Opeds and Editorials

State’s global warming solutions should produce good jobs

08/01/2008

Today is the final day for public comments on the draft plan for implementing AB32, California’s global warming solutions plan, and one area that has still received far less attention than it should is the key role California’s workers must play in restructuring our economy to reduce our carbon footprint. Here are some ideas we should incorporate into the plan:

-- Invest in the California workforce. We need to make sure there is an adequate supply of workers trained in the new technologies of a greener economy. While some green jobs will be in new businesses and new occupations, most green economy jobs are actually variations of traditional occupations in the construction trades, utilities, manufacturing and transportation.--The San Francisco Chronicle, 8/1/08

Climate Change Likely to Cost U.S. Economy Billions

07/31/2008

Climate change will cost the U.S. economy billions every year, starting within a decade and increasing over time. The initial impact of likely new government regulations will be modest—perhaps cutting only a tenth of a percentage point from annual gross domestic growth (GDP) growth. But by 2030, efforts to control climate change will trim about one point per year from growth. That’s slightly more than the economic cost of all environmental regulations combined now. The result will be a price tag that is large but manageable.--Kiplinger Business Resource Center, 7/30/08

Mass. House approves bill to curb greenhouse gases

07/31/2008

House lawmakers raced to approve a pair of bills designed to help slow global warming and increase the number of so-called "green jobs" in Massachusetts.

Approval of the two bills came on the second to last day of the Legislature’s formal session and follows the recent passage of bills designed to increase the use of biofuels and require the state to boost its reliance on renewable energy sources.

The global warming bill would require the state by the year 2020 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts to 20 percent below 1990 levels. By 2050, the goal is to have emissions drop 80 percent below 1990 levels.--The Boston Herald, 7/30/08

Global Warming’s Fish-Sex Effect

07/30/2008

Once scientists began studying the impact of global warming on everything from tourism to asthma, it was only a matter of time before they got around to sex. Now two biologists at Spain’s Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) have done just that, at least when it comes to fish.

You may have missed it in biology class, but in some finned species like the Atlantic silverside - as well as in many reptiles - sex is determined not by genetics, but by temperature: the undifferentiated embryo develops testes or ovaries on the basis of whichever option conveys evolutionary advantages for that particular environment. Now, in a study published in the July 30 edition of the scientific journal Public Library of Science (PLoS), Natalia Ospina-Alvarez and Francesc Piferrer have gone a little further toward explaining how that mechanism works. In laboratory tests, they have demonstrated that higher water temperatures result in more male fish.--TIME, 7/30/08

Climate report released

07/30/2008

The Nevada Climate Change Advisory Committee has released the final version of a report that foresees a future Nevada with higher temperatures, less precipitation, more wildland fires and generally less desirable overall climate.
But the committee’s report, released Tuesday, didn’t recommend policy changes that now would reduce total greenhouse gas emissions-thought by some scientists as the main cause of global warning.

Instead the committee emphasized that greenhouse gas emissions have fallen on a "per capita" basis in Nevada since 1994 and the state should adopt a policy that sets targets that reduce the "intensity" of these emissions.--The Mercury News, 7/30/08

Climate change could hit Lebanon’s dwindling cedars

07/30/2008

Sturdy cedars perched high in the mountains stand for many Lebanese as symbols of their fractured land’s survival. But some environmentalists worry that the trees face a new threat from global warming.

"The biggest challenge now for the cedars of Lebanon is climate change," said Nizar Hani, scientific coordinator of the Barouk Cedar Nature Reserve in the Shouf mountains.

Only murmuring insects and breezes rustling through cedar branches disturb the stillness of the sanctuary, about 90 minutes’ drive from the frenzied bustle of Beirut.

The cedar’s natural range is now 1,200 to 1,800 metres (4,000 to 5,900 feet) above sea level, Hani said. A warmer climate would mean cedars could only prosper higher up.--Reuters, 7/30/08

Midwest scientists, economists call for swift, deep cuts in global warming pollution

07/30/2008

Hundreds of Midwestern scientists and economists today issued a joint statement calling on the region’s elected officials to require immediate, dramatic reductions in the heat-trapping emissions that cause global warming.

University of Wisconsin emeritus ecology professor John J. Magnuson and atmospheric physicist Susan Nossal released the statement on behalf of 278 Midwestern scientists and economists at the first hearing held by the Midwest Governors Association’s (MGA) Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord Advisory Group that solicited public comments. The advisory group, which is meeting in Milwaukee this week, is designing a cap-and-trade program to reduce global warming emissions in the MGA member states.

"The Midwest’s climate has already begun to change and we expect it to get worse," said Magnuson, one of the statement’s endorsers and an author of both the 1995 and 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. "We need deep, rapid reductions of greenhouse gas emissions to have a reasonable chance to limit the worst consequences of climate change."--Union of Concerned Scientists, 7/29/08

Conservation group offers strategies to fight global warming

07/29/2008

Lawyers and advocates from the Conservation Law Foundation have outlined a short-term strategy to fight global warming in New England that requires taking five steps over the next five years to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transportation, electricity generation, residential energy use and other sources that contribute to climate change.

A 24-page "vision document" released Monday by the Boston-based environmental advocacy group outlines steps it deems as "realistic, fair and commensurate with the scale and seriousness of the climate crisis."--The Standard-Times, 7/29/08

Report: Climate Change Affecting Tahoe’s Temperatures

07/29/2008

The waters of Lake Tahoe are getting warmer at a rate faster than the world’s oceans.

And the main authority in the Basin is now including climate change in its policies according to a global warming study released by U.C. Davis.

The 2004 report says the lake’s temperatures rose one degree in 33 years ending in 2002.

