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| 28th June 2010 |
| essential news |
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| Obama admin loses bid to keep oil drilling ban WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration suffered a setback on Thursday in its efforts to keep its six- month ban on new deepwater drilling after the worst oil spill in U. S. history. See also: UPDATE: Judge who ruled against moratorium owned stock in Exxon, other drilling companies |
27th June 2010 |
| Methane in Gulf "astonishingly high": U.S. scientist CHICAGO (Reuters) - As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U. S. scientists said on Tuesday. |
27th June 2010 |
| Money in the Greenhouse Oil companies succeed in pushing for a California ballot initiative that would suspend the state's climate law. |
27th June 2010 |
| Maurice Strong on climate 'conspiracy', Bilberberg and population control Read the full transcript of former UNEP boss and environmentalist Maurice Strong's interview with Leo Hickman Post your comments on the news story. What's your reaction to how your name has been used and abused over the years? I've got used to criticisms and, naturally, I try to make sure I don' t listen to the more extreme ones because most of the people who have taken their rightwing extremist view of my life are people that I' ve never met. Most of my supporters are people who actually know me. I just continue to do the best I can and I don' t bother to try and respond to every little bit because the best response is just to keep on doing what you think is right. Is this a phenomenon that has happened over the past decade or so during the internet age, or have you attracted criticism all your career stretching ... |
27th June 2010 |
| Frank Fenner sees no hope for humans FRANK Fenner doesn' t engage in the skirmishes of the climate wars. To him, the evidence of global warming is in. Our fate is sealed. |
27th June 2010 |
| All talk, no summit action on the end to fossil-fuel subsidies Once again how many times has it been? Canadas position on climate change has proved to be an international embarrassment. |
27th June 2010 |
| Obama mking BP pay is good government, and that's why Republicans and the corporate media are freaking out Obama's hardline move on BP is exactly what government is supposed to do; whatever it can, within the limits of the law, to protect its citizens' interests. |
27th June 2010 |
| We are all trapped in a global oil slick now Has our crude awakening begun, at last? It's not just the pelicans of Louisiana that are flapping and flailing in an oil slick " it's all of us. We live permanently doused in petrol. Every time we move further than our feet can carry us, or eat food we didn' t grow, or go shopping, we burn more barrels. Petrol pours off each of us like an invisible sweat. The twentieth century was propelled into the stratosphere on a great gushing geyser of oil, and in the adrenaline- frenzy, nobody wanted to ask where it was coming from, or what it would cost us in the end. |
27th June 2010 |
| Scientific expertise lacking among 'doubters' of climate change, says Stanford-led analysis The small number of scientists who are unconvinced that human beings have contributed significantly to climate change have far less expertise and prominence in climate research compared with scientists who are convinced, according to a study led by Stanford researchers. |
27th June 2010 |
| The 'Energy-Only Bill' Mirage - Center For American Progress Center For American Progress. The 'Energy- Only Bill' Mirage. Center For American Progress. Richard Lugar (R- IN) supports an energy- only bill even though he voted for previous global warming bills in 2003 and 2005-at a time when the science was ...Reid: Climate bill must have 'broad bipartisan support' or he won' t bring it ...Washington Post (blog) Where is Barbara? Fox and Hounds Daily (blog) all 84 |
27th June 2010 |
 Take your time |
23rd June 2010 |
| Environmentalist Bill McKibben: Were losing climate battle CUSTER -- Bill Mc. Kibben said he considered himself fortunate to be at the 21st annual Midwest Renewable Energy Fair. |
23rd June 2010 |
| Are we coming to an end of economic growth? Further to an earlier post on my blog, is there another similarity between now and the 1970s " that the causes of rapid economic growth in previous years are fading away? I mean, one reason why growth slowed in the 1970s was that a couple of the impetuses behind fast non- inflationary growth in the 50s and 60s " post- war rebuilding and the spread of some big technical advances " became weaker. Similarly, four possible forces behind economic growth since the mid-80s might also now be fading: 1. Credit liberalization in the 80s led to a rise in the ratio of consumer debt to incomes. |
23rd June 2010 |
| A grim outlook for emissions as climate talks limp forward Those who thought the failed Copenhagen climate talks last December were a diplomatic nadir, from which only recovery was possible, are in for a shock. Since then, efforts to refloat the talks have seen a lot of ballast thrown overboard - including most of the scientific underpinnings of a deal to protect the world from dangerous warming. If a deal is finally done, probably in South Africa at the end of 2011, it may prove a diplomatic success but a climatic catastrophe. read more |
23rd June 2010 |
