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Hunters Concerned and Don't Want Drilling in New Mexico
bout half of America's hunters and anglers—including many who said they voted for President Bush in 2004—told pollsters they are witnessing firsthand, in the outdoors, the effects of some form of climate change, according to the results of a nationwide survey of sportsmen released Tuesday by the National Wildlife Federation. Of all sportsmen contacted for the survey, 71 percent said they are concerned that fish and wildlife populations where they hunt or fish will significantly decrease or disappear in the next 10 years. (05/24/06) MORE»
Tropics Expanding, Jet Streams Pushed Toward Poles
A new study published in Science by scientists from the University of Utah and the University of Washington indicates that the tropics have expanded farther from the equator since 1979. Analyzing atmospheric temperature measurements by satellites, the researchers say that widening of the tropics amounts to 2 degrees of latitude or 140 miles. The researchers warn that the trend could expand some of the world's driest regions into heavily populated midlatitude regions. (05/26/06) MORE»
Corporations Want Federal Government Leadership
Corporate leaders don't normally invite the federal government to raise their taxes. But that's exactly what Paul Anderson is doing. Anderson, the chairman of Charlotte-based Duke Energy, wants the federal government to fight global warming by taxing companies based on the "greenhouse gases" they pump into the atmosphere ˜ just the sort of big-government remedy the Bush administration says would hobble the economy. For his efforts, Anderson has been excoriated by conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh and threatened with an "exorcism" by an industry peer. But Anderson, 61, is no closet left-winger. He's a registered Republican, Bush backer and member of the president's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. (05/31/06) MORE»
Polar core is hot stuff
A core of sediment pulled from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean has confirmed that, millions of years ago, the North Pole was as warm as a balmy summer day. Now the researchers report several analyses of the sediment core in Nature. The results are unexpected. Not only did the Arctic heat up to an extent that is inexplicable by current climate models, say the researchers, it also seems that the North Pole began to cool at about the same time as the Antarctic. This timing suggests that climate was being driven by a global factor, such as atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases, rather than something more local, such as geological upheaval. (05/31/06) MORE»
First American Insurer Adopts Policy on Climate Change
Insurance companies such as Munich Re and Swiss Re have long endorsed programs and research aimed at finding solutions to what increasingly appears to be a major threat facing the worldwide insurance community. AIG would appear to be the first major U.S.-based insurer to do so. The company said it "is actively seeking to incorporate environmental and climate change considerations across its businesses, focusing on the development of products and services to help AIG and its clients respond to the worldwide drive to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions." (05/17/06) MORE»
Global Food Supply Near the Breaking Point
The world is now eating more food than farmers grow, pushing global grain stocks to their lowest level in 30 years. Rising population, water shortages, climate change, and the growing costs of fossil fuel-based fertilisers point to a calamitous shortfall in the world's grain supplies in the near future, according to Canada's National Farmers Union (NFU). Thirty years ago, the oceans were teeming with fish, but today more people rely on farmers to produce their food than ever before, says Stewart Wells, NFU's president. In five of the last six years, global population ate significantly more grains than farmers produced. And the present situation is likely to worsen with climate change. (05/17/06) MORE»
Aussies Fund-Raise for Solar School
A GROUP of Sydney residents have cast a ray of sunshine on the otherwise gloomy topic of global warming. The threat of global warming was overwhelming for most people, said Alison Potter, one of the members of the collective of parents and residents calling themselves Climate Change Balmain-Rozelle. "It is hard to grasp; hard to get your head around... but it is so tied up with energy use," she said. The group attracted 72 people to a dinner last Saturday at which climate change was discussed and debated, and at which $3600 was raised towards the cost of installing solar power in local schools. (05/20/06) MORE»
Much Hotter than Predicted
In Missing feedbacks, asymmetric uncertainties, and the underestimation of future warming, which appears in the May, 2006 issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters (GRL). In the
paper, Torn and Harte make the case that the current climate change models, which are predicting a global temperature increase of as much as 5.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, may be off by nearly 2.0 degrees Celsius because they only take into consideration the increased greenhouse gas concentrations that result from anthropogenic (human) activities. "If the past is any guide, then when our anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions cause global warming, it will alter earth system processes, resulting in additional atmospheric greenhouse gas loading and additional warming," said Torn. (05/22/06) MORE»
BMW: 188 miles per gallon and $10 grand
 For the last few years, BMW and University of Bath have been hard at work on the CLEVER—a compact fuel-efficient vehicle for city driving. BMW on Friday released the first images of the completed CLEVER. The aim of the project was to create a vehicle that was practical, safe, and environmentally-friendly. If it ever makes it to production, the vehicle is expected to cost around $10,000 and would have a top speed of 50 mph. (04/23/06) MORE»
