AFP

PARIS: Efforts to tackle global warming through politics are falling so pitifully short of what is needed that ideas dismissed just a few years ago as weird science are now getting a serious hearing.

“They are becoming part of the debate, although the reservations about them remain very deep,” says one of the world’s most respected climatologists, Jean Jouzel of France’s National Centre for Scientific Research.

One novel idea is for a gigantic sunshade in space. It comes from Roger Angel, a professor at the University of Arizona and one of the world’s top authorities on optics.

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By Tim Cocks

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Climate change is melting a legendary ice field in equatorial Africa and may soon thaw it out completely, threatening fresh water supplies to hundreds of thousands of people, a climate expert said on Thursday.

The fabled, snow-capped Rwenzori mountains -- dubbed the "Mountains of the Moon" in travel brochures -- form part of the Uganda/Democratic Republic of the Congo border and are one of Uganda's top tourist destinations.

But warmer temperatures are melting the glaciers sitting on their peaks, with some scientists predicting the ice could be gone within two to three decades.

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By Adam Wilmoth
Business Writer

Ethanol and biodiesel have gained unprecedented popularity over the past two years as gasoline prices soared to record highs. Proponents say nearly all consumers could benefit from increased use of the plant-based fuel, but farmers and rural America likely will be among the biggest winners.

"America's road to energy independence is going to run right through rural America," said Thomas Dorr, under secretary for rural development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "I'm convinced renewable energy is the greatest new economic opportunity to arise in rural America in our lifetimes. The future is very bright. If we can figure out how to do it right, there is opportunity here for all of us."

Dorr spoke at the Oklahoma Governor's Conference on Biofuels last month.

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NAIROBI, Kenya - The world's oceans are becoming more acidic, which poses a threat to sea life and Earth's fragile food chain, a climate expert said Thursday.

Oceans have already absorbed a third of the world's emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming, leading to acidification that prevents vital sea life from forming properly.

"The oceans are rapidly changing," said professor Stefan Rahmstorf on the sidelines of a U.N. conference on climate change that has drawn delegates from more than 100 countries to Kenya. "Ocean acidification is a major threat to marine organisms."

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adapted from a PA DCNR news release & other press reports

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 9 — Germany-based Conergy AG – the world’s largest solar power integration company – has agreed to locate the North American headquarters of its financial subsidiary, Voltwerk, and the East Coast operations of its solar engineering and installation subsidiary, SunTechnics, in Pennsylvania.

The move is expected to create up to 50 engineering, financing and management jobs and up to $100 million in clean energy deals over the next three years.

“The international community is taking notice of Pennsylvania’s clean energy efforts,” Governor Ed Rendell said. “Our commonwealth is a leader in helping to build and deploy a diverse array of alternative energy projects, and that leadership is attracting investments in manufacturing and creating jobs for our residents.

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  By WENN

Click to enlarge photo

Rocker Jon Bon Jovi is lavishing time and money on environmental charities to make up for "the huge hole in the ozone layer" his flamboyant 1980s hairstyles created.

The Keep The Faith frontman has been hailed the new BONO for his crusading efforts in recent months.

But he explains he's merely wracked with guilt at his gratuitous hairspray use, and hopes it's not too late to make up for the damage he's caused the world.

The singer says, "Do you really want to know why I'm doing all this goodwill, and why I'm an ambassador for Habitat for Humanity and why I gave a million to (Hurricane) Katrina?

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A coalition of Europe's car manufacturers have hit back at criticism that they are not doing enough to tackle carbon emissions and the release of polluting gases, arguing that they are only responding to customer demands.

As things stand, all major companies with EU-based operations have signed up to a voluntary agreement which expects them to bring down the CO2 emissions of cars which roll off their production lines.

The latest figures, from 2004, show the industry way of target with average emissions of new vehicles at 161mg per kilometre, when they should be aiming for 140mg by 2008 and 120 mg by 2012. 

