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Evidence of Warming Growing: Pachauri |
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Tuesday 07 October 2008
by: Alister Doyle, Reuters
Barcelona,
Spain - Evidence is mounting day by day that mankind is to blame for
climate change, and the financial crisis is a temporary setback in the
hunt for solutions, the head of the U.N. Climate Panel said on Tuesday.
Rajendra Pachauri, whose panel shared the 2007 Nobel Peace
Prize with former U.S. vice president Al Gore, said the downturn could
dominate for 2-3 months before politicians return to focus on fixing
long-term problems like global warming.
"The evidence... is getting stronger by the day. We have
much more evidence available of what the human role is in climate
change," he told Reuters by phone from India. "One has every reason to
take action on what's already been said."
Pachauri's panel, which draws on the work of 2,500
scientists, said last year that it was at least 90 percent sure that
mankind was to blame for warming and forecast more droughts, heatwaves,
floods and rising sea levels.
He said at the moment everything seemed to be "on the back
burner" because of worries about the financial system. "I'm absolutely
sure that climate change will be the last thing people will think about
at this point in time."
"But it's not going to go away," he said. "Sooner or later,
they will come back to it." Arctic sea ice, for instance, shrank to its
smallest ever recorded area in September 2007, and came close to
breaking the record last month.
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Brazilian Officials Face Charges Over Amazon Destruction Caused by Logging |
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Tuesday 30 September 2008
by: Rory Carroll, The Guardian UK
Top 100 illegal loggers set to be sued after evidence shows 292 square miles of forest were chopped down in August.
Illegal logging has sharply accelerated destruction of the
Amazon and the biggest culprit is the Brazilian government, according
to new evidence.
Officials are expected to face criminal charges after
satellite imagery revealed the worst-hit regions belonged to the
Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform, or Incra, a state agency
which distributes land.
The top 100 illegal loggers, with Incra at the top, would
be sued, the environment minister, Carlos Minc, told a news conference.
"It was a terrible result. We're going to blow all 100 of them out of
the water and then some."
Official data released on Monday showed that 292 square
miles of rainforest were chopped down in August, more than twice the
rate for the same month last year. The National Institute of Space
Studies said its findings would probably have been even worse had it
obtained images of a quarter of the forest covered by dense clouds in
August.
Until recently Brazil's government highlighted an apparent
slowdown in the rate of deforestation as proof of conservation success.
This week's announcement was all the more embarrassing because the six
largest deforested areas since 2005 were owned by Incra.
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Tuesday 23 September 2008
by: Steve Conner, The Independent UK
Arctic
scientists discover new global warming threat as melting permafrost
releases millions of tons of a gas 20 times more damaging than carbon
dioxide.
The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20
times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the
atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by
scientists.
The Independent has been passed details of preliminary findings
suggesting that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the
surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats.
Underground stores of methane are important because scientists
believe their sudden release has in the past been responsible for rapid
increases in global temperatures, dramatic changes to the climate, and
even the mass extinction of species. Scientists aboard a research ship
that has sailed the entire length of Russia's northern coast have
discovered intense concentrations of methane - sometimes at up to 100
times background levels - over several areas covering thousands of
square miles of the Siberian continental shelf.
In the past few days, the researchers have seen areas of sea
foaming with gas bubbling up through "methane chimneys" rising from the
sea floor. They believe that the sub-sea layer of permafrost, which has
acted like a "lid" to prevent the gas from escaping, has melted away to
allow methane to rise from underground deposits formed before the last
ice age.
They have warned that this is likely to be linked with the rapid warming that the region has experienced in recent years.
Methane is about 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than
carbon dioxide and many scientists fear that its release could
accelerate global warming in a giant positive feedback where more
atmospheric methane causes higher temperatures, leading to further
permafrost melting and the release of yet more methane.
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Western States Pitch Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Emissions |
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Wednesday 24 September 2008
by: Margot Roosevelt, The Los Angeles Times
Four
Canadian provinces are also included in the initiative, which aims to
cut regional emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels.
Seven Western states and four Canadian provinces proposed a
sweeping regional crackdown on global warming emissions Tuesday in the
face of continuing reluctance by the Bush administration and Congress
to pass comprehensive climate legislation.