Christian Aid: 182 million people in sub-Saharan Africa could die
Climate change is now threatening development goals for billions of the world's poorest people—with a clear danger that recent gains in reducing poverty will be thrown into reverse in coming decades. A staggering 182 million people in sub-Saharan Africa alone could die of disease directly attributable to climate change by the end of the century. (05/06/06) MORE»
Missing the flow: Reservoirs along the Rio Grande predicted at lowest levels since 2002
Across the Rockies, snow is melting fast or is already gone, according to the year-end snow report by the Natural Resources Conservation Service released Friday. The Santa Fe Snotel site was registering zero snowpack by May 4, according to Armijo. Flows into reservoirs along the Rio Grande are predicted to be at their lowest since 2002 with a range of 36% to only 5% of normal! "The bad thing is we're going to drain our reservoirs down by the end of irrigation season (in September)," Armijo said. (05/06/06) MORE»
Thirst for 'green' fuels propels U.S. soyoil
Soyoil, on the 158-year-old Chicago Board of Trade, is scaling new heights as investors bet on "green" fuels amid soaring crude oil prices. While corn and sugar are used to produce the alternative fuel ethanol, about 90 percent of U.S. biodiesel is derived from soyoil, a byproduct of crushing soybeans into animal feed. Soyoil futures at the Chicago Board of Trade, the world's largest grain exchange, hit a nine-month high of 26.12 cents a lb in late April. (05/09/06) MORE»
Food Citizenship: Eat Fewer Miles
While families rebudget their travel expenses because of the high price of gasoline, most are not questioning how the price of gas will affect their dinner plans. But decisions about the foods we eat might be a far more important consideration when trying to cut down on energy use. Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," writes that "20 percent of our fossil fuel consumption today goes to feeding ourselves. That's more than we spend driving in our cars." More energy is invested in the form of nonrenewable fossil fuels than is generated as food calories—10 fossil fuel calories are used to generate each food calorie we eat. (05/07/06) MORE»
Nuclear no cure for climate change, scientists warn
Australia could not develop a domestic nuclear power industry in time to stave off the effects of climate change and such a program would be prohibitively expensive, energy experts say. The cost of building the large number of nuclear power stations needed to even partly replace coal as a source of electricity would be so heavy no private investor would take on the risk without huge government subsidies, they said. (05/02/06) MORE»
Warming threatens famine, drought
The world will warm by 3C, even under the most optimistic emissions projections for 2050, according to the UN group that studies global warming. The increase, which would cause drought and famine for 400 million people and devastate wildlife, is predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its most confident assessment yet of how greenhouse gases are affecting global temperatures. (05/05/06) MORE»
"Roof of World" Melting
Glaciers in western China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau, known as the "roof of the world," are melting at a rate of 7 percent annually due to global warming, the country's official Xinhua News Agency said. The melting glaciers will eventually lead to drought, more desertification and an increase in the number of sandstorms, Xinhua quoted researcher Dong Guangrong at the Chinese Academy of Sciences as saying. (05/03/06) MORE»
Global warming weakens Pacific trade winds
The trade winds in the Pacific Ocean are weakening as a result of global warming, according to a new study that indicates changes to the region's biology are possible. Researchers conclude that a vast loop of circulating wind over the Pacific Ocean, known as the Walker circulation, has weakened by about 3.5 percent since the mid-1800s. The researchers predict another 10 percent decrease by the end of the 21st century. (05/03/06) MORE»
Gorbachev asks G8 to create solar energy fund
Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has called on the G8 nations to establish a $50 billion "global solar fund" to support installation of solar energy plants, particularly in developing countries. Gorbachev was speaking on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. He warned G8 leaders against relegating renewable energy to a secondary role behind oil, gas and nuclear power, and the funds could easily be raised by re-allocating the subsidies given to fossil fuels and nuclear energy. (05/04/06) MORE»
University of Calif. Creates Energy Efficiency Center
To tackle the problem of great ideas not finding the funding to get new energy-efficient products into the marketplace, UC Davis university will be home to a new Energy Efficiency Center that will focus on helping to bridge the gap between the laboratory and the marketplace. (04/12/06) MORE»
Sustainable plan for food industry
The UK food industry’s impact on resources such as energy and water is the focus of a new strategy published this week. The Food Industry Sustainability Strategy sets out a series of targets for the sector on issues including carbon emission reduction, water usage, waste and transportation, and looks to address the industry from “the farm gate to the consumer’s plate.” (04/28/06) MORE»
Caribbean Vacationers Must Urge Climate ACTION
If you love the Caribbean as a vacation destination, then urge your lawmakers to take action against global warming. Why? Because Caribbean tourism is directly and deeply threatened by the rise in global temperatures. (04/27/06) MORE» |
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