Big Three Cars Emit more Gases than Largest Utility
Cars and light trucks made by each of the Big Three automakers—GM, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler—emit more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) than the nation's largest electric utility, American Electric Power (AEP), with its nearly 60 large coal-fired power plants and 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity, according to a new report by Environmental Defense, Global Warming on the Road. The report provides a first-ever detailed breakdown of global warming pollution from all the automobiles in use on America's roads. According to the report, total U.S. auto sector CO2 emissions for 2004—314 million metric tons of carbon— equaled the amount of carbon in a coal train 55,000 miles long, enough to circle the world twice. (06/28/06) MORE»
Population growth a significant factor in global warming
The United Nations projects that world population will rise by 40 percent to 9.1 billion by 2050. Even if we change our ways, the environmental footprint of each human being will never reach zero. Serious discussion of population stabilization was absent from international climate meetings in both Kyoto and Montreal and from almost every other public forum. But cutting energy consumption must be coupled with stabilizing population. If we had zero population growth, part of the global warming problem would, well, melt away. (06/16/06) MORE»
California's Global Warming Pollution Up 85 Percent
Environment California's report, titled "The Carbon Boom" and released at the Santa Monica Pier, analyzes government data to highlight trends in global warming. The report found that global warming pollution in California increased 85 percent between 1960 and 2001, and the state ranks third in the nation for the largest increase in carbon dioxide emissions over those four decades. (06/20/06) MORE»
Sierra Club, United Steelworkers Announce 'Blue-Green Alliance'
The United Steelworkers (USW), North America's largest private sector manufacturing union with 850,000 members, and the Sierra Club, the nation's largest grassroots environmental organization with 750,000 members, announced today the formation of a strategic alliance to pursue a joint public policy agenda under the banner of Good Jobs, A Clean Environment, and A Safer World. Leo Gerard, International President of USW, said "In fact, secure 21st century jobs are those that will help solve the problem of global warming with energy efficiency and renewable energy." (06/07/06) MORE»
Greenland's slip-sliding glaciers offer chilling evidence of warming
Should all of the ice sheet ever thaw, the meltwater could raise sea level 21 feet and swamp the world's coastal cities, home to a billion people. It would cause higher tides, generate more powerful storm surges and, by altering ocean currents, drastically disrupt the global climate. Climate experts have started to worry that the ice cap is disappearing in ways that computer models had not predicted. By 2005, Greenland was beginning to lose more ice volume than anyone had anticipated—an annual loss of up to 52 cubic miles a year. (06/25/06) MORE»
Asia Shows Solar Power Is Not just for the Rich
Solar power does not require steep subsidies to be able to push aside environment-polluting fossil fuels, says proponents of large sun-powered projects in Laos and Bangladesh. In large parts of emerging markets, solar power does not compete with mains electricity, because there is no grid. In Bangladesh, where more than two out of three households cannot get electricity out of a socket, some 80,000 homes now own a basic solar panel that generates about 50 watts of power. Only through microcredits backed by the World Bank are citizens able to afford this huge upfront investment. The loan repayment of US$9 per month is close to the cost of kerosene consumption. (06/27/06) MORE»
Northeast U.S. floods stir global warming debate
Paul Epstein, associate director of Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment, said the Atlantic is warming faster than scientists projected even a decade ago, and he expects such storms as the one seen this week from Virginia to New York to become common. Epstein sees a clear pattern: rain has increased in the United States by 7 percent in three decades; heavy rain events of more than 2 inches (5 cm) a day are up 14 percent and storms dumping more than 4 inches (10 cm) a day rose 20 percent. (06/29/06) MORE»
Western governors take aim at global warming
A bipartisan group of western governors on Sunday formally acknowledged that greenhouse gases are on the rise and said their states need to take action to reduce global warming while meeting growing energy demand. The Western Governors' Assn. unanimously passed a resolution calling on states and cities to reduce human-caused greenhouse gases, but it contained no specifics on what action should be taken. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said "Unless we set specific goals and targets with specific ways to measure our performance, a resolution won't mean very much... My friends, it's long past the time when it's OK to just talk about these problems." (06/12/06) MORE»
Global warming turns polar bears cannibalistic
Polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea—part of the Arctic Ocean—may be turning to cannibalism because longer seasons without ice keep them from getting to their natural food, a study by American and Canadian scientists has found. Polar bears feed primarily on ringed seals and use sea ice for feeding, mating and giving birth. The study reviewed three examples of polar bears preying on each other from January to April 2004 north of Alaska and western Canada, including the first-ever reported killing of a female in a den shortly after it gave birth... "During 24 years of research on polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea region of northern Alaska and 34 years in north-western Canada, we have not seen other incidents of polar bears stalking, killing and eating other polar bears," the scientists said. (06/14/06) MORE»