| Leakegate: A retraction Back in February, we commented on the fact- free IPCC- related media frenzy in the UK which involved plentiful confusion, the making up of quotes and misrepresenting the facts. Well, a number of people have pursued the newspapers concerned and Simon Lewis at least filed a complaint (pdf) with the relevant press oversight body. In response, the Sunday Times (UK) has today retracted a story by Jonathan Leake on a supposed 'Amazongate' and published the following apology: The article 'UN climate panel shamed by bogus rainforest claim' (News, Jan 31) stated that the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report had included an 'unsubstantiated claim' that up to 40% of the Amazon rainforest could be sensitive to future changes in rainfall. |
23rd June 2010 |
| What's wrong with the sun? SUNSPOTS come and go, but recently they have mostly gone. For centuries, astronomers have recorded when these dark blemishes on the solar surface emerge, only for them to fade away again after a few days, weeks or months. Thanks to their efforts, we know that sunspot numbers ebb and flow in cycles lasting about 11 years. But for the past two years, the sunspots have mostly been missing. Their absence, the most prolonged for nearly a hundred years, has taken even seasoned sun watchers by surprise. "This is solar behaviour we haven' t seen in living memory," says David Hathaway, a physicist at NASA''s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. |
20th June 2010 |
| Five Thousand Gulf Oil Spills That''s the rate that people are releasing carbon to the atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation today. I know, it''s apples and oranges; carbon in the form of oil is more immediately toxic to the environment than it is as CO2 (although CO2 may be more damaging on geologic time scales). But think of it - five thousand spills like in the Gulf of Mexico, all going at once, each releasing 40,000 barrels a day, every day for decades and centuries on end. We are burning a lot of carbon! |
20th June 2010 |
| Where Obama's climate leadership is really lacking If you ever want to know what the inside- the- beltway conventional wisdom is, look for the Politico''s screaming headline. 'Deadly silence on carbon caps,' is today''s tea- leaf reading article, which asserts that Obama 'may have put the dagger into his long- sought plans for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions by opening the door for alternatives.' Speeches, while important, aren' t daggers - and, in any case, conventional wisdom in the Politico and elsewhere around DC has been that a GHG cap has been dead for months. But Obama could easily have skipped the pivot to comprehensive energy and climate legislation, and, as I' ve noted, 'The talking points are better than the speech I would also add that 'cap- and- trade' is a desperately bad centerpiece for messaging - since it focuses entirely on process and not outcomes/ ... |
20th June 2010 |
| Coalition to announce support for new nuclear power Government will ease the way for extra plants but not provide subsidies, energy minister Charles Hendry to tell industry chiefs. Energy minister Charles Hendry will today set out the government''s support for new nuclear power, in the face of opposition from the Tories' coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats. Hendry will tell the Nuclear Industry Forum that there is a role for new nuclear plants, provided they do not require public subsidies. In one of the key differences between the two coalition parties, the Tories back a new generation of private sector- funded nuclear power stations while the Lib Dems have long opposed new nuclear build. The Tory junior minister, who works under Lib Dem energy secretary Chris Huhne, said conversations he has had with companies suggest they are willing to invest without being subsidised. But the government will take steps to remove "unnecessary" barriers to building new nuclear power stations. Government ... |
20th June 2010 |
| Bogus, Misdirected and Effective The Tea Party movement is steeped in misinformation and denial. But it has a lot to teach the left. |
20th June 2010 |
| Is the Telegraph censoring criticism of climate-change deniers? About ten days ago, Telegraph employee and blogger Tom Chivers wrote a blog post titled 'Viscount Monckton is an embarrassment to global warming sceptics everywhere'. In the blog post he wrote: Entertaining news of the week: high- profile global warming sceptic Viscount (Christopher) Monckton has been caught out in an embarrassing example of (if we' re charitable) utter scientific illiteracy, in one of the most magisterial scientific take- downs on record. He goes on to explain that Monckton giving a lecture at a university in Minnesota where he made a series of 'startling claims'. |
20th June 2010 |
| Obama Vows Clean Energy Push, Green Groups Want Details Despite the pleas of some conservative politicians that parallels should not be drawn between the oil spreading over the Gulf of Mexico and the need to transition out of a reliance on fossil fuels, U. S. President Barack Obama made it clear Tuesday night that he sees the race against the spreading oil as inherently connected to the race against a changing climate. |
20th June 2010 |