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KENYA: November 9, 2006

NAIROBI - The United Nations and Africa's Nobel laureate, environmentalist Wangari Maathai, launched a project on Wednesday to plant a billion trees worldwide to help fight climate change and poverty.

"Anybody can dig a hole, anybody can put a tree in that hole and water it. And everybody can make sure that the tree they plant survives," she said on the sidelines of a UN meeting on climate change in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

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By Lucie Peytermann

NAIROBI (AFP) - Urgent and resolute measures must be taken to arrest rising global temperatures that increasingly threaten the delicate balance of marine ecosystems and human lives, scientists have warned.

In a study released on the sidelines of a key UN climate conference in the Kenyan capital on Thursday, they said climatic changes had sparked rapid rises in sea levels, temperatures and acidity that pose severe dangers to humanity.

"Human activities are unleashing processes of change in the oceans that are without precedent in the past several million years," said the study "The Future of Oceans -- Warming Up, Rising High, Turning Sour."

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Thu 9 Nov 2006

HOUSEHOLDERS are to be given the freedom to put up wind turbines and solar panels without planning permission in a move which could transform the skyline of Edinburgh.

The city council is tearing away red tape in an effort to hit government targets for cutting pollution. However, conservationists fear for the city's heritage site status.

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By George DeVault and Charles Higginson

Plug in to personal energy independence with clean, sustainable high-tech horsepower.

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...Along with industrialized nations like the United States and Australia, which have refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on curbing emissions of greenhouse gases, Greenpeace urged developing nations like China and India to reduce their output and singled out Brazil for criticism.


"Brazil needs to take responsibility as one of the world's biggest CO2 (carbon dioxide) emitters," it said. "The government must combat deforestation, promote clean, renewable energy, and energy efficiency."

The call to action came as international aid agency CARE announced the launch of a "social carbon fund" in Brazil. It hopes the fund will reduce endemic poverty in the country by exploiting carbon credits offered by the Kyoto treaty.

AFP

THE world's energy supply is heading for crisis, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned yesterday, predicting "skyrocketing prices or more frequent blackouts" unless urgent action was taken.

The IEA, an energy policy adviser for its 26 member countries including the UK and US, which was established during the oil crisis of 1973-1974, called on governments to build more nuclear power stations to help cut greenhouse gas emissions and also take steps to reduce the growth in demand for energy. It predicted that global energy needs will surge by 53 per cent over the next 25 years and that crude oil prices could exceed $100 a barrel by 2030.

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 Greenhouse gas levels reached record highs in 2005 and will continue to build in the atmosphere in the absence of drastic emission cuts, the UN has said.

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November 6, 2006—To provide the public with the most up-to-date information on climate change, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is unveiling its new Climate Change .

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(REUTERS)

By Rachel Sanderson
and Sophie Hardach 

 Marilyn Alexander meant to buy a winter coat at the start of September, but with London enjoying balmy temperatures she put it off.
Now, in November, when a coat is traditionally a necessity to shield against Britain’s infamous damp and fog, this owner of a training and development company still hasn’t purchased one.
“The weather’s been just too nice. I’m thinking about waiting a little longer and then buying one in the sales,” she said, dressed in a lightweight suit.
Like Alexander, shoppers from Brussels to Milan are presenting clothes retailers with a new reality: in the 21st century tracking weather patterns is as important as tracking hemlines.
Rising global temperatures, blamed by scientists for Europe’s freak floods and record droughts, are also behind changes in shopper behaviour—and dents in profits, retailers say.
From Swedish giant Hennes and Mauritz to Italy’s Rinascente and Germany’s Metro, sluggish autumn clothing sales are being blamed on sunny days as shoppers shun costly woollen coats for cooler — and usually cheaper — T-shirts and jackets.

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Nov. 7, 2006 — Efforts to tackle global warming through politics are falling so pitifully short of what is needed that ideas dismissed just a few years ago as weird science are now getting a serious hearing.

