Politicians will answer
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, told political leaders yesterday that they would face "a heavy responsibility before God" if they failed to act to control climate change. Dr Williams said that global warming was a moral issue. (03/29/06) MORE»
Blow for Britain's fight against climate change as emissions target is missed
Britain's credibility as a leader in the fight against climate change has suffered a massive blow with the Government being forced to announce it will not meet its flagship target for cutting the carbon dioxide emissions causing global warming. (03/29/06) MORE»
Field Notes from a Catastrophe
Few of us have the opportunity to camp out on the Greenland ice sheet or gaze at mammoth icebergs floating lazily in the bay. But journalist Elizabeth Kolbert has, and her report to the rest of us is both awesome and unsettling—which is her intent. (03/28/06) MORE»
Earth forum hears dire warnings of environmental collapse
At Columbia University, the State of the Planet conference attendees were told that the war on terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism were just a distraction to the grim picture of systemic environmental collapse, coupled with war, famine, and pandemc disease. (03/29/06) MORE»
Make your own energy at home, Britons urged
British politicians are urging people to turn their homes into power plants, by embracing 'microgeneration'. The scheme could see more homeowners installing solar panels, rooftop wind turbines and a range of other measures to cut their power bills and ultimately reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. (03/27/06) MORE»
Solar Power Making Affordable Homes Cheaper
Affordable housing projects in Denver are the latest developments to start using renewable energy sources to bring down utility bills. The savings could add up even more if natural gas and other energy prices keep rising. (03/29/06) MORE»
With a Big Nuclear Push, France Transforms Its Energy Equation
Tourist brochures for this peninsula of farms and stone villages tout its fresh mussels, tart cider and creamy butter. But what really distinguishes the region is another home-grown product: nuclear power. (03/28/06) MORE»
Big Businesses Have New Take on Warming
The global warming debate on Capitol Hill is focused on whether the federal government should impose stricter emissions rules. But a key Senate panel is shifting the discussion from "whether" to "how." (03/28/06) MORE»
Global warming: Your chance to change the climate
Four senior ministers today made one of the most embarrassing admissions of the Labour Government's nine years in office—that the official policy for fighting climate change has failed. Yet, as they did so, a group of MPs will offer a different way forward in the struggle to combat global warming, one which they think is the only alternative. (03/28/06) MORE»
Was Confusion over Global Warming a Con Job?
American attitudes about global warming are shifting, according to a new poll by ABC News, Time magazine and Stanford University—but it has taken years for the public perception of the problem to catch up with the warnings. That lack of concern may have been just what big oil wanted. (03/26/06) MORE»
Time to think about global warming, ocean
A study published last week in the journal Science concludes that the Earth's polar ice sheets are going to melt at a faster rate than scientists originally believed. The fact that the Earth is warming on a global scale is no longer debatable. (03/27/06) MORE»
Be worried, be very worried: The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame
Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us. From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the global climate seems to be crashing around us. (03/26/06) MORE»
Seattle to Kyoto: You can't get there by car
If Seattle is going to do its part to slow global warming, people are going to have to get out of their cars. That's the cornerstone—and also the biggest challenge—of a plan to be unveiled today for how the city can join countries from around the world in trying to meet the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 international treaty to reduce climate-changing gases such as carbon dioxide. (03/24/06) MORE»
Global-warming ads to air