| Gulf oil spill: A hole in the world The Deepwater Horizon disaster is not just an industrial accident " it is a violent wound inflicted on the Earth itself. In this special report from the Gulf coast, a leading author and activist shows how it lays bare the hubris at the heart of capitalism. Everyone gathered for the town hall meeting had been repeatedly instructed to show civility to the gentlemen from BP and the federal government. These fine folks had made time in their busy schedules to come to a high school gymnasium on a Tuesday night in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, one of many coastal communities where brown poison was slithering through the marshes, part of what has come to be described as the largest environmental disaster in US history."Speak to others the way you would want to be spoken to," the chair of the meeting pleaded one last time before opening the floor for questions. ... |
20th June 2010 |
| Oceans choking on CO2, face deadly changes: study SYDNEY (Reuters) - The world''s oceans are virtually choking on rising greenhouse gases, destroying marine ecosystems and breaking down the food chain -- irreversible changes that have not occurred for several million years, a new study says. |
20th June 2010 |
| canaries - news about first signs of climate change |
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| "Extreme heat wave sets all-time high temperature records in Africa and Middle East" As NOAA reported early this month, globally it's the warmest May, spring, and Jan- May on record. Steve Scolnik of Capital Climate put together this U. S. chart: Total number of daily high and low temperature records set in the U. S., data from NOAA National Climatic Data Center, background image © Kevin Ambrose. Includes historical daily observations archived in NCDC's Cooperative Summary of the Day data set and preliminary reports from Cooperative Observers and First Order National Weather Service stations. All stations have a Period of Record of at least 30 years. It's been so hot in DC - 'The official Washington DC temperature of 99° at 2 pm today has already broken the heat record for June 24 set in 1894' - that even the Washington Post noticed. |
27th June 2010 |
| Arctic Freshwater Cycle Intensifies, Marks Warming The amount of fresh water flowing through the Arctic as snow or rainfall, in rivers and by evapotranspiration is rising in agreement with models of a warming climate, according to a major new study by climate scientists in the U. S., Norway and Finland who analyzed all available Arctic observations. |
27th June 2010 |
| Climate change is leaving us with extra space junk Dead satellites and rocket parts are taking longer to drop out of orbit, thanks to cooling of the upper atmosphere as the air beneath gets warmer |
27th June 2010 |
| Bookies Slash Price Of Temperature Hitting 100f - Casino Beacon Bookies Slash Price Of Temperature Hitting 100fCasino Beacon. Bookies William Hill have halved the price of temperatures topping 100f in 2010 from an original 10/1 to 5/1 as the heatwave kicks in and punters lump on. ... |
27th June 2010 |
| Ridge clue to Antarctic ice loss The discovery of an underwater ridge in Antarctica offers a clue to why ice flowing into the sea has accelerated, say researchers. |
23rd June 2010 |
| Rain impacts of warmth to persist Impacts of greenhouse warming on rainfall would persist long after temperatures went back to normal, a study suggests. |
23rd June 2010 |
| positive news |
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| Can Europe import solar power from Africa? The race to harness the sun of the Sahara and Middle East deserts is one initiative in a far- ranging European energy consensus. There are probably easier ways to meet Europe's thirst for clean energy than importing it from vast solar farms in the Sahara. But it is very tempting. According to the European commission's Institute for Energy, it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle Eastern deserts (an area around the size of Wales) to meet all of Europe's energy needs. Several groups have come up with plans to harness the sun in Africa to make electricity, which could then be exported to Europe, or use it to turn desert into forests by using the power to desalinate sea water. |
27th June 2010 |
| Yet another major poll finds strong public support for global warming action, 'even if it means an increase in the cost of energy' The drumbeat of public support for comprehensive clean energy and global warming policies beats louder every day. The latest Wall Street Journal- NBC Poll found overwhelming support for comprehensive clean energy legislation that includes carbon pollution reductions. It also registered that cleaning up the BP oil disaster and energy reform is the number two priority of Americans. Finally, it registered another drop in support for the expansion of offshore oil drilling. CAP's Daniel J. Weiss has the details: The WSJ- NBC poll was conducted by respected pollsters Bill Mc. Inturff (R) and Peter Hart (D). Mc. Inturff was John Mc. Cain's presidential pollster in 2008. |
27th June 2010 |
| How to power the energy innovation lifecycle A new CAP report by Sean Pool presents the 'network lifecycle' approach to clean energy innovation. The paper shows how the innovation lifecycle of clean energy technology can be divided into five phases, each involving a different an evolving network of participants with its own challenges and policy needs. Freeing our economy from its dangerous addiction to fossil fuels and averting the calamitous risks of climate change will require a major technological transformation in the way we produce, transmit, and consume energy. Inventing, developing, building, and deploying these new technologies will require a new era of American technological innovation. The result will be new industries and jobs, along with more clean energy and less pollution. |
