most Wars Occur In Earth's Richest Biological Regions
The climate change lobby explosion
Washington, February 24, 2009 -
A Center for Public Integrity analysis of Senate lobbying disclosure forms shows that more than 770 companies and interest groups hired lobbyists to influence federal policy on climate change in the past year, as the issue gathered momentum and came to a vote on Capitol Hill.
www.publicintegrity.org: The climate change lobby explosion
NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory crashes into the ocean
Washington, February 24, 2009 -
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), NASA’s satellite to track CO2 emissions on Earth, failed to reach orbit after blasting off early this morning, crashing in the waters off of Antarctica and dashing hopes for the $278-million mission.
www.sciam.com: NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory crashes into the ocean
> www.jpl/nasa.gov: NASA's Launch of Carbon-Seeking Satellite Is Unsuccessful
> www.realclimate.org: It’s wrong to wish on space hardware
> www.nature.com: David Crisp and NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory
M.I.T. joins climate realists, doubles its projection of global warming by 2100 to 5.1°C
Washington, February 23, 2009 -
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Climate Change has joined the climate realists. The realists are the growing group of scientists who understand that the business as usual emissions path leads to unmitigated catastrophe.
> climateprogress.org: M.I.T. joins climate realists, doubles its projection of global warming by 2100 to 5.1°C
Prepare for a climate-changed world, say engineers
London, February 21, 2009 -
A report by the UK's Institution of Mechanical Engineers will next month call for governments to accept that climate change is now inevitable. Strategies must be put in place now to protect our infrastructure from its worst effects, alongside existing efforts to reduce emissions, it will argue.
www.newscientist.com: Prepare for a climate-changed world, say engineers
Most Wars Occur In Earth's Richest Biological Regions
February 21, 2009 -
In a startling result, a new study published in the journal Conservation Biology found that more than 80 percent of the world's major armed conflicts from 1950-2000 occurred in regions identified as the most biologically diverse and threatened places on Earth.
www.sciencedaily.com: Most Wars Occur In Earth's Richest Biological Regions
Rich nations failing to meet climate aid pledges
London, February 20, 2009 -
World's richest countries have pledged nearly $18bn to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, but less than $1bn has been disbursed.
Developing countries have received less than 10% of the money promised by rich countries to help them adapt to global warming, an analysis by the Guardian has found.
www.guardian.co.uk: Rich nations failing to meet climate aid pledges
Asia needs to change climate policy game: expert
[Smog in Asia]
Singapore, February 20 2009 -
Asia needs to wake up to the threat of global warming and take a leading role in climate change negotiations or risk having rich nations dictate policies to curb carbon emissions, a leading policy expert said on Friday.
www.reuters.com: Asia needs to change climate policy game: expert
Past Climate May Give Clue To Modern Change: Expert
Oslo, February 20 2009 --
Abrupt shifts in the climate such as the end of Ice Ages could provide an early warning system for modern changes such as prolonged droughts, a leading scientist said on Monday.
planetark.org: Past Climate May Give Clue To Modern Change: Expert
Peak energy: promise or peril?
London, February 19 2009 --
The notion that we're running out of fossil fuel is gaining support in some unexpected quarters. But is peak energy good or bad news for the climate? Kurt Kleiner reports.
Peak energy: promise or peril?
In the hope of accurately forecasting peak production, some analysts are calling for a rigorous evaluation of global fossil fuel reserves.
Will we continue to use fossil fuels to the detriment of our planet and the human population? Or can we clean up our act in time to avoid calamitous change? That's the dilemma the world currently faces, yet in spite of efforts to transition to alterative energy sources, projections show that annual fossil fuel demand is likely to increase 45 per cent by 2030.
www.nature.com: Peak energy: promise or peril?
Copenhagen becomes the 100th participant of the UNEP Climate Neutral Network
Nairobi, 19 February 2009 -
The City of Copenhagen today became the 100th participant of the Climate Neutral Network (CN Net), an initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to promote global action towards low-carbon economies and societies.
www.unep.org: Copenhagen becomes the 100th participant of the UNEP Climate Neutral Network
Does cloud seeding work?
Beijng, February 19 2009 --
At long last, it snowed in northern China. The first snow of the year came to Hebei, the northern province surrounding Beijing. In the Chinese capital, it was the first real bout of precipitation since last October. The blizzard caused 12 area highways around Beijing to close.
www.sciam.com: Does cloud seeding work?
G20 Should Send Clear Signal On Climate Change
London, February 19 2009 --
A G20 economic summit in April can help pave the way to a climate change deal by sending a signal that the financial crisis and global warming can be tackled simultaneously, Denmark's prime minister said on Wednesday.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen is discussing preparations for year-end talks on a new climate treaty in Copenhagen during meetings this week in London, Berlin and Brussels.
planetark.org: G20 Should Send Clear Signal On Climate Change
Sun-powered device converts CO2 into fuel
London, February 18 2009 --
Powered only by natural sunlight, an array of nanotubes is able to convert a mixture of carbon dioxide and water vapour into natural gas at unprecedented rates.
Such devices offer a new way to take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into fuel or other chemicals to cut the effect of fossil fuel emissions on global climate, says Craig Grimes, from Pennsylvania State University, whose team came up with the device.
www.newscientist.com: Sun-powered device converts CO2 into fuel
Progress in disarmament will free up resources for development, says Ban
[Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters]
Nairobi, February 18 2009 --
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today encouraged nations to break the deadlock that has hindered global disarmament talks in recent years, stressing that making progress in this area will free up vitally important resources for development at a time when the world is facing a financial crunch.
