Topic: Climate


Apocalypse Fatigue: Losing<br /> the Public on Climate Change

Opinion

Apocalypse Fatigue: Losing
the Public on Climate Change

by ted nordhaus and michael shellenberger
Even as the climate science becomes more definitive, polls show that public concern in the United States about global warming has been declining. What will it take to rally Americans behind the need to take strong action on cutting carbon emissions?
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Amid Mounting Pessimism,<br /> A Voice of Hope for Copenhagen

Interview

Amid Mounting Pessimism,
A Voice of Hope for Copenhagen

With skepticism growing about the chances of reaching a climate agreement next month in Copenhagen, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says he is “cautiously optimistic” that a treaty can still be signed. But in an interview with Yale Environment 360, Pachauri says the global community may have to move ahead without any commitment from the United States.
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Coping With Climate Change:<br /> Which Societies Will Do Best?

Opinion

Coping With Climate Change:
Which Societies Will Do Best?

by gaia vince
As the world warms, how different societies fare in dealing with rising seas and changing weather patterns will have as much to do with political, social, and economic factors as with a changing climate.
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The Greenest Place in the U.S.<br /> May Not Be Where You Think

Opinion

The Greenest Place in the U.S.
May Not Be Where You Think

by david owen
Green rankings in the U.S. don’t tell the full story about the places where the human footprint is lightest. If you really want the best environmental model, you need to look at the nation’s biggest — and greenest — metropolis: New York City.
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Geoengineering the Planet:<br /> The Possibilities and the Pitfalls

Interview

Geoengineering the Planet:
The Possibilities and the Pitfalls

Interfering with the Earth’s climate system to counteract global warming is a controversial concept. But in an interview with Yale Environment 360, climate scientist Ken Caldeira talks about why he believes the world needs to better understand which geoengineering schemes might work and which are fantasy — or worse.
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Opinion

The Economic Case for
Slashing Carbon Emissions

by frank ackerman
Amid a growing call for reducing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 to 350 parts per million, a group of economists maintains that striving to meet that target is a smart investment — and the best insurance policy humanity could buy.
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The Spread of New Diseases<br /> and the Climate Connection

Report

The Spread of New Diseases
and the Climate Connection

by sonia shah
As humans increasingly encroach on forested lands and as temperatures rise, the transmission of disease from animals and insects to people is growing. Now a new field, known as “conservation medicine,” is exploring how ecosystem disturbance and changing interactions between wildlife and humans can lead to the spread of new pathogens.
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A Blueprint for Restoring<br /> the World’s Oceans

Interview

A Blueprint for Restoring
the World’s Oceans

In her long career as an oceanographer, Sylvia Earle has witnessed the damage that humanity has done to the Earth’s oceans. But in an interview with Yale Environment 360, she says there's still time to pull the seas back from the brink.
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A Timely Reminder of<br /> the Real Limits to Growth

Opinion

A Timely Reminder of
the Real Limits to Growth

by bill mckibben
It has been more than 30 years since a groundbreaking book predicted that if growth continued unchecked, the Earth’s ecological systems would be overwhelmed within a century. The latest study from an international team of scientists should serve as an eleventh-hour warning that cannot be ignored.
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What Makes Europe<br /> Greener than the U.S.?

Opinion

What Makes Europe
Greener than the U.S.?

by elisabeth rosenthal
The average American produces three times the amount of CO2 emissions as a person in France. A U.S. journalist now living in Europe explains how she learned to love her clothesline and sweating in summer.
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Provocative New Study Warns of Crossing Planetary Boundaries

Analysis

Provocative New Study Warns of Crossing Planetary Boundaries

by carl zimmer
The Earth has nine biophysical thresholds beyond which it cannot be pushed without disastrous consequences, the authors of a new paper in the journal Nature report. Ominously, these scientists say, we have already moved past three of these tipping points.
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New York City Girds Itself<br /> for Heat and Rising Seas

Report

New York City Girds Itself
for Heat and Rising Seas

by bruce stutz
By the end of the century, New York’s climate could resemble that of present-day Raleigh, North Carolina and its harbor could easily rise by two feet or more. Faced with this prospect, the city is among the first urban centers to begin changing the way it builds its infrastructure — and the way it thinks about its future.
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A ‘Dow Jones’ for Climate:<br /> The Case for a Warming Index

Opinion

A ‘Dow Jones’ for Climate:
The Case for a Warming Index

by daniel r. abbasi
If a cap-and-trade bill passes Congress this year, it may include weak emissions targets and will likely need to be strengthened in the years to come. One way to guide future policy: create a Global Climate Change Index that could be used to track global warming’s impacts.
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The Great Paradox of China:<br /> Green Energy and Black Skies