Comparatively, the ocean’s temperature rose roughly a half degree in that same time period.--Channel 2 News (Reno), 7/28/08

7-state cap-and-trade plan targets greenhouse gases

07/28/2008

Arizona utilities, gasoline distributors and other industries would start cutting carbon dioxide emissions in four to seven years under a proposed program aimed at curbing climate change.

The industries in this state, six others and four Canadian provinces face a 15 percent cut by 2020, compared with what they put into the air three years ago.

The goal comes in the just-released first draft of a seven-state plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions linked to global warming. The Western Climate Initiative proposes a cap-and-trade program, letting companies buy or trade the right to emit greenhouse gases on the open market.

Some emission rights also could be sold by the state as allowances at public auction. That could raise money to help electricity users defray higher utility bills resulting from an emissions limit.

A cap-and-trade program has been seen by environmentalists and many public officials as an effective way to limit greenhouse gases. Without it, Arizona would become increasingly vulnerable to global warming, which many scientists have warned will mean droughts, water shortages and worsening air pollution and public health problems, program advocates say.

The states hope this program will become a national model.--Arizona Daily Star, 7/28/08

Climate change hurting marine snails

07/28/2008

Tasmanian scientists are concerned a microscopic marine snail species found in the Southern Ocean may soon die out due to climate change.

The scientists say it is field evidence that sea life in the Southern Ocean is being affected by warmer water.

They took an expedition deep into the Southern Ocean on board the Aurora Australis in February, and collected a number of microscopic marine snails.

The smail shells have been analysed in the laboratory ever since and the scientists have found the snails have dropped half their shell weight over the past decade.--Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 7/28/08

Cut carbon emissions before its too late: Pachauri

07/28/2008

R.K. Pachauri, chairman of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has asked the developed nations to get serious about reducing carbon emissions before it is "too late."

"Continued greenhouse gas emissions will lead to further [global] warming of 1.8 degree Celsius to 4 degree Celsius over the 21st century," he said while speaking at a seminar on "Global Warming and Climate Change Challenge - Issues and Challenges for India," organised by the Union Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Ministry here on Saturday.--The Hindu, 7/27/08

Study: Climate change could cost Kansas $1 billion

07/25/2008

Rising temperatures and reduced water supply could cost Kansas more than $1 billion in agriculture losses by 2017, says a new study from the University of Maryland’s Center for Integrative Environmental Research.

The study released Wednesday by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Center for Integrative Environmental Research, analyzed the costs of global warming on several states and was paid for in part by the Environmental Defense Fund.

The other states studied were Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey and Ohio.

The report for Kansas said higher temperatures and lower rainfall amounts could affect the state’s agriculture sector with flooding, more invasive plant species and damage to crops and livestock.

Climate change would have the biggest effect on Kansas’ water resources, from the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies much of the western part of the state’s water, to surface water and rainfall in the eastern half of the state. Additional problems could arise as the two sides of the state tried to access limited supplies, the report said.--The Kansas City Star, 7/24/08

Warming trend to cost Illinois billions, study projects

07/25/2008

If climate change is left unchecked, the costs to Illinois from flood abatement, water treatment, shipping, farming and related goods and services will skyrocket to at least $43 billion annually by the 2030s, according to a study released this week.

The report by the University of Maryland takes data from more than 30 studies of climate change and its effects on economics and the environment and hits the total button. Presented this week to a national conference of state lawmakers convening in New Orleans, the study breaks out specific costs for eight states, including Illinois.

Illinois, for instance, can expect more summer heat spells, less winter snow cover and more evaporation of Great Lakes water. The state would also see bigger individual storms, more floods, and attendant higher shipping costs, plus heightened erosion protections and more need to irrigate.

Already, the report says, the Great Lakes states have seen an increase in average August temperatures of 4 degrees Fahrenheit over the 20th Century. The last 100 years also brought a 20 percent increase in annual precipitation, the report shows.--Chicago Tribune, 7/25/08

Climate change to threaten Nevada water supplies

07/25/2008

Climate change could come with profound risk to Nevada’s water supplies and at great cost to the state’s economy, a new study asserts.

The report released this week by the National Conference of State Legislatures and Center for Integrative Environmental Research concluded that rising temperatures associated with a warming climate could create "profound drought conditions" in Nevada, which was examined along with 11 other states around the country.

"Some of these impacts are already noticeable and it’s certainly not going to get better as climate change progresses," said Daria Karetnikov, a researcher at the University of Maryland who compiled the report.

By 2100, climate change brought about by greenhouse gas emissions could cause the average temperature in Nevada to increase by up to 4 degrees Fahrenheit in spring and fall and by up to 6 degrees in the summer and winter, the report said.--Reno Gazette-Journal, 7/25/08

Climate change will cost US billions of dollars: study

07/24/2008

Climate change will carry a price tag of billions of dollars for some US states, researchers have said.

Combining existing data with new analyses, researchers at the University of Maryland studied some states in the US and projected the long-term economic impact of climate change on them.

For example, the study said, Colorado would lose more than $1 billion due to the impact of a predicted drier and warmer climate on tourism, forestry, water resources and health.--Economic Times, 7/24/08

Hoffa Rejects ‘Drilling Our Way Out’ of Energy Crisis, Demands Long-Term Policy Solutions

07/23/2008

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said today that working Americans hard hit by rising gas prices and a collapsing economy demand a comprehensive long-term program focused on exploring and developing alternative sources of energy as a solution to the crisis facing our country.

"We are not going to drill our way out of the energy problems we are facing—not here and not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," Hoffa told labor and environmental activists at an Oakland, Calif., summit on good jobs and clean air. "We must find a long-term approach that breaks our dependence on foreign oil by investing in the development of alternate energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal power."