Progress in disarmament will free up resources for development, says Ban
Western states' climate laws: the cost of inaction
Los Angeles (CA/US), February 18 2009 --
If Western states don't substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they could face billions of dollars in health care and other related costs by 2020, according to reports by economists for the University of Oregon's Climate Leadership Initiative's Program on Climate Economics.
latimesblogs.latimes.com: Western states' climate laws: the cost of inaction
Russia: global warming to cause droughts, floods
Moscow, February 18 2009 --
Russia will likely see more forest fires, droughts and floods in the coming century due to global warming, and policy makers need to prepare for large-scale change, scientists warned in a report released Wednesday.
It also said Russia, famous for its brutal winters, will benefit from climate change in some ways, with warmer temperatures and less snow and ice.
news.yahoo.com / AP / Russia: global warming to cause droughts, floods
Where Does Coastal Fish Farm Waste Go
Stanford (Ca), February 18 2009 --
If you are a fish eater, it's likely that the salmon you had for dinner was not caught in the wild, but was instead grown in a mesh cage submerged in the open water of oceans or bays. Fish farming, a relatively inexpensive way to provide cheap protein to a growing world population, now supplies, by some estimates, 30 percent of the fish consumed by humans. But...
www.seeddaily.com/: Where Does Coastal Fish Farm Waste Go
Climate Change Erodes Marine Reserves
Chicago, February 18 2009 --
Climate change has undermined fundamental assumptions about oceanic conservation, challenging the notion that today’s sanctuaries will protect tomorrow’s fish.
> www.sciam.com: Climate Change Erodes Marine Reserves
Bushfires and extreme heat in south-east Australia highlight Global Warming Danger
Melbourne, February 15 / 18 2009 --
On Saturday 7 February 2009, Australia experienced its worst natural disaster in more than 100 years, when catastrophic bushfires killed more than 180 people and destroyed more than 2000 homes in Victoria, Australia. These fires occurred on a day of unprecedented high temperatures in south-east Australia, part of a heat wave that started 10 days earlier, and a record dry spell.
> www.realclimate.org: Bushfires and extreme heat in south-east Australia
ipsnews.net: Bushfires Highlight Global Warming Danger (18-02)
New York Must Prepare for Global Warming, Mayor’s Panel Says
New York, February 17 2009 --
New York City must prepare for higher temperatures, more rain and an increased risk of coastal flooding in the coming decades as a result of global climate change, an advisory panel said on Tuesday.
www.nytimes.com: New York Must Prepare for Global Warming, Mayor’s Panel Says
Five places to go before global warming messes them up
Atlanta, February 17 2009 --
Scientists expect some great travel spots to be altered or ruined by global climate change. Some of the changes are already taking place. Others are expected to be seen in coming decades.
There are two ways to look at this: Either stay home (which might be less depressing and won't add more airline emissions) or get a move on it and see the hot spots you just can't miss.
For those who want to head out, CNN got advice on the best pre-warming travel destinations from Bob Henson, author of "The Rough Guide to Climate Change" and a writer at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
www.cnn.com: Five places to go before global warming messes them up
Kenyan President opens UNEP Governing Council urging a "Green New Deal”
Nairobi, February 17 2009 --
President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya formally opened the 25th Session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) this week with a call to world leaders to support a “Green New Deal” aimed at tackling climate change and revitalizing the crippled global economy.
Delegates from all over the world gathered at the UN headquarters in Nairobi for the week-long meeting at which UNEP Executive Director and UN Under-Secretary-General, Mr. Achim Steiner, emphasized the need for a transition to a green economy in a bid to overcome the global recession in a sustainable manner.
www.unhabitat.org: Kenyan President opens UNEP Governing Council urging a "Green New Deal”
www.unep.org: Green Revolution with a Capital G is Needed to Feed the World
U.N. says food production may fall 25 percent by 2050
Nairobi, February 17 2009 --
Up to a quarter of global food production could be lost by 2050 due to the combined impact of climate change, land degradation and loss, water scarcity and species infestation, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
www.reuters.com: U.N. says food production may fall 25 percent by 2050
Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet melting, rate unknown
Chicago, February 16 2009 --
The Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets are melting, but the amounts that will melt and the time it will take are still unknown, according to Richard Alley, Evan Pugh professor of geosciences, Penn State.
www.physorg.com: Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet melting, rate unknown
Arctic Melt: Team Will Use Radar To Measure Thinning Arctic Ice (Feb 13)
Scientists solve enigma of Antarctic 'cooling' (Jan 21)
Green growth is essential to any stimulus
New York, February 16 2009 -- ( By Ban Ki-moon and Al Gore ) --
Economic stimulus is the order of the day. This is as it must be, as governments around the world struggle to jump-start the global economy. But even as leaders address the immediate need to stimulate the economy, so too must they act jointly to ensure that the new de facto economic model being developed is sustainable for the planet and our future on it.
> www.ft.com: Green growth is essential to any stimulus
> money.ninemsn.com.au: Green growth is essential to any stimulus
> planetark.org: UN Urges G20 Leaders To Back "Green New Deal"
Climate Change Likely To Be More Devastating Than Experts Predicted, Warns Top IPCC Scientist
New York, February 15 2009 --
Without decisive action, global warming in the 21st century is likely to accelerate at a much faster pace and cause more environmental damage than predicted, according to a leading member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
IPCC scientist Chris Field of Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution for Science points to recent studies showing that, in a business-as-usual world, higher temperatures could ignite tropical forests and melt the Arctic tundra, releasing billions of tons of greenhouse gas that could raise global temperatures even more—a vicious cycle that could spiral out of control by the end of the century.
"Without effective action, climate change is going to be larger and more difficult to deal with than we thought," he said.