Report

The Great Paradox of China:
Green Energy and Black Skies

by christina larson
China is on its way to becoming the world’s largest producer of renewable energy, yet it remains one of the most polluted countries on earth. A year after the Beijing Olympics, economic and political forces are combining to make China simultaneously a leader in alternative energy – and in dirty water and air.
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Obama’s Science Adviser<br /> Urges Leadership on Climate

Interview

Obama’s Science Adviser
Urges Leadership on Climate

by elizabeth kolbert
John Holdren, the president’s top science adviser, is playing a key role in shaping the Obama administration’s strategy to combat global warming. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Holdren discusses the prospects for achieving key breakthroughs on climate change, both in Congress and at upcoming talks in Copenhagen.
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First Comes Global Warming,<br /> Then an Evolutionary Explosion

Report

First Comes Global Warming,
Then an Evolutionary Explosion

by carl zimmer
In a matter of years or decades, researchers believe, animals and plants already are adapting to life in a warmer world. Some species will be unable to change quickly enough and will go extinct, but others will evolve, as natural selection enables them to carry on in an altered environment.
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The Folly of ‘Magical Solutions’<br /> for Targeting Carbon Emissions

Opinion

The Folly of ‘Magical Solutions’
for Targeting Carbon Emissions

by roger a. pielke, jr.
Setting unattainable emissions targets is not a policy — it’s an act of wishful thinking, argues one political scientist. Instead, governments and society should focus money and attention on workable solutions for improving energy efficiency and de-carbonizing our economies.
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Sen. Kerry on Climate Bill:<br /> ‘We’re Going to Get It Done’

Interview

Sen. Kerry on Climate Bill:
‘We’re Going to Get It Done’

by darren samuelsohn
In an interview with Yale Environment 360, John Kerry praises the carbon cap-and-trade legislation now being debated in the U.S. Senate, describes its importance to upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen, and explains how he plans to help the landmark legislation clear the Senate and become law.
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NOAA’s New Chief on Restoring<br /> Science to U.S. Climate Policy

Interview

NOAA’s New Chief on Restoring
Science to U.S. Climate Policy

by elizabeth kolbert
Marine biologist Jane Lubchenco now heads one of the U.S. government’s key agencies researching climate change — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Lubchenco discusses the central role her agency is playing in understanding the twin threats of global warming and ocean acidification.
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Climate Threat to Polar Bears:<br /> Despite Facts, Doubters Remain

Analysis

Climate Threat to Polar Bears:
Despite Facts, Doubters Remain

by ed struzik
Wildlife biologists and climate scientists overwhelmingly agree that the disappearance of Arctic sea ice will lead to a sharp drop in polar bear populations. But some skeptics remain unconvinced, and they have managed to persuade the Canadian government not to take key steps to protect the animals.
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Report Gives Sobering View<br /> of Warming’s Impact on U.S.

Analysis

Report Gives Sobering View
of Warming’s Impact on U.S.

by michael d. lemonick
A new U.S. government report paints a disturbing picture of the current and future effects of climate change and offers a glimpse of what the nation’s climate will be like by century’s end.
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The Waxman-Markey Bill:<br /> A Good Start or a Non-Starter?

Opinion

The Waxman-Markey Bill:
A Good Start or a Non-Starter?

As carbon cap-and-trade legislation works it way through Congress, the environmental community is intensely debating whether the Waxman-Markey bill is the best possible compromise or a fatally flawed initiative. Yale Environment 360 asked 11 prominent people in the environmental and energy fields for their views on this controversial legislation.
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The Challenge of Copenhagen:<br /> Bridging the U.S.-China Divide

Opinion

The Challenge of Copenhagen:
Bridging the U.S.-China Divide

by orville schell
The United States powered its rise to affluence with fossil fuels, and China resents being told it should not be free to do the same. So as negotiators prepare for crucial climate talks this December, the prospects for reaching agreement remain far from certain.
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Freeman Dyson Takes on <br/>the Climate Establishment

Interview

Freeman Dyson Takes on
the Climate Establishment

by michael d. lemonick
Princeton physicist Freeman Dyson has been roundly criticized for insisting global warming is not an urgent problem, with many climate scientists dismissing him as woefully ill-informed. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Dyson explains his iconoclastic views and why he believes they have stirred such controversy.audio
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Learning to Live With Climate Change Will Not Be Enough

Opinion

Learning to Live With Climate Change Will Not Be Enough

by david w. orr
A leading environmentalist explains why drastically reducing carbon dioxide emissions now will be easier, cheaper, and more ethical than dealing with runaway climate destabilization later.
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Report

Beyond Abstraction: Moving
the Public on Climate Action

by doug struck
Most Americans believe climate change is a serious problem but are not committed to making the hard choices needed to deal with it. Recent research begins to explain some of the reasons why.
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Adaptation Emerges as Key Part of Any Climate Change Plan