Abandoned by the United States, the world's biggest single polluter, and with China, the No. 2 polluter, exempt from targeted emissions cuts, the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol in its present shape will not even dent the greenhouse-gas problem.

Years of denial, bickering and nit-picking by interest groups have so delayed and crimped the political response that schemes to stave off climate disaster which previously were written off as mad or dangerous are being given a closer look.

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  NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - From ancient ruins in Thailand to a 12th-century settlement off Africa's eastern coast, prized sites around the world have withstood centuries of wars, looting and natural disasters. But experts say they might not survive a more recent menace: a swiftly warming planet.

"Our world is changing, there is no going back," Tom Downing of the Stockholm Environment Institute said Tuesday at the UN climate conference, where he released a report on threats to archaeological sites, coastal areas and other treasures.

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Sarah Wotherspoon

November 09, 2006 12:00am

Article from:

AUSTRALIA'S leading climate experts have predicted droughts, major bushfires, floods and food shortages will be the norm if climate change is not addressed immediately.

Death from heatwaves and rising sea levels in the Pacific threatening border security are also realities we may face soon, according to the experts.

In a Herald Sun survey of 10 of the country's leading climate change scientists, including CSIRO's Dr Penny Whetton, Prof Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of the University of Queensland, and climate author Dr Barrie Pittock, eight called for the Government to act immediately to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

They also urged individuals to make changes in their daily lives to help arrest the effects of global warming from greenhouse gas emissions.

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Could China be the world's biggest testing track for alternative energy cars? In the latest move by a multinational to launch vehicles that ain't ridin' dirty in the world's fastest growing auto market, the General has announced plans to begin selling hybrid cars in China starting in 2008, just in time for the Beijing Olympics. GM will build hybrid cars in collaboration with its local partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, the US carmaker's chief executive Rick Wagoner revealed on Monday. With a gusto to be expected for the head of the straightest shooter in the "wild, wild west" of the automobile industry (sales were up 36% this year), Wagoner rolled up in GM's newly "drivable" hydrogen Sequel (above, with the mayor of Shanghai), its sleek fuel-cell mini-van-sedan that he calls "the most sophisticated product, technologically advanced product, I think we’ve ever made in the history of GM.”

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News briefing from Ekklesia

Climate activists, following in the tradition of prophets depicted in the Bible, have carried out a daring night time 'art attack' in the name of combating climate change.

Using powerful projection equipment the activists, calling themselves 'The Prophets of Hope' displayed their message onto leading London landmarks: St Pancras, Battersea power station and the Houses of Parliament.

The two pieces of projected text read "How ironic to live in fear of terrorism and die of climate change" and "The ultimate terror threat is climate change".

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Greens across the country push for action on climate change

Green Media Advisory November 3 2006

Green Party members are organising more than 30 different activities around the country to publicise International Day of Action on Climate Change, Saturday November 4th. The full list of activities is below.

"It's time to translate talk into action", says Green Co-Leader Russel Norman.

"Green members will be handing out leaflets (http://www.greens.org.nz/camp...) about the six new climate change private members' bills that the Greens are putting into the ballot as well as giving people ideas on how they themselves can reduce their individual greenhouse emissions.

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The size of the ozone hole over the Antarctic this year beat all previous records, US government scientists said.

BigAlthough the international effort to phase out ozone-depleting substances, the Montreal Treaty, has led concentrations to fall consistently following a peak in the 1990s, the ozone hole they are responsible for creating has a longer period of inertia and can vary unpredictably from year to year.

The Montreal Treaty led to the phasing out of ozone-depleting chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) found in spray-cans, fridges and air conditioning systems that cause ozone depletion.

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2006-11-02 15:00:08
Posted By: Intellpuke

Clambakes, crabcakes, swordfish steaks and even humble fish sticks could be little more than a fond memory in a few decades.

If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, by 2050 the populations of just about all seafood face collapse, defined as 90 percent depletion, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a study published in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.

“Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world’s ocean, we saw the same picture emerging. In losing species we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems,” said lead author Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.