Hoffa then announced the union’s withdrawal from the ANWR coalition, citing the need to build a green economy that fosters the development of alternative energy sources and creates good union jobs—instead of lining the pockets of big oil tycoons.--MarketWatch, 7/23/08

Pickens sees $300 oil absent push for renewables

07/23/2008

Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens warned a Senate committee today that the United States could face $300 per barrel oil within a decade unless it acts aggressively to boost renewable energy and reduce its dependence on foreign petroleum.

"In 10 years, if we continue to drift like we’re drifting, you’re going be importing 80 percent of your oil, and I promise you, it will be over $300 a barrel," Pickens told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Oil prices fell more than $3 to $127.75 this afternoon. The price briefly touched $125.63—the lowest mark since early June—after predictions that a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico would miss platforms and refineries.

Pickens said he believes oil production worldwide has essentially peaked as demand grows. "We have walked into a trap, and we have to walk ourselves out of it," he said.--E&ENews, 7/22/08

Global Warming Inspires Buffalo to Be Bicycle Friendly

07/22/2008

"In a time when we are faced with an increase of challenges, both from the impact of global warming and ever increasing gas prices, we have to look at all reasonable alternatives that will strengthen our residents’ quality of life," said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown today, annoucing the installation of bicycle racks in commercial districts throughout Buffalo.

Under Phase One of this program, 35 new bike racks will be available for placement throughout the city in the following weeks. The city has developed an installation request form that is available through the city’s Department of Public Works and it will also be available through the city’s website.

Any city-based business organization can request placement of the bike racks in locations they designate in their respective commercial district. The bike racks will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Mayor Brown said the new bike racks will facilitate travel by bike to stores and other businesses in Elmwood Village, Hertel Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, Allen Street, Seneca Street and other commercial districts.--Environment News Service, 7/21/08

EPA issues dire new warning on effects of climate change

07/18/2008

Climate change threatens the health and well-being of every American but could widen the divide between people who can adapt to a more hostile environment and society’s youngest, oldest and poorest, a new government report said Thursday.

No area of the country will escape the effects of rising temperatures, from rising sea levels on the Alaskan coast to deadly heat waves in New England, said the report, released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Arizona and the West sit at a critical crossroads, their growing cities increasingly vulnerable to heat, drought, wildfire, bad air and energy shortages.--azcentral.com, 7/18/08

Gore Wants U.S. to Abandon Fossil Fuels by 2018

07/17/2008

Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts.

"The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Mr. Gore said in a speech to an energy conference here. "The future of human civilization is at stake."

Mr. Gore called for the kind of concerted national effort that enabled Americans to walk on the moon 39 years ago this month, just eight years after President John F. Kennedy famously embraced that goal. He said the goal of producing all of the nation’s electricity from "renewable energy and truly clean, carbon-free sources" within 10 years is not some farfetched vision, although he said it would require fundamental changes in political thinking and personal expectations.--The New York Times, 7/18/08

First U.S. Town Powered Completely By Wind

07/16/2008

Rock Port, Mo., has an unusual crop: wind turbines.

The four turbines that supply electricity to the small town of 1,300 residents make it the first community in the United States to operate solely on wind power.

"That’s something to be very proud of, especially in a rural area like this - that we’re doing our part for the environment," said Jim Crawford, a natural resource engineer at the University of Missouri Extension in Columbia.

A map published by the U.S. Department of Energy indicates that northwest Missouri has the state’s highest concentrations of wind resources and contains a number of locations that are potentially suitable for utility-scale wind development. The four turbines that power Rock Port are part of a larger set of 75 turbines across three counties that are used to harvest the power of wind.--LiveScience, 7/15/08

Government scientists wrangle with White House over climate health dangers

07/16/2008

US government scientists have warned of a rising death toll from heat waves, wildfires, disease and smog caused by global warming, in a study the White House repeatedly tried to bury to avoid regulating greenhouse emissions.

In a 149-page analysis released last night, experts for the first time laid out the grave risks that climate change poses to human health, and to the supplies of food, water and energy on which populations depend.--TimesOnline, 7/15/08

Global warming to spark rise in kidney stone cases, study says

07/15/2008

It may not be the most profound effect of global warming, but it could be the most painful: Climate change could bring a sharp increase in cases of kidney stones in Illinois and other Midwestern states, according to a new study.

Linking climate change to kidney stones seems odd, but it’s based on the solid medical finding that people in warm regions develop the condition at increased rates. Sweating in warm weather removes fluid from the body and increases the salt concentration in urine, which can spur the growth of kidney stones.

By the year 2050, the new report estimates that a large chunk of Illinois will fall within America’s "kidney-stone belt," which currently includes only Southern states. The Chicago area alone would see up to 100,000 extra cases each year, according to the report published Monday in a widely respected journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.--Chicago Tribune, 7/15/08

Pope in Australia will highlight climate change

07/14/2008

Pope Benedict XVI began a pilgrimage in Australia Sunday, saying he wants to use his visit to raise awareness about global warming and to address the crisis of clergy sexual abuse.

There is a need to "wake up consciences," Benedict responded. "We have to give impulse to rediscovering our responsibility and to finding an ethical way to change our way of life."

Benedict said politicians and experts must be "capable of responding to the great ecological challenge and to be up to the task of this challenge."

"We have our responsibilities toward creation," Benedict said, stressing, however, that he had no intention of weighing in on technical or political questions swirling around climate change.--AP, 7/13/08

Polar base evacuated as ice melts early

07/14/2008

Russian scientists are evacuating a research station built on an ice floe drifting in the western Arctic Ocean because global warming is melting the ice early, a spokesman said.

The North Pole-35 station, where 21 researchers and two dogs live in huts, will be pulled out this week instead of late August, said Sergei Balyasnikov of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

"The evacuation is ahead of schedule because of global warming," Balyasnikov said.--CNN.com, 7/14/08

EPA: Smog could get worse with global warming

07/11/2008

Global warming could worsen smog and stretch what typically is a summer pollution problem into the spring and fall, government scientists predicted Thursday.