The Western Climate Initiative, endorsed by the 11
governors and provincial premiers, aims to slash regional greenhouse
gas pollutants by about 15 percent below 2005 levels in the next 12
years.
"We're sending a strong message to our federal governments
that states and provinces are moving forward in the absence of federal
action," said California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, adding that the
effort would spur renewable energy development and create "green jobs."
California, which passed a landmark global warming law in
2006, is well on its way to curbing emissions. But other states and
provinces will have to overcome opposition in legislatures and from
influential businesses. And several states have yet to sign on,
including Nevada, Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming. Nevada has the
fastest-growing population in the nation, and Colorado and Wyoming are
booming energy states.
The plan also relies on a complex trading system in which
businesses can buy and barter their way out of trimming emissions.
Europe has instituted a carbon market, but not without some
controversy. And many economists say that a tax on carbon would be a
more efficient way to reduce global warming.
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Global Warming Law Will Boost California Economy, Study Finds |
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Thursday 18 September 2008
by: Daniel B. Wood, The Christian Science Monitor
When
California made global headlines two years ago for a landmark law
requiring a 25 percent cut in industrial greenhouse gases by 2020, some
critics said the environmental advantages would be symbolic and net job
losses significant.
Now, two studies released this week by the California Air
Resources Board, the state body charged with overseeing the project,
claim to show that implementing the emission-cutting measures under the
pioneering law would actually benefit California's economy and public
health.
The economic analysis says implementing the regulations
will increase economic production by $27 billion, overall gross state
product by $4 billion, overall personal income by $14 billion, and per
capita income by $200.
And the public health analysis concludes that programs
under AB32 - also known as the California Global Warming Solutions Act
of 2006 - will help eliminate 300 premature deaths statewide, avoid
almost 9,000 incidents of asthma and lower respiratory symptoms, and
avoid 53,000 workdays lost to illness.
"The facts are in. These reports support the conclusion
that guiding California toward a clean energy future with reduced
dependence on fossil fuels will grow our economy, improve public
health, protect the environment, and create a more secure future built
on clean and sustainable technologies," said ARB chairman Mary Nichols
on Wednesday.
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Cleared: Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law |
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By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Thursday, 11 September 2008
The
threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in
causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power
station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked
ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court
cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.
Jurors
accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage
property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater
damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under
the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to
prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a
burning house to tackle a fire.
The not-guilty verdict, delivered
after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the
stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain's green agenda and could
encourage further direct action.
Kingsnorth was the centre for
mass protests by climate camp activists last month. Last year, three
protesters managed to paint Gordon Brown's name on the plant's chimney.
Their handi-work cost £35,000 to remove.
The plan to build a
successor to the power station is likely to be the first of a new
generation of coal-fired plants. As coal produces more of the carbon
emissions causing climate change than any other fuel, campaigners claim
that a new station would be a disastrous setback in the battle against
global warming, and send out a negative signal to the rest of the world
about how serious Britain really is about tackling the climate threat.
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Huge Increase in Spending on Water Urged to Avert Global Catastrophe |
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Thursday 11 September 2008
by: Juliette Jowit, The Guardian UK
• Infrastructure investment must double, say experts.
• Climate change likely to put four billion people at risk.
Countries across the world will have to dramatically
increase investment in dams, pipes and other water infrastructure to
avoid widespread flooding, drought and disease even before climate
change accelerates these problems, experts have warned.
Investment needs to be at least doubled from the current
level of $80 billion (£45.5 billion) a year, an international congress
was told this week, and one leading authority said spending needed to
rise to 1.5% of gross domestic product just "to be able to cope with
the current climate" - one thousand times the current level.
The warnings follow a summer of dramatic events, from
hurricane flooding in the Caribbean and the east coast of America to
desperate measures in drought-stricken Mediterranean countries,
including importing water by ship.
Rich nations suffer huge under-investment, but the threat
of poor infrastructure to populations in developing countries is even
greater, said Dr Olcay Unver, director of the United Nations' Global
Water Assessment Unit.
So serious is the problem that next year the UN's World
Water Assessment Report will make one of its main messages the need for
investment to "accelerate substantially", said Unver.