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 Monday, June 13, 2005 by: Mike Adam

As human beings, we're the only species stupid enough to actually poison ourselves. As part of modern living, we create a wide variety of chemical toxins that go into the ecosystem through rivers and streams, the air, the soil and so on. Not only that, we actually synthesize toxic chemicals and then inject them directly into the food supply -- knowing full well that they are poisonous and are major contributors to the epidemic rates of chronic disease we are experiencing today.

What are these chemicals I'm talking about? Well, you're about to get a whirlwind tour of humanity's toxic chemicals. And if you look at toxic chemicals, you have to start in the realm of dentistry, because in no other profession (save medicine) will you find the use of so many toxic chemicals that are deliberately prescribed to patients or injected into their bodies. We're talking about, of course, mercury fillings and fluoride dripped into the public water supplies.

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August 29, 2006 — By Jerry Harkavy, Associated Press

WICASSET, Maine — A $250,000 demonstration project that produces hydrogen energy to provide backup lighting and warmth at the Chewonki Foundation's environmental education center was hailed at its unveiling Monday as the first of its kind in the nation.

The nonprofit foundation teamed up with the Portland-based Hydrogen Energy Center to develop the system that was touted as an example of the kind of cutting-edge technology that can reduce dependence on fossil fuels and help ease global warming.

"Hydrogen represents a huge growth industry, and the creation of this partnership will put Maine on the leading edge as this industry expands," said Gov. John Baldacci, who signed an executive order to promote the development of hydrogen energy in Maine.

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September 07, 2006 — By Timothy Gardner, Reuters

NEW YORK — An environmental group is teaming with MTV to encourage U.S. university students to demand their schools get more energy from renewable energy sources.

"We believe students are especially well-positioned to be advocating for this because they more than anyone know what's at stake," said Billy Parish, a coordinator for Washington D.C.-based Energy Action Coalition, in a telephone interview. His group is launching the competition with MTV, a cable network owned by Viacom Inc.

Students at several colleges have already pushed through fees of about $30 per student that allow schools to buy power from clean energy sources such as solar and wind farms.

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The Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute (AFVI) announced today a partnership with Clean Energy to expand efforts to provide vital information to alternative fuel end users that will help them make vehicle purchasing decisions. The unprecedented interest and rapid growth in the alternative fuels market has resulted in greater demand for information. AFVI provides services that bring fleets in need of information together with a national team of fuel and technology neutral experts who can fit them with the fuels and vehicles that work for them.

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Ken Rauen serves as Science Advisor and Research & Development Director for PES Network, Inc. He is recognized in the New Energy Congress and in Pure Energy Systems Network as a invaluable resource person in the "frontier physics" side of alternative energy, both as a scientist and as an inventor.

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New Green Center is First to Combine Expert Content and Social Media Across all Types of Alternative Fuel Vehicles

New Survey Reveals Strong Consumer Interest in Alternative Fuel Vehicles is Driven by Environmental Concerns - 42% Plan to Purchase One in Next Two Years

Las Vegas, NV - Nov. 1, 2006 - Yahoo! Autos, one of the most comprehensive automotive resources on the Internet, today announced the launch of the new Yahoo! Autos Green Center http://autos.yahoo.com/green_... The new Green Center provides consumers with the most comprehensive, unbiased source of information, resources and community about alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), including hybrid, flex fuel/E85, bio-diesel, compressed natural gas and others. The Green Center brings together industry information from expert partners as well as consumer-generated content from Yahoo!’s leading social media properties, Yahoo! Answers, del.icio.us and Yahoo! Groups.