23rd June 2010 |
| Landrieu on BP Disaster: Oil's 'time has come and is moving past us, and the transition to clean renewable energy is one our country has to begin immediately.' In all the criticism of Obama''s too- weak energy speech last week, not enough attention was paid to a statement that oil- state Senator Mary Landrieu (D- LA) made. Here is the final paragraph : 'Finally, the President called on America to begin a transition to cleaner, renewable energy. As people all across our nation watch the oil pouring into the Gulf, they are asking 'isn' t there a better way?' The answer is yes, there is a better way, and we must begin to lay that foundation now. Oil has paid tremendous dividends to our country. |
23rd June 2010 |
| New air conditioning system has potential to slash energy usage by up to 90 percent A soothing solution to hot, humid days may be on its way, thanks to a melding of technologies in filters, coolers and drying agents. The U. S. Department of Energy''s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has invented a new air conditioning process with the potential of using 50 percent to 90 percent less energy than today''s top- of- the- line units. It uses membranes, evaporative cooling and liquid ... |
23rd June 2010 |
| Liberty Turbines In his speech to the nation this week, President Obama referred to the huge level of resource that the United States was able to muster as it turned its industrial capacity to the production of military equipment during World War II. The one answer I will not settle for is the idea that this challenge is too big and too difficult to meet. You see, the same thing was said about our ability to produce enough planes and tanks in World War II. One of the best examples of this transformation and a symbol of US wartime industrial output was the production of 'Liberty Ships'. |
20th June 2010 |
| Zero-Carbon Economy in UK Possible Within 20 Years, Report Says Time to say we will zerocarbonbritain2030 is a positive, realistic policy framework to eliminate emissions from fossil fuels within 20 years. zerocarbonbritain2030 provides political and economic solutions to the urgent challenges raised by the climate science, outlining how we can transform the UK into an efficient, clean, prosperous zero- carbon society. "The great transition to a zero- carbon Britain is not only the most pressing challenge of our time, it is also entirely possible. The solutions needed to create a low- carbon and high- wellbeing future for all exist, what has been missing to date, is the political will to implement them.' Dr Victoria Johnson, New Economics Foundation. |
20th June 2010 |
| Disaster is making US think again about cleaner energy The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is making Americans think more about a clean energy future " but not yet to the extent of having to pay for it, or to tackle climate change, one of the leading US thinkers on global warming policy said yesterday. See also: Obama signals need for new energy agenda |
20th June 2010 |
| EPA analysis: Senate energy bill would lower electric bills The energy and climate bill that Republicans call a light- switch tax would lower electricity bills, at least in its early years, the Environmental Protection Agency reported Tuesday. See also: EPA modeling shows American Power Act brings economic and climate benefits |
20th June 2010 |
| Can painting a mountain restore a glacier? Slowly but surely an extinct glacier in a remote corner of the Peruvian Andes is being returned to its former colour, not by falling snow or regenerated ice sheets, but by whitewash. |
20th June 2010 |
| food news |
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| Climate change complicates plant diseases of the future Human- driven changes in the earth's atmospheric composition are likely to alter plant diseases of the future. Researchers predict carbon dioxide will reach levels double those of the preindustrial era by the year 2050, complicating agriculture's need to produce enough food for a rapidly growing population. |
27th June 2010 |
| What food price backlash? US pushes for 85pc ethanol While many around the world are railing against biofuels for pushing up food prices, United States Governors and General Motors are pushing for greater roll out of 85pc ethanol blends. |
23rd June 2010 |
| Prices to rise by up to 40% over next decade Growing demand from emerging markets and for biofuel production will send prices soaring, according to the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. Food prices are set to rise as much as 40% over the coming decade amid growing demand from emerging markets and for biofuel production, according to a United Nations report today which warns of rising hunger and food insecurity. Farm commodity prices have fallen from their record peaks of two years ago but are set to pick up again and are unlikely to drop back to their average levels of the past decade, according to the annual joint report from Paris- based thinktank the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).The forecasts are for wheat and coarse grain prices over the next 10 years to be between 15% and 40% higher in real terms, once adjusted for inflation, than their average levels ... |
20th June 2010 |