> www.sciencedaily.com: Climate Change Likely To Be More Devastating Than Experts Predicted, Warns Top IPCC Scientist
> blogs.sciencemag.org: Climate Change Worst Case Scenarios: Not Worst Enough
> www.reuters.com: Global warming seen worse than predicted
> www.afp.com: Climate change: 'Feedback' triggers could amplify peril
> www.washingtonpost.com: Pace of Climate Change Exceeds Estimates
> www.ens-newswire.com: Climate Could Cross Critical Threshold by 2100, Expert Warns
Related:
> AAAS: Tropical forests are drying out because of global warming / The tropics on fire: scientist's grim vision of global warming (Feb 15)
> All About Frozen Ground Web Site (Dec 10 2008)
> Global Warming Predicted To Hasten Carbon Release From Peat Bogs (Nov 10 2008)
Early action on climate change needed
London, February 15 2009 --
Claims by Professor Chris Field that climate change 'will be beyond anything' predicted has generated widespread interest across the media.
It has been clear for some time that greenhouse gas emissions have been accelerating at a rate higher than even the worst-case emissions scenarios used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the 2007 report. Overall global emissions continue to rise at a rate of 2-3% per year.
Research from the Met Office Hadley Centre has shown that by delaying action on carbon emissions there is a significant risk of larger increases in temperature over those from taking early action. This will lead to a significant risk of dangerous impacts to our environment, society and economy.
> www.metoffice.gov.uk: Early action on climate change needed
> www.metoffice.gov.uk: The scientific evidence for early action on climate change
Coal-fired power stations are death factories. Close them.
London, February 15 2009 --
The government is expected to give the go-ahead to the coal-burning Kingsnorth power plant. James Hansen, one of the world's foremost climate experts launches an excoriating attack on Britain's long love affair with the most polluting fossil fuel of all.
> www.guardian.co.uk / James Hansen: Coal is the single greatest threat to civilisation and all life on our planet
> 'Four years to save Earth'
Global warnings
London, February 15 2009 --
The Copenhagen protocol will not succeed unless China and India sign up, but bribing these nations to take part is counterproductive.
This December, global leaders will meet in Copenhagen to negotiate a new climate change pact to reduce carbon emissions. Yet, the way that it has been set up, it will inevitably fail. The best hope is that we use this lesson finally to deal with this issue in a smarter fashion.
> www.guardian.co.uk: Global warnings
At AAAS, Al Gore urges scientists to get involved in climate change debate
Chicago, February 14 2009 --
Fresh from adding a Grammy to his mantle Sunday, former vice president Al Gore told scientists gathered here for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to push administration officials and the general public for solutions to climate change.
> www.sciam.com: At AAAS, Al Gore urges scientists to get involved in climate change debate
Blooms Away: The Real Price of Flowers
New York, February 14 2009 --
Roses are red… They are also fragile and almost always flown to the U.S. from warmer climes in South America, where roughly 80 percent of our roses take root; to warm the hearts of European sweethearts, they are most often imported from Africa. They are then hauled in temperature-controlled trucks across the U.S. or the Continent and locked up overnight in cold boxes before their onward journey to the florists of the world. According to Flowerpetal.com, which tries to limit the environmental impact of flower purchases, sending the roughly 100 million roses of a typical Valentine's Day produces some 9,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from field to U.S. florist. So what's a lovesick, albeit "green," beau to do?
> www.sciam.com: Blooms Away: The Real Price of Flowers
> www.sciam.com: Putting the "Green" into Greenhouses
From Dutch Sewers To Jet Fuel -- Via Algae
Amsterdam, February 13 2009 --
Dutch biotechnology firm Ingrepro plans to harness waste from sewers, farms and industry to produce biofuel and algae, which it hopes will eventually power airplanes, its chief executive said on Thursday.
> planetark.org: From Dutch Sewers To Jet Fuel -- Via Algae
Hollywood lights
Los Angeles, February 13 2009 --
An ambitious solar energy plan for the smoggiest city in America might sound like a hands-down winner, but the Green Energy and Good Jobs for Los Angeles ballot initiative has stumbled over some unsettled questions about its likely costs, transparency, and timing.
> gristmill.grist.org: Hollywood lights
Cold winter doesn't mean global warming is over
New York, February 13 2009 --
All of the snow and chilly temps this winter almost convinced us that global warming isn't happening, after all. Reality check: recent climate data shows that it's still hotter than it used to be.
> www.sciam.com: Cold winter doesn't mean global warming is over
Gigantic Wind Turbine Installed in Germany
Berlin, February 12 2009 --
One of the largest wind turbines the world has ever seen is currently being assembled in northern Germany. It is just a test, but soon, the monsters may become a major component of offshore wind parks.
> www.spiegel.de: Gigantic Wind Turbine Installed in Germany
CO2 hits new peaks, no sign global crisis causing dip
Oslo, February 12 2009 --
Atmospheric levels of the main greenhouse gas are hitting new highs, with no sign yet that the world economic downturn is curbing industrial emissions, a leading scientist said on Thursday.
"The rise is in line with the long-term trend," Kim Holmen, research director at the Norwegian Polar Institute, said of the measurements taken by a Stockholm University project on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard off north Norway.
Levels of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from human activities, rose to 392 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere in Svalbard in December, a rise of 2-3 ppm from the same time a year earlier, he told Reuters.
> www.enn.com: CO2 hits new peaks, no sign global crisis causing dip
> www.reuters.com: CO2 rise in atmosphere accelerates in 2008
Obama 'must act now' on climate
London, February 12 2009 --
The planet will be in "huge trouble" unless Barack Obama makes strides in tackling climate change, says a leading scientist.
Prof James McCarthy spoke on the eve of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which he heads.
The US president has just four years to save the planet, said Prof McCarthy.
> www.enn.com: Obama 'must act now' on climate
Britain should prepare for massive loss of landmass, warn engineers
London, February 12 2009 -
The UK should change building design, transport and energy infrastructure ahead of climate change and high sea levels. Engineers fear London could be submerged as the climate changes. Ministers should prepare the British people to "adapt" in the longer term to a landscape devastated by climate change, including the possible abandonment of parts of London and East Anglia, a leading industry body warns today.