Climate change is the focus of a new multimillion-dollar advertising campaign that seeks to raise consumer awareness about global warming. The Ad Council, the private, nonprofit group behind slogans such as "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk" and "A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste," has teamed up with an advocacy group, Environmental Defense, on the campaign. (03/06) MORE»
Climate change on agenda for Women's Institute
The UK's largest women's organisation was today launching a major new initiative which aims to encourage members to pave the way forward for an environmentally sustainable future. (03/27/06) MORE»
Global warming trend on course to submerge coasts, researchers say
If current temperature trends continue to the end of the century, the Earth's climate will be warm enough to cause a massive melting of Greenland's ice sheet and a partial collapse of the Antarctic ice sheet, resulting in a torrent of melt water that will raise global sea levels by up to six metres, according to a pair of new research papers. (03/24/06) MORE»
Global warming doubles glacial quakes
The number of glacial earthquakes, caused when rivers of ice lurch violently, has doubled in three years, providing yet another indicator of global warming. Seismologists at Harvard University and Columbia University predict more of such events, in which glaciers as big as Manhattan Island lurch unexpectedly, yielding tremors of up to magnitude 5.1 on the moment-magnitude scale, the modern equivalent of the Richter scale. (03/24/06) MORE»
Ethanol from coal clouds goals
Late last year in Goldfield, Iowa, a refinery began pumping out a stream of ethanol, which supporters call the clean, renewable fuel of the future. There's just one twist: The plant is burning 300 tons of coal a day to turn corn into ethanol—the first US plant of its kind to use coal instead of cleaner natural gas. (03/23/06) MORE»
Drought conditions similar to Dust Bowl
Weather patterns similar to what started the devastating Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s are in place today, some experts say. The Southern Plains region, which includes Eastern and Southern New Mexico, now suffer from higher temperatures and prolonged lack of rain, according to meteorologists at AccuWeather.com, an online weather service.
Those conditions plus current ocean temperatures point to similar weather patterns that sparked the worst drought in the history of the country, AccuWeather.com says. (03/21/06) MORE»
We're not leading on the green house scene
When it comes to the "green thing," as in using green-building practices for residential homes, it seems most people either get a skip of the heart or an urge to take a nap.
It's funny. After a generation's worth of exhortations to "go green," an enormous gap remains between those who have gone there and the laggards who couldn't care less if it was purple, pink or yellow building. (03/21/06) MORE»
U.K. Package of measures to combat climate change
World Bank 20 billion US dollars in developing economies for alternative energy; 250,000 more homes to be given help with insulation; A new £50 million fund for micro-generation for homes and firms to generate renewable energy. This is the greenest Budget since the Chancellor introduced the Climate Change Levy. (03/22/06) MORE»
Global Warming Will Make Water Crisis Intolerable
Nobel Prize Winner in chemistry Mario Molina warned that climate change and inappropriate water management might intensify global warming. (03/22/06) MORE»
Global warming could melt your portfolio
A coalition of environmentalists and institutional investors lays out which companies will be better prepared for climate change.
100 of the world's largest companies have been rated on their positioning themselves to compete in what's called a "carbon-constrained world" - and this can impact your investment. (03/21/06) MORE»
Climate change to create African 'water refugees'
Climate change is expected to shrink many African rivers dramatically, triggering massive refugee movements and even war. (03/22/06) MORE»
Stronger Hurricanes Tied to Global Warming
A study at Georgia Institute of Technology , published in March 17 issue of Science shows the link between hurricane intensification and sea surface temperatures. (03/22/06) MORE»
Cyclone points to global warming
The Category 5 cyclone that devastated parts of far north Queensland this week is a stark reminder of the worsening impact of climate change, and is from rising water temperatures. (03/20/06) MORE»
Nuclear confusion: help or hindrance?