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  NRDC's Daniel Hinerfeld interviews Barbara Finamore, director of NRDC's China Clean Energy Program about the situation in China and its implications:"China' s staggering economic growth is an environmental time bomb that, unless defused, threatens to convulse the entire planet regardless of progress in all other nations."
LISTEN (7:50 min)

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by Philippe Boucher

The Bush Administration, in yet another inspired choice, has put former Exxon CEO Lee Raymond in charge of charting the nation's energy future. ExposeExxon's Shawnee Hoover says that's like putting Jack Abramoff in charge of cleaning up politics.
LISTEN (18 min)

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by Philippe Boucher

Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn iluminates the security threats posed by our dependence on oil, and that military personnel want renewable energy and fuel-efficient vehicles. LISTEN (11 min)

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Large clouds of dust filled the air as the bulky machine lumbered down the field, gobbling up every mesquite tree in its path. Farmers and ranchers smiled as they watched their pesky nemesis being devored, but they grinned as well about the possibility of turning that thorny tree into future fuel. North Texas mesquite could soon get your motor running. The Texas A&M Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Lockett is working on a project dubbed the “Mesquite Alternative Fuel Project,“ which will study the feasibility of harvesting mesquite and turning it into cellulosic ethanol. “The whole program is developed to try to use the mesquite that nobody wants,“ said Jim Ansley, professor and the rangeland ecologist who is overseeing the project, Dfw.com said. Leaders in the renewable energy industry are casting covetous eyes on all sorts of plant matter to use in making this type of fuel. Ethanol made from corn is already used in regular gasoline like breadcrumbs in meatloaf. About 10 percent can be blended into regular gasoline, making it go farther.

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Story by Lauren Hills Hybrid or electric. These days is seems like cars can run anything and not pollute the planet. It's exactly what the Alternative Fuels Training Consortium is out to show. Electric cars are environmentally friendly and only cost about $15,000. And if electric cars aren't quite your style, there's even one that runs on cooking oil. Clinton Powers is the man behind that very eco-friendly truck. It only took him three days to convert it. "Nothing's modified except that it burns vegetable oil now," says Powell.

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By Theo Emery, Boston Globe Correspondent

October 15, 2006

ESTILL SPRINGS, Tenn. -- Inside a cinderblock shed, in a room with dusty Mason jars lining the shelves and a bag of potting soil on the floor, Mark Hanson brews his future in 55-gallon drums.



In one of the drums next to the wall, corn mash ferments for Hanson's new ethanol still, which he bought earlier this year and set up beneath an overhang outside the door. He's begun making experimental batches of ethanol, and hopes that by next year, he'll be using it to fuel his rototiller , his lawnmower, his chainsaw, and his jeep.

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I didn't go see the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? when it was originally released in theaters on June 28th. For whatever reason, many of you may not have either. So I'm happy to report that the film is available to watch in its entirety (and in good quality) right here on the site thanks to Google Video. It seems to have been uploaded by Truth911.com at some point (don't know when), what by all measures appears to be a conspiracy theorist site. But I'm less interested in the site that did this than in the movie itself, which I just watched in full for the first time.

Click HERE to watch the movie.

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The Associated Press

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

October 16, 2006

Google Inc. is converting its renowned headquarters to run partly on solar power, hoping to set an example for corporate America.

The Internet search leader announced what is believed to be the largest solar project undertaken by a U.S. company during a solar energy conference in Silicon Valley on Monday. Google believes the sun eventually can deliver as much as 30 percent of the power at its 1-million-square-foot campus in Mountain View _ a suburb about 35 miles south of San Francisco.



The ambitious project will require installing more than 9,200 solar panels on a high-tech mecca nicknamed the 'Googleplex.' After leasing the offices for several years, Google bought the campus for $319 million earlier this year.

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The Associated Press

By DAVID GRAM

October 31, 2006

Green Mountain College is seizing the power of cow dung.

The 760-student school, located along the Vermont-New York line, started Thursday to get half of its electricity from farms that run generators powered by methane gas extracted from cow manure.



The college will pay an extra $48,000 on its $250,000-a-year electricity bill for the privilege, which will help it reduce its reliance on non-renewable energy that pollutes the environment.

'It's a perfect fit,' said college President John F. Brennan. 'We're an environmental college. We're dedicated to environmental applications and renewable energy.'

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