> www.guardian.co.uk: Britain should prepare for massive loss of landmass, warn engineers
'Apocalyptic climate predictions' mislead the public, say experts
London, February 11 2009 -
Met Office scientists fear distorted climate change claims could undermine efforts to tackle carbon emissions. Experts at Britain's top climate research centre have launched a blistering attack on scientific colleagues and journalists who exaggerate the effects of global warming.
The Met Office Hadley Centre, one of the most prestigious research facilities in the world, says recent "apocalyptic predictions" about Arctic ice melt and soaring temperatures are as bad as claims that global warming does not exist. Such statements, however well-intentioned, distort the science and could undermine efforts to tackle carbon emissions, it says.
> www.guardian.co.uk: Apocalyptic climate predictions' mislead the public, say experts
> www.guardian.co.uk: Scientists must rein in misleading climate change claims
See also:
Apocalyptic warnings
Wind Turbines in Europe Do Nothing for Emissions-Reduction Goals
Berlin, February 10 2009 -
Despite Europe's boom in solar and wind energy, CO2 emissions haven't been reduced by even a single gram. Now, even the Green Party is taking a new look at the issue -- as shown in e-mails obtained by Spiegel Online.
> www.spiegel.de: Wind Turbines in Europe Do Nothing for Emissions-Reduction Goals
Global Warming Is Irreversible, Study Says
Washington, February 10 2009 -
Climate change is essentially irreversible, according to a sobering new scientific study.
As carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, the world will experience more and more long-term environmental disruption. The damage will persist even when, and if, emissions are brought under control, says study author Susan Solomon, who is among the world's top climate scientists.
> www.npr.org: Global Warming Is Irreversible, Study Says
> www.pnas.org: Irreversible climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions [abstract + Full Text (PDF)]
> www.pnas.org: Irreversible climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions [Full Text (HTML)]
Australia fires a climate wake-up call: experts
Singapore, February 10 / 11, 2009 -
Weekend bushfires in Australia that killed 173 people are a climate change wake-up call for the public and politicians and a window to the future, experts said on Tuesday.
With the death toll still growing from the nation's deadliest fires, some analysts say the sheer scale of the tragedy might prompt industry to back-off calls to weaken the government's emissions targets or delay a carbon-trading scheme set for 2010.
"What the bushfires might do is suck the oxygen out of the debate. I think public awareness has been focused now on climate change again. We knew what the scientists had predicted and we've actually seen it in action," said Matthew Clarke of Deakin University in Melbourne.
www.planetark.com: Australia Fears More Than 200 Dead In Bushfires (Feb 11)
www.guardian.co.uk: Australian bushfires: when two degrees is the difference between life and death (Feb 10)
www.reuters.com: Australia fires a climate wake-up call (Feb 10)
planetark.org: Fires, floods pressure Australia government on climate (Feb 10)
www.sciam.com: Wildfires and Climate Change (Feb 10)
www.time.com: Why Global Warming May Be Fueling Australia's Fires (Feb 9)
Australian heatwave sign of climate change (Feb 5)
Ban calls on US, China, India and Europe to lead way on climate change
New York, 10 February 2009 –
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today delivered a wide-ranging report on his recent tour of the world’s crisis points, calling on the United States, China, India and the European Union to show “global leadership of the highest order” in tackling climate change.
www.un.org: Ban calls on US, China, India and Europe to lead way on climate change
UK and China work on carbon capture
London, February 9 2009 -
British scientists are working with their Chinese counterparts to develop a new technology to burn coal without harming the environment.
www.telegraph.co.uk: UK and China work on carbon capture
Flights could be rationed, says environment tsar Lord Turner
London, February 6 2009 -
Families could see the number of flights they can take rationed in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Gordon Brown's "environment tsar" has warned.
Lord Turner, the chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, said people would be given personal flight limits to lower pollution from the aviation industry.
"We will have to constrain demand in an absolute sense, with people not allowed to make as many journeys as they could in an unconstrained manner," he told the Commons environmental audit committee.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Flights could be rationed, says environment tsar Lord Turner
La Niña Seen Gradually Weakening In 2009: NOAA
New York, February 6 2009 - The La Niña weather anomaly will persist into the spring of 2009 but should gradually weaken during that period, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said on Thursday.
In a monthly update, the CPC said "a majority of the model forecasts ... indicate a gradual weakening of La Niña through February-April 2009, with an eventual transition to neutral conditions."
planetark.org: La Niña Seen Gradually Weakening In 2009: NOAA
Why our sustainable energies are unsustainable
New York, February 6 2009 -
Renewable energy needs to become a lot more renewable - a theme that emerged at the Financial Times Energy Conference in London this week.
Although scientists are agreed that we must cut carbon emissions from transport and electricity generation to prevent the globe's climate becoming hotter, and more unpredictable, the most advanced "renewable" technologies are too often based upon non-renewable resources, attendees heard.
www.newscientist.com: Why our sustainable energies are unsustainable
UN chief in India issued climate warning
Delhi, February 5 2009 -
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has warned a climate change conference in India that failure to tackle the issue will lead to global economic upheaval.
news.bbc.co.uk: UN chief in India climate warning
If bioenergy goes boom — the switch from oil to bioenergy is not risk free
Brussels, February 5 2009 -
Bioenergy is not new. For millennia, people have been burning wood. The industrial revolution in the mid-1800s brought so called 'fossil fuels', mainly coal and oil, to the fore. However, fossil fuels are becoming more difficult to find and extract, more expensive, and subject to intense political debate.
www.eea.europa.eu: If bioenergy goes boom — the switch from oil to bioenergy is not risk free
Australian Heatwave Sign Of Climate Change
Sydney, January 30 / February 5, 2009 -
A heatwave scorching southern Australia, causing transport chaos by buckling rail lines and leaving more than 140,000 homes without power, is a sign of climate change, the government said on Thursday.