Smog is most likely to get worse in the Northeast, lower Midwest, and mid-Atlantic regions of the country, where numerous counties and cities are already struggling to clean up the air, according to a draft analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency.

But in Texas and Southern California, already among the smoggiest areas in the country, the science is unclear, even conflicting. Smog there could get slightly better or become more severe, the analysis said.

Nonetheless, researchers said state officials should be factoring in the impact of global warming as they make plans to try to reduce smog, calling it a "climate penalty."--AP, 7/10/08

CLIMATE CHANGE: Corals Collapsing in More Acid Oceans

07/10/2008

Coral reefs need to be put on "life support" if they are to survive climate change, but their ultimate survival is dependant on major reductions in fossil fuel emissions, say experts.

"We’re going to hear lots of bad news about corals in the next few decades," Rich Aronson, president of the International Society for Reef Studies, told 3,000 scientists, conservationists and policy makers at the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida Monday.

Climate change is making the ocean too warm and too acidic for most corals species to survive beyond the year 2050, many marine scientists now believe.--Inter Press Service, 7/8/08

White House in climate change “cover up”

07/09/2008

A leading U.S. Senate Democrat accused the Bush administration on Tuesday of a "cover-up" aimed at stopping the Environmental Protection Agency from tackling greenhouse emissions.

"This cover-up is being directed from the White House and the office of the vice president," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.--Reuters, 7/8/08

Climate change may muddy better-than bottled New York tap water

07/08/2008

New York City’s tap water, so pure residents swear it tastes better than bottled, may become a casualty of climate change as warmer temperatures threaten to spoil the mountain reservoirs supplying 9 million people.

Water from the largest unfiltered delivery system in the U.S. may become dirtier as weather patterns shift, bringing stronger storms to the region, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection said in a May report. Heavy rains muddy reservoirs and wash in bacteria and parasites. That may force New York to spend $10 billion on filtration, the DEP said.

"Intense storms affect the quality of our water," said DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd in an interview last week. "Our system is already experiencing very real effects of climate change."--Newsday, 7/7/08

G-8 Leaders Pledge to Cut Emissions in Half by 2050

07/08/2008

Pledging to "move toward a low-carbon society," leaders of the world’s richest nations on Tuesday endorsed the idea of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, but refused to set a short-term target for reducing the gases that scientists agree are warming the planet.

The declaration by the so-called Group of Eight - the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia - came under intense criticism from environmentalists, who called it a missed opportunity and said it ignores the urgent need to cut emissions more rapidly.--The New York Times, 7/9/08

American Energy Policy, Asleep at the Spigot

07/07/2008

JUST three years ago, with oil trading at a seemingly frothy $66 a barrel, David J. O’Reilly made what many experts considered a risky bet. Outmaneuvering Chinese bidders and ignoring critics who said he overpaid, Mr. O’Reilly, the chief executive of Chevron, forked over $18 billion to buy Unocal, a giant whose riches date back to oil fields made famous in the film "There Will Be Blood."

For Chevron, the deal proved to be a movie-worthy gusher, helping its profits to soar. And while he has warned about tightening energy supplies for years and looks prescient for buying Unocal, even Mr. O’Reilly says that he still can’t get his head around current oil prices, which closed above $145 a barrel on Thursday, a record.

"We can see how you can get to $100," he says. "At $140, I just don’t know how to explain it. We’re surprised."--The New York Times, 7/6/08

Climate change may cut S Africa corn crop sharply

07/07/2008

Climate change could cut South Africa’s maize crop by 20 percent within 15 to 20 years as the west of the country dries out while the east is afflicted with increasingly severe storms, its environment minister said on Sunday.

"For a developing country that’s major, and major bad news," Marthinus van Schalkwyk told reporters after arriving in northern Japan, where the Group of Eight rich nations’ leaders are gathering for a summit this week.

"For us it’s not something far in the future, it’s already happening."--Reuters, 7/6/08

‘US has done least to address global warming’

07/03/2008

The US has done the least among the world’s eight biggest economies to address global warming, a study released on Thursday found.

The G8 Climate Scorecards 2008, released ahead of next week’s gathering of the Group of Eight on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, also found that none of the eight countries are making improvements large enough to prevent temperature increases that scientists think would cause catastrophic climate changes.--The Times of India, 7/3/08

Citing global warming, Georgia judge blocks coal plant

07/03/2008

In what is thought to be an unprecedented ruling, a Superior Court judge in Fulton County, Ga., halted the construction of a coal-fired power plant, saying that the plant must limit its emissions of carbon dioxide.

Citing an April 2007 US Supreme Court ruling that recognizes carbon dioxide - the primary gas responsible for global warming - as a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act, Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore overturned a lower court’s decision to issue an air-pollution permit to Dynegy’s Longleaf power plant near Columbus, Ga. Her decision is believed to be the first one that links global warming to an air-pollution permit.--The Christian Science Monitor, 7/2/08

Huntsman calls for climate change plan to rival Kennedy moon challenge

07/02/2008

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is challenging the Western Governors Association to put together a comprehensive energy and climate change blueprint that the group can present to the next U.S. president, in hopes of driving the nation’s energy future.

Comparing it to President Kennedy’s challenge in 1961 to send a man to the moon, Huntsman said the country needs a goal, and as many specifics as possible how to reach it. Western governors, he said, are uniquely situated to provide the vision.

"We have geography and numbers on our side. We are the most energy relevant region in the world when you take a slice of Western Canada right through the Western United States and who isn’t going to listen to this part of the world speak out on energy issues?" Huntsman said.--The Salt Lake Tribune, 7/2/08

North Pole may have no ice this summer: US expert

07/01/2008

There could briefly be no ice at the North Pole this summer, a US scientist said Friday, an event that would mark a new stage in the melting of the Arctic ice sheets due to global warming.