In this second article on climate change, Janus pleads for an open and fact-based debate on whether or not nuclear power has a future role to play . "Desperate times call for desperate measures", an old saying goes. (03/20/06) MORE»
330 MPG Wonder
A born tinkerer, Steve Fambro has built everything from go-carts to automotive racing parts. After four years in the U.S. Army working on testing equipment, he got an electrical-engineering degree and snared a good job designing robots used for research at San Diego biotech Illumina (ILMN). But it wasn't long before he was growing restless. "I wasn't challenged at work," recalls the 37-year-old Fambro. (03/14/06) MORE»
Renewable Energy Mitigation Program
In 2000, Aspen and Pitkin County in Colorado launched the Renewable Energy Mitigation Program (REMP). The program charges new homeowners one fee if their homes exceed 5,000 sq. ft. and another fee up to $100,000 if they exceed the "energy budget" allotted to their property by the local building code. (03/06) MORE»
City of Oakland adopts zero waste as its goal
The City Council of Oakland, California on has formally adopted a goal of zero waste by 2020. The resolution was first proposed by Mayor
Jerry Brown in December 2005 and was adopted by City Council without opposition on March 7, 2006. The Oakland is a port city of 400,000 on San Francisco Bay. (02/28/06) MORE»
Climate change: Only 10 years to act
New figures show urgent action must be taken to avoid climate change becoming unstoppable within ten years, a leading environmentalist warned yesterday. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at a record high after a significant rise, according to the figures. (03/15/06) MORE»
Trash and global warming
Wait! That plastic cup you just tossed into the wastebasket—do you know it may contribute to global warming? Decomposing trash produces methane, which together with C02 and other heat-trapping gases, is linked to climate change. (03/15/06) MORE»
Insurance industry feels the heat of global warming
Neither Tim Wagner nor Mike Kreidler imagined how climate change would intrude into state insurance regulation. Wagner, the director of the Nebraska Department of Insurance, said the reality is literally pelting him. (03/15/06) MORE»
German draft law foresees 10 cent biodiesel tax
The German government is planning a tax of 10 euro cents ($0.12) per liter on biodiesel fuel and a 15 cent tax per liter on biodiesel used for blending with conventional fuels, according to a copy of a draft law obtained by Reuters. (03/14/06) MORE»
Commentary: We're going over the climate cliff
We need leadership on climate change, and we're not getting it. Leaders would understand the issue and help educate us. Leaders would realize the magnitude of the problem and shape a commensurate response. Where we need focus, we get distractions. Where we need courageous and decisive action, we get ignorance, arrogance and denial. And time is not on our side. (03/13/06) MORE»
Insurance regulators study climate change
US insurance regulators on Friday agreed to study how a warming climate might affect the industry and its customers, a decision that reflects increasing concern among insurers about potential future losses due to extreme weather. (03/13/06) MORE»
Climate change 'irreversible' as Arctic sea ice fails to re-form
Sea ice in the Arctic has failed to re-form for the second consecutive winter, raising fears that global warming may have tipped the polar regions in to irreversible climate change far sooner than predicted. (03/14/06) MORE»
A climate change of heart
A beleagured president stubbornly insists on staying the course even as his staunchest allies abandon him. I'm not talking about Iraq, but global warming.
Here's a case where virtually everybody is acknowledging a weapon of mass destruction—the threat of climate chaos—but still President Bush refuses to take action. (03/14/06) MORE»
Nuclear waste: bury it and forget?
It is the regular beeping that grates. But if it stops, prepare to be scared. The signal audible every second in every corridor of the high-level toxic nuclear waste plant on Britain's sprawling Sellafield site is a sign all the alarms are working. If it stops, or changes tone, something has gone very wrong. (03/09/06) MORE»
What is the U.S. Mayors' Climate Agreement?