The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a total of six days of 40-plus Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) temperatures for southern Australia, which would equal the worst heatwave in 100 years.
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said the heatwave, which started on Wednesday, was the sort of weather scientists had been warning about.
www.canberratimes.com.au: It will only get worse as climate changes
www.planetark.org: Australian Heatwave Sign Of Climate Change
www.canberratimes.com.au: Heatwave shows climate scientists are right, Wong says
climateprogress.org: “Australia faces collapse as climate change kicks in”: Are the Southwest and California next?
www.reuters.com: Drought in Australia food bowl continues (Feb 03)
www.planetark.org: Indian Ocean Linked To Australian Droughts (Feb 05)
earthobservatory.nasa.gov: Exceptional Australian Heat Wave (Feb 05)
www.sciam.com: Wildfires and Climate Change (Feb 10)
U.N. chief says domestic politics undermine climate fight
New Delhi, February 5 2009 -
A climate deal at Copenhagen may not be possible unless politicians take tough decisions without worrying about winning elections and compulsions of their domestic politics, the U.N. Secretary-General said on Thursday.
www.enn.com: U.N. chief says domestic politics undermine climate fight
How Meat Contributes to Global Warming
February 4 2009 -
Producing beef for the table has a surprising environmental cost: it releases prodigious amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
www.sciam.com: How Meat Contributes to Global Warming
California farms, vineyards in peril from warming, U.S. energy secretary warns
Washington, February 4, 2009 -
California's farms and vineyards could vanish by the end of the century, and its major cities could be in jeopardy, if Americans do not act to slow the advance of global warming, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said Tuesday.
www.latimes.com: California farms, vineyards in peril from warming, U.S. energy secretary warns
Mammals That Hibernate Or Burrow Less Likely To Go Extinct
Oslo, February 4, 2009 -
The best way to survive the ill-effects of climate change and pollution may be to simply sleep through it. According to a new study published in The American Naturalist, mammals that hibernate or that hide in burrows are less likely to turn up on an endangered species list.
www.terradaily.com: Mammals That Hibernate Or Burrow Less Likely To Go Extinct
Climate change targets questioned after CO2 falls by just one per cent in decade
London, February 4, 2009 -
The UK's carbon dioxide emissions fell by 1.5 per cent in 2007, according to the Department for Energy and Climate Change.
Figures for 2007 also revealed that output of all six greenhouse gases, including methane and nitrous oxide, was down 1.7 per cent on 2006 levels.
www.telegraph.co.uk: Climate change targets questioned after CO2 falls by just one per cent in decade
Carbon Capture and Storage: Experts Convene at IEA
Paris, February 2/3, 2009 -
IEA hosted over 50 CO2 capture and storage (CCS) regulatory, finance, insurance and public awareness experts in Paris. The goal of the meeting is to develop an international CCS Roadmap which describes targets and timetables for rapid CCS demonstration and deployment, given the importance of CCS as a climate change mitigation technology. See IEA CCS web pages for more information.
www.iea.org: Carbon Capture and Storage
Snow Study Shows California Faces Historic Drought
San Francisco, January 30 / February 3 2009 -
A new survey of California winter snows on Thursday showed the most populous state is facing one of the worst droughts in its history, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
The state, which produces about half the United States' vegetables and fruit, is in its third year of drought and its main system supplying water to cities and farms may only be able to fulfill 15 percent of requests, scientists said.
planetark.org: Snow Study Shows California Faces Historic Drought
www.enn.com: In California, Hot and Dry Conditions Stir Drought Concerns (Jan 14 2009)
news-service.stanford.edu: California crops at risk, say Stanford researchers (Dec 12 2009)
California Farms May Die With Changing Climate, Chu Tells Times (Feb 3)
World Wetlands Day: “Upstream – Downstream”: key issue for climate adaptation
February 2, 2009 -
World Wetlands Day: This year’s theme ‘Upstream-Downstream’ highlights how the world’s wetlands are connected to millions of people whose livelihoods, safety and security depend on them for water supply and their capacity to help regulate floods. Climate change will considerably magnify the problems that ongoing degradation of these river basins will bring to nature and people. Increasing the resilience of these wetlands is therefore a fundamental issue that must be part of climate change adaptation strategies.
www.wetlands.org: World Wetlands Day: “Upstream – Downstream”: key issue for climate adaptation
Go green: have fewer kids, says environmentalist
London, February 1, 2009 -
The environmentalist Jonathon Porritt must be horrified at the behaviour of Nadya Suleman, who has just had octuplets to go with the six children she had already. Porritt, who chairs the government's Sustainable Development Commission, has told the Times that couples who have more than two children are being "irresponsible" by creating an unbearable burden on the environment. He argues that political leaders and green campaigners can no longer duck the issue of environmental harm caused by an expanding population.
www.guardian.co.uk: Go green: have fewer kids, says environmentalist
www.jonathonporritt.com: Don’t always trust The Guardian!9
Is the Bible to blame for trashing Earth?
New York, February 1, 2009 -
TV wildlife star says creationism leads to 'devastating' environment: In promoting a new special that commemorates the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, David Attenborough, one of television's most popular and enduring naturalists has declared that the Bible is to blame for humanity's destruction of the environment.
www.worldnetdaily.com: How Meat Contributes to Global Warming
news.bbc.co.uk: Attenborough on Darwin and creationism
Czech president attacks Al Gore's climate campaign
Davos, February 1st, 2009 -
Czech President Vaclav Klaus took aim at climate change campaigner Al Gore on Saturday in Davos in a frontal attack on the science of global warming.
"I don't think that there is any global warming," said the 67-year-old liberal, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. "I don't see the statistical data for that."