"You can't justify the deaths of so many children because
of lack of infrastructure or lost productive time of people [who are]
intellectually or physically incapacitated because of simple lack of
access to safe water or sanitation," he added.
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Study Says Old Growth Forests Bank Carbon Dioxide |
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Thursday 11 September 2008
by: Jeff Barnard, The Associated Press
Grants
Pass, Oregon - A group of forest scientists from the United States and
Europe reports that a growing body of evidence settles an old question
over whether old growth forests store more carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere than they release.
Based on a review of research from more than 500 forest
sites around the world, the answer, published Thursday in an online
edition of the journal Nature, is that most forests between 15 and 800
years old do, and the total amounts to about 1 billion metric tons a
year, or about 10 percent of the net carbon uptake worldwide.
Co-author Beverly Law, a professor of global change forest
science at Oregon State University, said the findings argue for
including credit for preserving old growth forests in the Kyoto
Protocol and cap-and-trade schemes for controlling greenhouse gas
emissions blamed for global warming.
"If you have an old forest on the ground, it's probably
better to leave it there than to cut it," she said. "For the countries
that did sign on to Kyoto, it is suggesting that perhaps they need to
consider unmanaged primary forests in their carbon accounting."
The United States did not sign the Kyoto agreement.
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More...
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Thaw of Polar Regions May Need New UN Laws
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Green Cement May Set CO2 Fate in Concrete
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Beyond Carbon: Scientists Worry About Nitrogen's Effects
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The final countdown
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Alaska: Climate-Change Frontier
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Digging Up the Dirt on Arctic Carbon
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Handle With Care
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Costa Rica Bids to Go Carbon Neutral
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"Major Discovery" From MIT Primed to Unleash Solar Revolution
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Seven-Square-Mile Ice Sheet Breaks Loose in Canada
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Wetlands Could Unleash "Carbon Bomb"
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Gore Calls for US to Use Renewable Energy by 2018
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Report Links Cheney Office, Oil Giant to Global Warming Policy Shift
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Al Gore Lays Down Green Challenge to America
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US Summers to Get Hotter and Deadlier Due to Climate Change
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G-8 Leaders Pledge to Cut Emissions in Half by 2050
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The Anti-Climate Summit
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A Worthless Gust of Hot Air
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"We Have Seven Years Left to Reverse the CO2 Emissions Curve"
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Global Warming's Twin Evil: Wildfires and Drought
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Citing Need for Assessments, US Freezes Solar Energy Projects
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Exclusive: No ice at the North Pole
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Floods and Droughts Make Mild Diseases Deadly
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White House Refused to Open Pollutants E-Mail
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Put Oil Firm Chiefs on Trial, Says Leading Climate Change Scientist
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Senate Inaction Kills Climate Change Bill
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Jim Hansen, the Big Ice Melt and the Mainstream Media
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In Spain, Water Is a New Battleground
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Degrading Arctic Ice May Release Climate Threat
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Climate Destruction Will Produce Millions of "Envirogees"
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G8 Frustrates Green Groups
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Senate Panel Votes to Overturn EPA on California Waiver
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Zones of Death Are Spreading in Oceans Due to Global Warming
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US Enacts Law to Protect Polar Bears, but Only From Hunting
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World Carbon Dioxide Levels Highest for 650,000 Years, Says US Report
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The World at 350: A Last Chance for Civilization
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Women Face Tougher Impact From Climate Change
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Carbon Emissions: Catch Them if You Can
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Freezing to Show Warming Trend
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Climate Change Hitting Arctic Faster, Harder
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The Intent of the Carbon Tax Is to Make Us Feel the Pain
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Sweden's Carbon-Tax Solution to Climate Change Puts It Top of the Green List
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Warming Shifts Gardeners' Maps
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Greenhouse Gases, Carbon Dioxide and Methane, Rise Sharply in 2007
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Melting Methane
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Timeline for Irreversible Climate Change
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The Greenback Effect
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Governors Unite to Cut Emissions
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Stop Waiting for "Leaders" to Act on Global Warming
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March the Warmest on Record Over World's Land Surfaces
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