"We could have no ice at the North Pole at the end of this summer," Mark Serreze, a scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, told AFP in an interview.

"And the reason here is that the North Pole area right now is covered with very thin ice and this ice we call first-year ice, the ice that tends to melt out in the summer."

If the ice, albeit briefly, were to break up completely this summer it would be the first time this had happened in human history.--AFP, 6/28/08

Penguins seen as ‘canaries in climate coal mine’

07/01/2008

Dee Boersma and her team of students hadn’t been in the Argentine penguin colony very long before they made a new friend.

A young penguin had lost his nest in a fight, so he decided the space under Boersma’s turbo-powered Ford truck would make a good alternative home.

Boersma, a biology professor at University of Washington, tagged the bird with a number. She also gave him a different kind of name—Turbo—after his new home.

But for Boersma, Turbo and the 200,000 other Magellanic penguins from the Punta Tombo colony on the Atlantic coast of Argentina are far more than new friends. They have become the canaries in the global warming "coal mine," signaling the effects of climate change on oceans through their rapidly declining population.--Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 6/30/08

India unveils National Action Plan on Climate Change

06/30/2008

India on Monday unveiled its climate change action plan which does not set target reduction of greenhouse gas emissions but seeks to promote sustainable development through use of clean technologies.

The National Action Plan on Climate Change categorically states that India’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions will "at no point exceed that of developed countries."

The plan, unveiled by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here, will be implemented thorough eight missions which represent multi-pronged, long-term and integrated strategies for achieving key goals in the context of climate change.--The Times of India, 6/30/08

EPA claims White House rejected pollution finding

06/26/2008

The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, telling agency officials that an e-mail message containing the document would not be opened, senior EPA officials said last week.

The document, which ended up in e-mail limbo, without official status, was the EPA’s answer to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases represent a danger to health or the environment, the officials said.

This week, more than six months later, the EPA is set to respond by releasing a watered-down version of the original proposal that offers no conclusion. Instead, the document reviews the legal and economic issues presented by declaring greenhouse gases a pollutant.--Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 6/24/08

California air board announces plan for carbon-credit trading

06/26/2008

California air regulators today announced a bold plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions that would alter the way utilities generate electricity, automakers build cars and developers construct buildings, and launch the nation’s broadest market in carbon-credit trading.

California’s blueprint is the first comprehensive effort to combat global warming by any American state, and comes nearly three weeks after the U.S. Senate threw out a national greenhouse gas bill that would have set similar targets.

Virtually every sector of the state’s economy would be affected by the air board’s plan, including coal-fired power plants and oil refineries, landfills where rotting garbage emits methane gas and forests, which would be cultivated to reduce fires.--LA Times, 6/26/08

Global warming could increase terrorism, official says

06/26/2008

Global warming could destabilize "struggling and poor" countries around the world, prompting mass migrations and creating breeding grounds for terrorists, the chairman of the National Intelligence Council told Congress on Wednesday.

Climate change "will aggravate existing problems such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions," Thomas Fingar said. "All of this threatens the domestic stability of a number of African, Asian, Central American and Central Asian countries."

People are likely to flee destabilized countries, and some may turn to terrorism, he said.--CNN.com, June 25, 2008

Climate change threatens two-thirds of California’s unique plants, study says

06/25/2008

Two-thirds of California’s unique plants, some 2,300 species that grow nowhere else in the world, could be wiped out across much of their current geographic ranges by the end of the century because of rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns, according to a new study.

The species that cannot migrate fast enough to higher altitudes or cooler coastal areas could face extinction because of greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet, according to researchers.

California’s flora face a potential "collapse," said David Ackerly, an ecologist at UC Berkeley who was the senior author of the paper. "As the climate changes, many of these plants will have no place to go."--LA Times, 6/25/08

Scientist: ‘We’re toast’ if no action on global warming

06/24/2008

Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world’s only hope is drastic action.

James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels.

He said Earth’s atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.

"We’re toast if we don’t get on a very different path," Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute of Space Sciences who is sometimes called the godfather of global warming science, told The Associated Press. "This is the last chance."--CNN.com, 6/24/08

Iowa-Like Floods to Increase With Global Warming

06/20/2008

The chances for extreme weather in the U.S. such as the record rainfall and flooding in Iowa this month are increasing as worldwide temperatures rise, a government agency that researches climate change said.

North America may get more abnormally hot days and nights, heavier downpours and deadlier storms from global warming, today’s report from the Bush administration’s U.S. Climate Change Science Program said. Elevated temperatures in recent decades already have led to more intense rainstorms in the Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, said Thomas Karl, co-chairman of the report.

``The probability of heavy downpours is increasing, which leads to events like what we’re seeing in the Midwest,’’ said Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in an interview.--Bloomberg.com, 6/19/08

Fla.’s Crist has new view of offshore drilling ban

06/18/2008

Gov. Charlie Crist has dropped his long-standing support for the federal government’s ban on offshore oil drilling and endorsed Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain’s proposal to let states decide.

The governor said he reversed his position because of rising fuel prices and states’ rights. Crist is considered a possible running mate for the Arizona senator.

"I mean, let’s face it, the price of gas has gone through the roof, and Florida families are suffering," Crist said Tuesday. "And my heart bleeds for them."

Also backing a return to offshore drilling is President Bush, who plans to ask Congress on Wednesday to lift the drilling moratoria that have been in effect since 1981 in more than 80 percent of the country’s Outer Continental Shelf.--AP, 6/18/08

Survey: 74 percent of Congressional Republicans are climate deniers

06/16/2008

A National Journal survey of members of Congress found that 74 percent of Congressional Republicans do not believe that global warming is caused by humans.