Referring to the former US vice president, who attended Davos this year, he added: "I'm very sorry that some people like Al Gore are not ready to listen to the competing theories. I do listen to them.
news.yahoo.com: Czech president attacks Al Gore's climate campaign
Vaclav Klaus should read:
gristmill.grist.org: How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic
How Meat Contributes to Global Warming
New York, February 1, 2009 -
Producing beef for the table has a surprising environmental cost: it releases prodigious amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases:
* Pound for pound, beef production generates greenhouse gases that contribute more than 13 times as much to global warming as do the gases emitted from producing chicken. For potatoes, the multiplier is 57.
* Beef consumption is rising rapidly, both as population increases and as people eat more meat.
* Producing the annual beef diet of the average American emits as much greenhouse gas as a car driven more than 1,800 miles.
www.sciam.com: How Meat Contributes to Global Warming
The Big Question: Is there a technological solution to the problem of global warming?
London, January 30, 2009 -
Why are we asking this now? For two reasons. A German research ship, the Polarstern, is steaming towards a region off the coast of Argentina in the South Atlantic, where it intends to release six tonnes of iron sulphate over an area of 115 square miles. The aim is to study the impact of this "iron fertilisation" on the blooms of plankton that absorb carbon dioxide from the sea and, ultimately, the atmosphere. Some scientists believe this could offer a way of boosting a natural carbon "sink", where carbon is stored or sequestered for a long time.
The second reason is a study published yesterday in the journal Nature which backs up this idea of a geo-engineered solution to global warming with hard, scientific observations.
www.independent.co.uk: Push for climate breakthrough as Obama lifts hopes
Climate change: diverse threats call for a united response
Brussels, January 30, 2009 -
Climate change is happening and its effects are wide-ranging. While the worst effects may not hit Europe this year or next, we cannot afford to be complacent. Europeans must put in place timely, adequate and cost-effective adaptation measures.
www.eea.europa.eu: Climate change: diverse threats call for a united response
www.eea.europa.eu: EU strives for a system-wide response to climate change
Document Actions
First glimpse of greenhouse gases comes into view
Boulder (COLO/US), January 29, 2009 -
Scientists have taken the first crack at solving a fundamental climate mystery, criss-crossing the globe in a souped-up corporate jet to determine where and when greenhouse gases enter and leave the atmosphere.
www.dailyclimate.org: First glimpse of greenhouse gases comes into view
Ban urges leaders at Davos to forge ‘Green New Deal’ to fight world recession
Davos, January 29, 2009 -
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the world’s business and other leaders to use the current economic crisis to launch a new Global Compact entailing a “Green New Deal” that creates jobs and fights climate change by investing in renewable energy and technological development.
www.un.org: Ban urges leaders at Davos to forge ‘Green New Deal’ to fight world recession
www.un.org: Secretary-general encourages global advertising giants to help shape climate change message, get word out, build grass-roots movement for change now
Can the Old World Lead on Global Warming?
Berlin, January 29, 2009 -
As the EU unveiled a negotiating platform for battling climate change, Al Gore urged the U.S. to take stronger action on global warming.
www.businessweek.com: Can the Old World Lead on Global Warming?
Push for climate breakthrough as Obama lifts hopes
Davos, January 29, 2009 -
Denmark's prime minister called on rich and poor countries alike to commit to big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, ahead of key year-end talks on a new climate treaty in Copenhagen.
www.reuters.com: Push for climate breakthrough as Obama lifts hopes
www.reuters.com: Resist industry pressure to dilute green reform: U.N.
www.reuters.com: Clean energy spending needs to more than triple: report
World Economic Forum wants $10tn to save the world
Davos, January 29 2009 -
More than $10 trillion must be invested in clean technology between now and 2030 to spare the Earth from an unsustainable increase in global temperature, the World Economic Forum warned today.
www.guardian.co.uk: World Economic Forum wants $10tn to save the world
Recession threatens carbon trading
London, January 29 2009 -
A crucial scheme to control greenhouse gases is under threat due to the recession.
news.bbc.co.uk: Recession threatens carbon trading
World heads for 'water bankruptcy', says Davos report
Davos, January 29 2009 -
The world is heading toward "water bankruptcy" as demand for the precious commodity outstrips even high population growth, a new report warned Friday.
www.grist.org: World heads for 'water bankruptcy', says Davos report
EU urges US climate commitment
Davos, January 29 2009 -
The EU is calling on President Barack Obama to cap US carbon emissions and sign up to a global system of carbon trading between rich nations.
news.bbc.co.uk: EU urges US climate commitment
EU unveils international climate change blueprint
Brussels, January 28 2009 -
The European Commission Wednesday called for 30 percent cuts in greenhouse gases for developed countries along with other steps it hopes will provide a blueprint for global talks in Copenhagen.
The EU executive also proposed 15-30 percent cuts from all but the poorest developing countries below "business as usual levels" as part of international measures it says are vital to combat climate change.
However environmental groups complained that the commission plan, which will be put to the 27 EU states at a March summit, is not ambitious enough.
www.eubusiness.com: EU unveils international climate change blueprint
Some of Earth's climate troubles should face burial at sea, scientists say
Washington, January 28 2009 -
Making bales with 30 percent of global crop residues – the stalks and such left after harvesting – and then sinking the bales into the deep ocean could reduce the build up of global carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by up to 15 percent a year, according to just published calculations.
www.eurekalert.org: Some of Earth's climate troubles should face burial at sea, scientists say
Charcoal evidence tracks climate changes in Younger Dryas
Washington, January 28 2009 -
A new study reports that charcoal particles left by wildfires in sediments of 35 North American lake beds don't readily support the theory that comets exploding over the continent 12,900 years ago sparked a cooling period known as the Younger Dryas. However, researchers did find clear links between abrupt climate changes and fire activity during the transition between the last Ice Age and the warm interglacial period that began 11,700 years ago.