Climate disruption is an urgent threat to the environmental and economic health of our communities. Many cities, in this country and abroad, already have strong local policies and programs in place to reduce global warming pollution, but more action is needed at the local, state, and federal levels to meet the challenge. (03/09/06) MORE»
Climate Change Harming Bering Sea Mammals, Birds, Study Shows
The north Bering Sea, one of the world's richest feeding grounds for whales, walruses, and sea birds, is warming to the point where animals are being forced to adapt or suffer the consequences. (03/09/06) MORE»
The Planet Can't Wait: Climate Change Is Real and Must Be Addressed Now
The warnings are coming from frogs and beetles, from melting ice and changing ocean currents, and from scientists and responsible politicians around the world. And yet what is the U.S. government doing about global warming? Nothing. (03/06) davidignatius@washpost.com
Loremo debuts 150 mpg concept car in Geneva
German startup Loremo AG will debut its concept car at the Geneva Motor Show this week. "Loremo" is derived from "low resistance mobile," and embodies the company's philosophy of efficient transportation that consumes minimal resources during both production and operation. In practice, this means lightweight, aerodynamic vehicles with phenomenal fuel efficiency. (02/27/06) MORE»
Eugene Linden: The Winds of Change are Blowing
Eugene Linden's book, The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather and the Destruction of Civilizations (Simon and Schuster) has only been out for a month, but already it's in its fourth printing. That is, one hopes, an indication that the public's interest in global warming is accelerating, even as the planet itself is sending increasingly desperate signals. (03/06) MORE»
Statoil, Shell set world's biggest CO2 seabed plan
Energy groups Statoil and Shell plan the world's biggest scheme to bury industrial gases beneath the seabed in a $1.2-$1.5 billion project off Norway to raise oil output and curb global warming, the firms said on Wednesday. It would be the world's first project to use carbon dioxide to boost oil recovery offshore. (03/08/06) MORE»
Minister of Parliament becomes No. 50 to sign up to climate change challenge
Gavin Strang has become the 50th MP to agree to reduce his carbon emissions by 25 per cent in the next five years as part of a personal commitment to climate change.
The Labour MP for Edinburgh East signed up to the 25/5 Challenge issued last year by Commons colleague Colin Challen, the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change. (03/08/06) MORE»
South Africa solar research eclipses rest of the world
In a scientific breakthrough that has stunned the world, a team of South African scientists has developed a revolutionary new, highly efficient solar power technology that will enable homes to obtain all their electricity from the sun. This means high electricity bills and frequent power failures could soon be a thing of the past. (02/11/06) MORE»
US Senators Announce Climate Conference
On February 22, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) and ranking Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) announced they will hold a conference on climate change on April 4, 2006. The primary reason for the conference is to discuss the public's response to their February 2 Climate Change White Paper.
(02/02/06) MORE»
California PUC approves plan for cap on greenhouse gas emissions
The plan will affect the investor-owned utilities (and Registry members) PG&E Company, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric. It also will include electricity from retail energy service companies such as Constellation New Energy, a unit of Constellation Energy Group Inc, and the Strategic Energy unit of Great Plains Energy Inc, a CPUC spokeswoman said.
(03/06) MORE»
States Appeal to US Top Court on CO2 Car Emissions
A dozen US states appealed to the Supreme Court on Friday on a case that seeks to force the US government to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from cars and trucks, an environmental group said.
(03/06/06) MORE»
Top UK advisers say 'No' to nuclear power
Nuclear power is not the way to combat climate change or to ensure energy security, the UK government has been told by its environmental advisers.
After a tense internal argument, the UK's Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) has urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to reject the nuclear option in favour of an "aggressive" expansion of energy efficiency and renewables. (03/06/06) MORE»
'Rapid Warming' Spreads Havoc in Canada's Forests
Millions of acres of Canada's lush green forests are turning red in spasms of death. A voracious beetle, whose population has exploded with the warming climate, is killing more trees than wildfires or logging. The mountain pine beetle has infested an area three times the size of Maryland, devastating swaths of lodgepole pines and reshaping the future of the forest and the communities in it. (03/01/06) MORE»
Oops, we helped ruin the planet
They are the gurus of globetrotting, the men who built publishing empires from their adventures and wrote guidebooks encouraging millions to venture further afield than ever before. Now the founders of the Rough Guides and Lonely Planet books, troubled that they have helped spread a casual attitude towards air travel that could trigger devastating climate change, are uniting to urge tourists to fly less. (03/04/06) MORE»