The poll asked 39 Democrats and 39 Republicans if they thought that "it’s been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the Earth is warming because of man-made pollution". The answers are anonymous, except for party affilliation. Only 26 percent of Republicans answered yes, with the rest answering no. Among Democrats, 95 percent answered yes.--The Christian Science Monitor, 6/13/08

NH governor signs global warming initiative

06/12/2008

New Hampshire became the 10th state Wednesday to participate in a regional effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Gov. John Lynch signed a law to implement the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative known as RGGI. New Hampshire will revisit the issue if Congress enacts a federal program. The law took effect immediately.

"With this legislation we are taking a major step forward in protecting our economy and our natural resources by reducing pollution and increasing energy efficiency," said Lynch. "Pollution and climate change threaten our state’s environment, our health and our economy."--The Boston Globe, 6/11/08

EU urges U.S. leadership in fight against climate change

06/11/2008

The European Union (EU) on Tuesday urged leadership from Washington in fight against climate change while U.S. President George W. Bush insisted on bringing emerging economies on board.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said leadership of the EU and the United States will make an international agreement involving developing countries more likely.

"We hope that the United States and Europe can work even closer on this issue," he told a press conference after Tuesday’s EU-U.S. summit.

"It is important now to move ahead," he said.--China View, 6/10/08

Climate Change Bill Dies, But Gains Support

06/10/2008

The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, which aimed to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 66% by 2050 died on the Senate floor last friday, after debate that lasted less than a week. 

The bill failed by 12 votes to pass a procedural vote, which would have limited discussion of the bill and avoided a filibuster by Republicans. 

However, it should be noted that seven Republicans voted in support of the bill, and four Democrats opposed it. Six Senators, including presidential hopefuls Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton, were not present for the vote, but sent letters expressing their support.--SustainableBusiness.com, 6/9/08

Finnish PM urges rich nations to take lead on climate change

06/09/2008

TOKYO (AFP) — Finland’s Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen on Monday urged developed countries to take the lead in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while helping emerging economies with clean energy technologies.

"Competition for vital natural resources, in particular water, may further intensify in many parts of the world as a result of changing weather patterns. This is likely to lead to increasing local and regional strife," he said.

While all countries must tackle climate change, industrialised nations have a historical responsibility for the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, Vanhanen told a press conference during a visit to Tokyo.

"It is the developed world that has to lead by example," he said.--AFP, 6/9/08

Climate change forces South Sea islanders to seek sanctuary abroad

06/06/2008

After years of fruitless appeals for decisive action on climate change, the tiny South Pacific nation of Kiribati has concluded that it is doomed.

Its president, Anote Tong, used World Environment Day to request international help to evacuate his country before it disappears.

Water supplies are being contaminated by the encroaching salt water, Tong said, and crops destroyed. Beachside communities have been moved inland.

But Kiribati—33 coral atolls sprinkled across two million square miles of ocean—has limited scope to adapt. Its highest land is barely 6 feet above sea level.

Speaking in New Zealand, Tong said i-Kiribati, as his countrymen are known, had no option but to leave. "We may be beyond redemption," he said.

"We may be at the point of no return, where the emissions in the atmosphere will carry on contributing to climate change, to produce a sea level change so in time our small, low-lying islands will be submerged."--Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 6/5/08

NASA ‘played down’ global warming to protect Bush

06/05/2008

NATO poised to battle global warming threats

06/04/2008

ATO must expand its role in the coming decade to prepare for new threats provoked by the impact of global warming, energy shortages and the spread of nuclear technology, the alliance’s top diplomat warned Tuesday.

Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance must look beyond the day-to-day running of its operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo and focus on longer-term threats to its 26 members

"I see no choice but to scan the strategic horizon much more thoroughly," he told a conference of security experts.

He listed five emerging threats that allied leaders will need to confront as they shape the alliance’s future at NATO’s 60th anniversary summit on the Franco-German border next year:

"Climate change could confront us with a whole range of unpleasant developments — developments which no single nation state has the power to contain," he warned.--AP/MSNBSC, 6/4/08

Climate cash-in: Western farmers and ranchers use crops - and cows - to tap into the carbon market

06/04/2008

Seibert, Colo., farmer Curtis Sayles isn’t sure what he thinks about global warming.

Nonetheless, last year Sayles enrolled in a program designed to help curb greenhouse gas emissions. He sells the rights to the 1,000 metric tons of carbon his farming methods keep in the ground (and out of the air) through the Chicago Climate Exchange, whose members purchase carbon credits to offset their own pollution. At about $5,000 annually, he isn’t getting rich off the deal. But with federal carbon regulations on the horizon, Sayles is betting that prices will rise. If so, he - and a growing number of farmers and ranchers around the West who choose soil-saving practices - may be able to cash in. "We believe this is going to be the world’s largest commodity market," says Ted Dodge, director of the National Carbon Offset Coalition, a Montana-based group that gathers and sells farm and ranch offsets to the CCX. In theory, better land-use practices in the West could keep over 19 million metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere per year, according to Colorado State University ecologist Richard Conant.--High Country News, 5/28/08

Study sees opportunities as U.S. curbs emissions, energy use

06/04/2008

Millions of workers in trucking, construction and other trades would see higher wages and more job opportunities in U.S. efforts to boost energy efficiency and fight global warming, according to a new study.

"New job activities will certainly be created in building the green economy and implementing global warming solutions, such as installing solar panels and researching new ways to build efficient biofuel engines," says the study, which was released this week by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and sponsored in part by the Center for American Progress.

"But the vast majority of green jobs are in the same areas of employment that people already work in today, in every region and state of the country," the report continues.