www.eurekalert.org: Charcoal evidence tracks climate changes in Younger Dryas
The Greenhouse Effect and the Bathtub Effect
New York, January 28 2009 -
A new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concluding that the buildup of human-generated greenhouse gases could leave a profound millenniums-long imprint on climate and sea levels, focuses on a characteristic of global warming that the public, and many policymakers, have not absorbed — at least according to John Sterman at M.I.T.
www.nytimes.com: The Greenhouse Effect and the Bathtub Effect
Gore: 'We Must Take Bold Action Now'
Washington, January 28, 2009 -
Former US vice president Al Gore pressed lawmakers Wednesday to back President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan and quickly restrict US output of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
"In order to repower our economy, restore American economic and moral leadership in the world and regain control of our destiny, we must take bold action now," he said in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
www.grist.org / Gore: 'We Must Take Bold Action Now'
news.yahoo.com: Gore highlights new US push on climate change
The Future of Nuclear Power
New York, January 25 /27 2009 -
The U.S. -- and the world -- is gearing up to build a potentially massive fleet of new nuclear reactors, in part to fight climate change. But can nuclear power handle the load?
www.sciam.com / Special: The Future of Nuclear Power
www.sciam.com: Reactivating Nuclear Reactors for the Fight against Climate Change
March of the Penguins...to extinction?
New York, January 26 2009 -
The number of emperor penguins, the elegant stars of the hit film "March of the Penguins," will shrink considerably by the end of this century if levels of Antarctic sea ice continue to fluctuate as frequently as climate experts predict, new research suggests.
www.sciam.com: March of the Penguins...to extinction?
Biomass-burning 'behind Asian brown clouds'
New Delhi, January 25 2009 -
Burning biomass is the main cause of the dense 'brown clouds' that plague South Asia each winter, and both biomass and fossil fuel burning should be targeted to combat climate change and improve air quality.
www.enn.com: Biomass-burning 'behind Asian brown clouds'
www.enn.com: South Asia Brown Cloud Is Homemade
www.unep.org: New research shows that two thirds of soot pollution in South Asia comes from biomass combustion
Grist grades the best/worst in climate change news
Seattle, January 23 2009 -
Today Grist kicks off a regular feature in which Grist's editorial team celebrates -- and carps about! -- notable climate-related steps taken by businesses, politicians, and individuals. Think they patted the wrong back or slapped down the wrong pol? Jump in the comments section to let them know.
gristmill.grist.org: Grist grades the best/worst in climate change news
Lovelock: One last chance to save mankind
January 23, 2009 -
With his 90th birthday in July, a trip into space scheduled for later in the year and a new book out next month, 2009 promises to be an exciting time for James Lovelock. But the originator of the Gaia theory, which describes Earth as a self-regulating planet, has a stark view of the future of humanity. He tells Gaia Vince we have one last chance to save ourselves - and it has nothing to do with nuclear power.
www.zeeburgnieuws.nl: 'The Revenge of Gaia' Books & Debate
EU To Propose $200 Billion Climate Tax On Rich Nations
Brussels, January 23, 2009 -
Rich nations could raise $200 billion in climate funds through a levy on their greenhouse gases from 2013-2020 to help poor countries prepare for global warming, the European Union will say next week.
planetark.org: EU To Propose $200 Billion Climate Tax On Rich Nations
Climate fight will cost 175 billion euros a year by 2020: EU
Brussels (AFP) January 21, 2009 -
The global cost of tackling climate change will reach 175 billion euros annually by 2020, according to European Commission estimates, an EU source said Wednesday.
www.terradaily.com: Climate fight will cost 175 billion euros a year by 2020: EU
9 Ways NASA Can Tackle Climate Change
Washington, January 20, 2009 -
Scientists tell Pres. Barack Obama how the space agency could help solve the world's number-one problem:
NASA could be one of the US most potent weapons in battling climate change. The space agency has conducted decades of research into weather, life-support systems and the atmospheres of other planets providing it with unique skills to address this problem.
www.sciam.com: 9 Ways NASA Can Tackle Climate Change
Surveyed scientists agree global warming is real
Atlanta, January 20, 2009 -
Human-induced global warming is real, according to a recent U.S. survey based on the opinions of 3,146 scientists. However there remains divisions between climatologists and scientists from other areas of earth sciences as to the extent of human responsibility.
www.cnn.com: Surveyed scientists agree global warming is real
Heat and Hope: Time Running Out for Steep Emissions Cuts
London, January 19, 2009 -
The world will have to reduce emissions more drastically than has been widely predicted, essentially ending the emission of carbon dioxide by 2050 to avoid catastrophic disruption to the world’s climate, according to State of the World 2009 released by the Worldwatch Institute. Yet opportunities abound in renewable energy and efficiency improvements, agriculture and forestry, and the resilience of societies for slowing and managing climate change, according to the book’s 47 authors.
www.earthscan.co.uk: State of the World 2009
www.earthscan.co.uk / Heat and Hope: Time Running Out for Steep Emissions Cuts (pdf)
www.worldwatch.org
Second life
London, January 15, 2009 -
A rare piece of good news from the world of conservation: the global extinction crisis may have been overstated. The world is unlikely to lose 100 species a day, or half of all species in the lifetime of people now alive, as some have claimed. The bad news, though, is that the lucky survivors are tiny tropical insects that few people care about. The species that are being lost rapidly are the large vertebrates that conservationists were worried about in the first place.
www.economist.com: Second life
Australia's Aborigines to suffer most from climate change: experts
Sydney (AFP) January 14, 2009 -
Australia's outback Aborigines will be among the worst affected by climate change as soaring temperatures likely cause more disease and spur distress about the changing landscape, a new report shows.
www.terradaily.com: Australia's Aborigines to suffer most from climate change: experts
Nasa climate expert makes personal appeal to Obama
Washington, January 14, 2009 -
One of the world's top climate scientists has written a personal new year appeal to Barack and Michelle Obama, warning of the "profound disconnect" between public policy on climate change and the magnitude of the problem.