Night flights contribute to global warming
Night flights during the winter may worsen the global warming caused by aircraft, a study says. Planes produce clouds of condensed water vapor and other emissions, called "contrails," which can trap heat radiating from the Earth's surface, warming the atmosphere. This contrail effect is worst at night and in the winter, according to the study. The study was published in the journal Nature. It "provides important statements that could guide new policy on when and where flights might be scheduled to minimize contrail impacts." (06/15/06) MORE»
Quebec introduces carbon tax to pay for Kyoto plan
Quebec will become the first Canadian province to levy a tax on oil and gas companies for hydrocarbon products, as part of an ambitious plan to implement the Kyoto protocol, Premier Jean Charest announced Thursday. The province will tax oil and gas companies for non-renewable fossil fuels sold in bulk to retailers such as heavy oil, gas, natural gas and propane. The tax is expected to raise $200 million every year that the provincial government will spend on its 2006-2012 plan to fight global warming. (06/16/06) MORE»
Now you can have your ethical cake and eat it
The conventional wisdom says environmentally aware investing comes at a cost. It's a comfortable retirement or a clear conscience but not both. The good news is that there is now statistically robust evidence that you can have your ethical cake and eat it. Trucost, an environmental consultancy which has built up a database of the carbon emissions from more than 3,000 of the world's biggest companies, has just issued a report with some startling conclusions. One of these is that there is no correlation between the financial performance of investment funds and their impact on climate change. Green investing needn't mean bad investing. (06/20/06) MORE»
Radical turbine aims to take wind power to towns and cities
Wind turbines are tall white objects with three long blades and they sit on hilltops spinning around to generate electricity, right? Wrong. In the first radical redesign of the turbine for many years, a small engineering firm has linked up with aerospace designers to devise a wind generator uniquely for urban areas. The turbines, named Quiet Revolution, the first of which are being installed in the next few months in Bristol, Swindon and London, promise to change the face of renewable electricity. The designers say they may have overcome two drawbacks of traditional turbines. The turbine's triple helix form and vertical axis are said to make it almost silent, and it is believed to perform better in urban areas, where wind direction can vary by the minute. (06/02/06) MORE»
U.N. On Global Warming: Desert Cities Living On Borrowed Time
The 500 million people who live in the world's desert regions can expect to find life increasingly unbearable as already high temperatures soar and the available water is used up or turns salty, according to the United Nations. Desert cities in the U.S. and Middle East, such as Phoenix, Arizona, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, may be living on borrowed time as water tables drop and supplies become undrinkable, says a report coinciding with Monday's World Environment Day. The Dashti Kbir desert in Iran has seen a 16% drop in rainfall in the past 25 years, the Kalahari a 12% decline and Chile's Atacama desert an 8% drop. Most deserts, says the report, will see temperatures rise by 5-7°C. by the end of the century and rainfall drop 10-20%. (06/05/06) MORE»
New Orleans 'sinking even faster'
Parts of New Orleans had been sinking much faster than previously thought before Hurricane Katrina hit last August, new research suggests. the study says some low-lying areas are subsiding by more than one inch (2.54cm) a year—raising concerns about the city's future. The scientists name overdevelopment, drainage and natural seismic shifts as the main causes. "My concern is the very low-lying areas," said lead author Tim Dixon, geophysicist at the University of Miami. "I think those areas are death traps. I don't think those areas should be rebuilt," he said. (06/01/06) MORE»
Climate change could crush wheat yields
Soaring temperatures and declining rainfalls caused by climate change could wipe a billion dollars a year off Australia's wheat industry within 30 years, a study suggests. Professor Peter Grace, from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), said a study of five major wheat-growing areas predicted changes to weather patterns could cause a drop in production up to 24 per cent. As rainfall dropped because of climate change, precious water supplies could be diverted from farming to more "pressing needs" such as human consumption and sanitation, he said. "This will put pressure on domestic food production and our export markets," Prof Grace said. (06/07/06) MORE»
Santa Fe Warming Towards Global Responsibilty
The city of Santa Fe is moving toward making its buildings more environmentally friendly in hopes of doing its part to stave off global warming. During a news conference at City Hall on Wednesday, Mayor David Coss and members of environmental groups and the state government discussed the 2030 Challenge—an effort to eliminate fossil-fuel power from all city buildings by 2030. "My goal is to make Santa Fe a leader in renewable energy, sustainability and green design," the mayor said. Santa Fe is the first city in the country to adopt the plan. (06/08/06) MORE» |
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