In other words, greening industries will need roofers, insulators and engineers to make old buildings more energy efficient; electricians to help mass transit run more cleanly; and welders to make automobiles that guzzle less gasoline.

But the study sees demand for such labor increasing, which could mean higher wages and more job security.--E&E NewsPM, 6/3/08

Laggard states stand to win in new version of Lieberman-Warner

06/03/2008

Some new provisions in the emissions-capping bill on the Senate floor this week could help bring along states that are lagging in their efforts to address climate change, according to observers.

The bill is consistent with the previous version in that it does not pre-empt states wishing to enforce more stringent emissions standards. But it includes a number of additional incentives to entice them to give up their own goals in favor of the federal one, including more than $560 billion in free allowances over the next four decades (E&E Daily, May 22).

Other provisions aimed at those that haven’t done much include money for states that rely heavily on coal and manufacturing, as well as incentives for mass transit, rural utilities, energy efficiency and conservation, and funding for both cultural and resource adaptation.

The architect of the substitute amendment, Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), said the provisions were designed to benefit all states.

"The whole notion and the reason we wrote the legislation is we want to make some states get help and that the states that are doing the right thing don’t get disadvantaged," she said. "You’re not going to have one state get all the money. That’s not the legislative intent."--ClimateWire, 6/3/08

Rising prices changing public views of energy facilities—survey

06/03/2008

K Street gets green as alt-energy companies gird for Hill battles

06/03/2008

Soaring fuel and electricity prices may be horrible for America, but they’re great for K Street.

Lobbyists are cashing in as alternative energy companies try to convince Congress that renewable power sources ranging from ocean waves to animal fat can help end the nation’s energy nightmare.

It wasn’t long ago that alternative energy had a small presence in Washington—spending $2 million on lobbying in 1998, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which compiles data from federal reports. No more.

Alt-energy companies spent about $16 million on lobbying last year, up from $9 million in 2006, the center said.

Make no mistake, the renewable energy sector’s lobbying is dwarfed by that of the oil and gas industry, which shelled out a whopping $83 million last year, while the auto industry spent $71 million. Still, the renewable energy sector has shown no signs of slowing amid rising electricity and fuel costs.--Greenwire, 6/3/08

WIND POWER: DOE teams up with turbine makers in new initiative

06/03/2008

The Energy Department announced a memorandum of understanding yesterday with six turbine manufacturers to help further DOE’s goal of expanding wind power to meet 20 percent of U.S. electricity needs by 2030.

DOE is working with the manufacturers on research and development, siting strategies, advanced manufacturing techniques, workforce development, standards for turbine certification and other issues, the department said.

U.S. wind power is growing at record levels and is among the suite of technologies eyed as cornerstones for meeting growing energy demand while curbing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

DOE released a major report last month that outlines a roadmap to meeting the 20 percent goal, citing critical needs such as boosting transmission capacity and improved turbine technology.--Greenwire,6/03/08

Senate to take up climate bill

06/02/2008

Most senators acknowledge that climate change poses a major environmental threat, but getting agreement on how to deal with it is another matter.

The Senate on Monday will take up legislation that calls for cutting carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases by about 70 percent from power plants, refineries, factories and transportation by mid-century.

But the bill’s chances of passing the Senate are viewed as slim as its supporters are not expected to muster the 60 votes needed to overcome a certain filibuster threat. Prospects in the House are even less certain.

But both Democrats and Republicans appeared eager to debate global warming and both sides are preparing a string of amendments for later this week—some to make the legislation stronger, others to weaken it.

GOP senators hope to focus on the potential economic impact of the legislation, predicting the shift away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels like coal and oil will lead to higher costs for electricity, gasoline, natural gas and fuel oil for heating.

Meanwhile Democratic sponsors of the bill are trying to blunt the cost issue by proposing to funnel tens of billions of dollars a year to help people pay their energy bills, ease carbon-intensive industries’ transition away from fossil fuels, and spur development of alternative energy sources.--AP, 6/2/08

The cost of carbon rises in Europe—along with complaints

06/02/2008

As the U.S. debate over climate change regulation begins in the Senate, both U.S. lawmakers and Europeans are mulling over the painful lessons learned in the European Union’s pioneering experience with such market-based controls. 

Europe accounts for three-fourths of the global carbon emission trade, but its toothless carbon trading scheme based on free allowances has so far only succeeded in increasing power prices without making a dent in greenhouse gas emissions. So the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, has cut free permit quotas this year and plans to switch to an auction system for 2013.

The controversial plan is meant to drive up the cost of carbon and force companies to curb emissions and is being met with loud complaints from heavy industry.--ClimateWire, 6/2/08

Few transportation choices create big carbon footprints

05/29/2008

The Lexington-Fayette region in Kentucky has the worst per capita carbon footprint of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan centers, while Honolulu and car-dependent Los Angeles, surprisingly, fare the best, according to a new survey of urban emissions.

An area’s mass transit use, level of sprawl, freight traffic, electricity pricing and air conditioning and heating use all played major roles in determining how it ranks in the study from the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

The high emitters "tend to be in areas with few transportation choices," said Andrea Sarzynski, a senior research analyst in Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program. "They don’t allow for biking, walking and mass transit."

Many states and localities have passed their own climate initiatives in recent years, but the study’s authors argued that the government needs to do much more.

In particular, they urged lawmakers on Capitol Hill to put a price on carbon, pass a national renewable electricity standard, invest in research and development and help states reform electricity regulations so utilities are rewarded for efficiency.--ClimateWire, 5/29/08

‘Clean tech’ emerges from gritty town, dirty fuel

05/29/2008

As the clean energy revolution builds up steam, a group of five engineers and dreamers here is hoping to put this long-suffering, hardscrabble town back on the nation’s technology map.