With less than three weeks to go until Obama's inauguration, Professor James Hansen, who heads Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, asked the recently appointed White House science adviser Professor John Holdren to pass the missive directly to the president-elect.
www.enn.com: Nasa climate expert makes personal appeal to Obama
More about James Hansen
UN Secretary-General: Climate Change is the "One True Existential Threat to Our Planet"
London, January 12, 2009 -
In his first press conference of the year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that 2009 is “the year of climate change.” He stressed that the climate change summit in Copenhagen is only 11 months away and indicated that he would engage world leaders on the key issues in the negotiations, beginning later this month at the World Economic Forum in Davos and working toward a high-level meeting on the margins of the general debate in September.
He underlined that, “amid all our difficulties,” we should remember that climate change is the “one true existential threat to our planet.” In response to a question on what his priority requests to US President-elect Barack Obama would be, Ban indicated his desire to work closely with the new administration on climate change.
www.un.org: Climate Change is the "One True Existential Threat to Our Planet"
Croplands May Wither as Global Warming Worsens
New York, January 9, 2009 -
Climate models predict that the hottest seasons on record will become the norm by the end of the century--an outcome that bodes ill for feeding the world.
www.sciam.com: Billions face food shortages, study warns
Half the world's population faces major food crisis by 2100
Washington / London, January 9, 2009 -
Rapidly warming climate is likely to seriously alter crop yields in the tropics and subtropics by the end of this century and, without adaptation, leave half of the world’s population facing serious food shortages, according to a study published in the Jan. 9 edition of the journal Science.
www.guardian.co.uk: Billions face food shortages, study warns
www.stanford.edu: Half the world's population faces major food crisis by 2100, Science study finds
The first step toward recovery: Obama lays out his economic stimulus plan
Washington, January 9, 2009 -
On Thursday, President-elect Barack Obama called for doubling production of alternative energy in the United States over the next three years as part of his "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan." In a speech officially rolling out the plan, he also set a goal of retrofitting more than 75 percent of federal buildings and 2 million homes to make them more energy-efficient.
gristmill.grist.org: Obama lays out his economic stimulus plan
Move over, polar bear
London, January 7, 2009 -
"I HAVE a problem with the polar bear - or at least with its status as an icon for the perils of global warming. Sure, this magnificent animal is being assailed by rising temperatures and vanishing habitat. But when it comes to convincing people of the need for action on climate change, the threat to the polar bear doesn't come close to representing the urgency of the situation."
www.newscientist.com: Move over, polar bear
Toyota to offer car powered by the sun?
Scientific American, January 5, 2009 -
Toyota won't just be adding solar panels to its popular Prius gas-electric hybrid car—like the solar electric conversion kit seen in the picture above. It will be powering a version of it exclusively via sunshine, according to The Nikkei, Japan's business newspaper. In fact, Toyota will be relying on the solar-electric car to "turn around its struggling business," which resulted in its first operating loss in more than 70 years, the Associated Press reports.
www.sciam.com:Toyota to offer car powered by the sun?
Carbon emissions are everyone's problem
The Irish Times, January 5, 2009 -
A renewed commitment to lowering worldwide CO2 emissions means every individual and every country will need to review their responsibilities towards global warming, writes Frank McDonald.
www.enn.com: Carbon emissions are everyone's problem
Biofuel Development Shifting From Soil To Sea
Los Angeles, January 4 2009 —
Attention in biofuel development has shifted recently from the soil to the sea, and specifically to marine algae. An emerging algal biofuel consortium now sees algae as a “green bullet”.
www.sciencedaily.com: Biofuel Development Shifting From Soil To Sea
Dear Barack and Michelle...
Washington, January 3 2009 -
An open letter to the president-elect and first lady, the nation's top climate scientist Jim Hansen and his wife express their concern "as fellow parents ( - ) about the Earth that will be inherited by our children, grandchildren, and those yet to be born."
gristmill.grist.org: Dear Barack and Michelle...
Hansen et allies: Carbon dioxide levels already a danger
NASA-klimaatman James Hansen: moratorium voor steenkool, nú (Page in Dutch)
In Obama’s Team, 2 Camps on Climate
Washington, January 3 2009 —
Barack Obama faces conflicting views among his top advisers on the balance between the environment and the economy.
www.nytimes.com: In Obama’s Team, 2 Camps on Climate
Paradise lost on Maldives' rubbish island
Male / Maldives, January 3 2009 —
It may be known as a tropical paradise, an archipelago of 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean. But the traditional image of the Maldives hides a dirty secret: the world's biggest rubbish island.
www.guardian.co.uk: Paradise lost on Maldives' rubbish island
www.guardian.co.uk: Gallery
EU admits failure to protect biodiversity
Brussels, January 2 2009 —
The EU is "highly unlikely" to meet its objective of putting a stop to biodiversity loss by 2010, the European Commission admits.
www.guardian.co.uk: EU admits failure to protect biodiversity
Climate scientists: it's time for 'Plan B'
London, January 2 2009 —
Poll of international experts by The Independent reveals consensus that CO2 cuts have failed – and their growing support for technological intervention.
An emergency "Plan B" using the latest technology is needed to save the world from dangerous climate change, according to the poll. The collective international failure to curb the growing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has meant that an alternative to merely curbing emissions may become necessary.
www.chicagotribune.com: It's time for 'Plan B'
www.independent.co.uk: What can we do to save our planet?
Big solar power plant planned for northwest China
Los Angeles, January 2 2009 —
Two Chinese companies on Friday announced plans to build a solar power plant in northwestern China that could one day be the largest photovoltaic solar project in the world.
www.reuters.com: Big solar power plant planned for northwest China
Archive
|