Life in Seas in Serious Decline
With or without pestilences, coral reefs are under assault, and the exhaustive 2004 Status of Coral Reefs of the World warns that global warming is the single greatest threat to corals, with 20 percent of the world's reefs so badly damaged they are unlikely to recover and another 50 percent teetering on the edge. (03/06) MORE»
Government to 'Adjust' Its Fuel Economy Estimates in '08
"Your mileage may vary" is the government's way of tacitly admitting the fuel economy figures it publishes on new car window stickers may not reflect the actual miles per gallon your vehicle will deliver once it's in your hands. The figures are, at best, a rough guide -- not a definitive statement -- based on averages obtained during controlled testing. And as many of us have discovered, the government's estimates are often a tad on the optimistic side. (02/28/06) MORE»
Climate change firms dazzle London equity market
Equity investors are piling into small companies with exposure to a growing market for greenhouse gas credits that has sprung up around the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, bankers and fund managers said on Wednesday. (03/01/06) MORE»
Forecast shows Africa to face river crisis
Africa's rivers face dramatic disruption that will leave a quarter of the continent severely short of water by the end of the century, according to a global warming study published today. In the first detailed assessment of climate change on the continent's waterways researchers found that watercourses on the continent are highly sensitive to shifts in rainfall patterns. (03/03/06) MORE»
U.K. Conservatives focus on decentralised power to combat climate change
Senior Conservatives have called for an examination of radical plans to decentralise the production of electrical power, with generation switched closer to the country's homes and businesses.
The Party's shadow environment team, led by Peter Ainsworth and Greg Barker, will make a key submission to the Conservative Quality of Life Policy Group on the potential of decentralised power, claiming that generating electricity nearer to domestic and commercial users is less wasteful than traditional remote power generation, while also having the potential to foster clean, renewable sources of power. (03/01/06) MORE»
Mayors to discuss climate change
The world's mayors are invited to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, in February 2007 to discuss the issue of global climate change.
The Second World Mayors Council on Climate Change is being organized in connection with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as the Kyoto Protocol, a press release said. (02/22/06) MORE»
Getting kids fired up about global warming
If you want a sure-fire way to send most 10-year-olds to sleep, just utter the words "global warming."
But a group of educators here has come up with innovative new techniques to get their environmental message across. (03/01/06) MORE»
Shrinking Antarctic ice proves scientists wrong
The Antarctic ice sheet, which holds 70 per cent of the world's fresh water, has thinned significantly in the past four years, the first observations from a pair of satellites show.
The frozen continent is shedding about 36 cubic miles (152 cu km) of ice every year—enough to supply Los Angeles with water for 36 years—according to research suggesting that sea levels could rise more rapidly than predicted.
(03/02/06) MORE»
Solar May Get Cheaper
The high price of solar panels has slowed the wide-scale adoption of solar energy, but news Thursday that a partnership could make half-priced solar power commercially available in a year may help change the game.
The Palo Alto Research Center is partnering with solar company SolFocus to produce its cheaper concentrator photovoltaic technology. (02/16/06) MORE»
Governors Napolitano and Richardson Launch Southwest Climate Change Initiative
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson today signed an agreement launching the Southwest Climate Change Initiative, which establishes a framework for the two states to collaborate on strategies to address the impacts of climate change in the Southwest and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region. (02/06) MORE»
Booming population 'threat to climate change fight'
Environmental problems such as global warming can be tackled only if the international community addresses the problem of population growth, a leading scientist warned today. Professor Chris Rapley, the director of the British Antarctic Survey, said the 76 million annual increase in the world's population threatens "the welfare and quality of life of future generations". (01/06/06) MORE»
Climate change urgency speeds up green building regs
Badly insulated houses must soon become a thing of the past if Britain is to deliver on its carbon cut pledges. This is the message the Government sent out by speeding up the transition to more demanding energy efficiency regulations for the building industry. (02/28/06) MORE»
Parched New Mexico gets a taste of climate change
New Mexico got a stark glimpse this year of what the future could be if steps aren't taken to curb climate change.
A state report last month predicted a possible rise of 8-12 degrees in New Mexico's average temperature by the end of this century. (02/27/06) MORE» |
Top