Housed at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the small team is busy enhancing and improving upon two patented technologies that could revolutionize how energy is produced and vehicles are powered in the United States. Although their facilities are sparse and the technology is still a work in progress, the group’s members feel that with the right corporate partnership their ideas and designs could have a big impact in a relatively short period of time.

One of their more promising ideas is "a solid fuel drive turbine system," explained Tony Chow, inventor of the technology and chief executive of New Energy Technology & Development Inc., which is located at NJIT’s Enterprise Development Center. "It is absolutely clean," Chow said.

The patented solid fuel power generation design proposes using waste coal dust to power turbines. The coal dust is fused into a fuel rod and injected into the turbine mechanism. The dust is highly flammable and has been the cause of many explosions and accidents at coal mines, but is mostly discarded as waste. But its explosive tendency—Chow compared it to black gunpowder—also makes it a potential power source, since a relatively small spark will produce a large bang.

While Chow and his team admit that this solid fuel turbine system will still release some fossil fuel pollution, the resulting emissions are a fraction of what is produced by simply burning coal. And the group has a plan for eliminating those emissions, too.

In an interview, Chow, an immigrant from Taiwan, explained how his emissions filtration idea originated from an ancient Chinese design for a tobacco pipe. In the same way the Chinese pipe uses water to cycle through and filter out smoke, Chow plans to use a water basin to cleanse greenhouse gases and other pollutants from the solid fuel turbine system.

"We get a very easy explosion, and the explosion pushes the turbine system and underneath is water," he said. "The water is like a swimming pool coming in and coming out, like a filter, automatic."

What does come out of the pipe is mostly water vapor, he said. "Almost entirely clean, zero. No carbon dioxide," Chow said.--ClimateWire, 5/29/08

Sapphire Energy turns algae into ‘green crude’ for fuel

05/29/2008

A San Diego company said Wednesday that it could turn algae into oil, producing a green-colored crude yielding ultra-clean versions of gasoline and diesel without the downsides of biofuel production.

The year-old company, called Sapphire Energy, uses algae, sunlight, carbon dioxide and non-potable water to make "green crude" that it contends is chemically equivalent to the light, sweet crude oil that has been fetching more than $130 a barrel in New York futures trading.

Chief Executive Jason Pyle said that the company’s green crude could be processed in existing oil refineries and that the resulting fuels could power existing cars and trucks just as today’s more polluting versions of gasoline and diesel do.

"What we’re talking about is something that is radically different," Pyle said. "We really look at this as a paradigm change."

Sapphire’s announcement is the latest development from companies and researchers focused on finding ways to cut harmful emissions from the nation’s giant fleet of cars, trucks, trains and planes.

Sapphire’s process would help curb the nation’s reliance on imported crude and alleviate concerns about the world’s dwindling supply of oil, Pyle said. And by using carbon dioxide spewed out by such things as coal plants, the production process would help remove harmful emissions from the atmosphere.

The green crude also would produce fewer pollutants in the refining process and fewer harmful emissions from vehicle tailpipes, Pyle said.--Los Angeles Times, 5/29/08

Climate-Bond Plan by UN Official Aims to Boost Energy Investing

05/29/2008

The United Nations is considering a new type of bond that would spur investment in clean-energy projects in the developing world. 

The so-called climate bonds would be sold to investors by developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Yvo de Boer, the UN’s top climate-change official, said in an interview yesterday from Bonn. Each security would finance projects designed to reduce greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. Mature bonds could be exchanged for credits that allow industrial plants to emit a certain amount of carbon gases, he said. 

The UN runs the world’s second-biggest greenhouse-gas credit market, valued at 11.7 billion euros ($18.3 billion) last year. The proposal would simplify the funding of windfarm and solar projects because each bond would group together multiple clean- energy projects. The plan would encourage investment in nations struggling to meet their renewable-energy targets, de Boer said. 

``This is a mechanism that allows market players to engage without having to get involved in the nitty-gritty of projects,’’ said de Boer, head of the Bonn-based UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It would ``create an opportunity of blending of public and private money,’’ he said.--Bloomberg, 5/29/08

Report Details Effects of Climate Change Across U.S.

05/29/2008

Global warming is already affecting the nation’s forests, water resources, farmland and wildlife, and will have serious negative consequences over the next 25 to 50 years, according to a report issued yesterday by the federal government.

The scientific assessment by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, which was commissioned by the Agriculture Department and carried out by 38 scientists inside and outside the government, provides the most detailed look in nearly eight years at how climate change is reshaping the American landscape. The report, which runs 193 pages and synthesizes a thousand scientific papers, highlights how human-generated carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels have already translated into more frequent forest fires, reduced snowpack and increased drought, especially in the West.

Anthony C. Janetos, director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute of the University of Maryland and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said the document aims to inform federal resource managers and dispel the public’s perception that global warming will not be felt until years from now.

"They imagine all these ecological impacts are in some distant future," said Janetos, one of the lead authors, who noted that many animals and plants have shifted their migratory and blooming patterns to reflect recent changes in temperature. "They’re not in some distant future. We’re experiencing them now."--The Washington Post, 5/28/08

Markey unveils bill for slashing emissions 85 percent

05/28/2008

Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey’s climate bill—to be formally introduced Tuesday—seeks to curb midcentury carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent through a cap-and-trade system that would start operating in 2012. Speaking at the Center for American Progress in Washington, Markey said his bill was the byproduct of lessons learned during his 17 months as chairman of the Pelosi-created House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

The climate legislation takes a more aggressive stance on emission limits compared with the Senate bill due on the floor next week from Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), John Warner (R-Va.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). That bill would reduce emissions by 71 percent in 2050.

Markey’s plan also reaches further than the Lieberman-Warner-Boxer bill in heeding environmentalists’ calls for the distribution of hundr