Report

Adaptation Emerges as Key Part of Any Climate Change Plan

by bruce stutz
After years of reluctance, scientists and governments are now looking to adaptation measures as critical for confronting the consequences of climate change. And increasingly, plans are being developed to deal with rising seas, water shortages, spreading diseases, and other realities of a warming world.
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Analysis

Regional Climate Pact’s Lesson:
Avoid Big Giveaways to Industry

by keith schneider
As Congress struggles over a bill to limit carbon emissions, a cap-and-trade program is already operating in 10 Northeastern states. But the regional project's mixed success offers a cautionary warning to U.S. lawmakers on how to proceed.
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Previous Eras of Warming<br /> Hold Warnings for Our Age

Interview

Previous Eras of Warming
Hold Warnings for Our Age

by carl zimmer
By 2100, the world will probably be hotter than it’s been in 3 million years. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, paleoecologist Anthony D. Barnosky describes the unprecedented challenges that many species will face in this era of intensified warming.audio
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The Razing of Appalachia:<br /> Mountaintop Removal Revisited

Report

The Razing of Appalachia:
Mountaintop Removal Revisited

by john mcquaid
Over the past two decades, mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia has obliterated or severely damaged more than a million acres of forest and buried more than 1,000 miles of streams. Now, the Obama administration is showing signs it plans to crack down on this destructive practice.
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Hailed as a Miracle Biofuel, Jatropha Falls Short of Hype

Report

Hailed as a Miracle Biofuel, Jatropha Falls Short of Hype

by jon r. luoma
The scrubby jatropha tree has been touted as a wonder biofuel with unlimited potential. But questions are now emerging as to whether widespread jatropha cultivation is really feasible or whether it will simply displace badly-needed food crops in the developing world.
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To Make Clean Energy Cheaper,<br /> U.S. Needs Bold Research Push

Opinion

To Make Clean Energy Cheaper,
U.S. Needs Bold Research Push

by mark muro and teryn norris
For spurring the transformation to a low-carbon economy, the federal and state governments, universities, and the private sector must join together to create a network of energy research institutes that could speed development of everything from advanced batteries to biofuels.
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A Potential Breakthrough<br /> in Harnessing the Sun’s Energy

Report

A Potential Breakthrough
in Harnessing the Sun’s Energy

by david biello
New solar thermal technology overcomes a major challenge facing solar power – how to store the sun’s heat for use at night or on a rainy day. As researchers tout its promise, solar thermal plants are under construction or planned from Spain to Australia to the American Southwest.
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As Climate Warms, Species <br />May Need to Migrate or Perish

Report

As Climate Warms, Species
May Need to Migrate or Perish

by carl zimmer
With global warming pushing some animals and plants to the brink of extinction, conservation biologists are now saying that the only way to save some species may be to move them.
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Analysis

Using Peer Pressure as a Tool
to Promote Greener Choices

by richard conniff
Environmentalists, utilities, and green businesses are turning to behavioral economics to find innovative ways of influencing people to do the right thing when it comes to the environment. Is this approach really good for the planet or just a fad?
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Retreat of Andean Glaciers<br /> Foretells Global Water Woes

Report

Retreat of Andean Glaciers
Foretells Global Water Woes

by carolyn kormann
Bolivia accounts for a tiny fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions. But it will soon be paying a disproportionately high price for a major consequence of global warming: the rapid loss of glaciers and a subsequent decline in vital water supplies.
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Report

Warming Takes Center Stage
as Australian Drought Worsens

by keith schneider
With record-setting heat waves, bush fires and drought, Australians are increasingly convinced they are facing the early impacts of global warming. Their growing concern about climate change has led to a consensus that the nation must now act boldly to stave off the crisis.
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Satellites and Google Earth<br /> Prove Potent Conservation Tool

Report

Satellites and Google Earth
Prove Potent Conservation Tool

by rhett butler
Armed with vivid images from space and remote sensing data, scientists, environmentalists, and armchair conservationists are now tracking threats to the planet and making the information available to anyone with an Internet connection.
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Analysis

With Temperatures Rising,
Here Comes ‘Global Weirding’

by john waldman
They’re calling it “global weirding” – the way in which rising temperatures are causing species to change their ranges, the timing of their migrations, and the way they interact with other living things. And the implications of all this are only beginning to be understood.
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An Army of Lobbyists Readies <br /> for Battle on the Climate Bill

Report

An Army of Lobbyists Readies
for Battle on the Climate Bill

by marianne lavelle
With carbon cap-and-trade legislation now on Washington’s agenda, companies and interest groups have been hiring lobbyists at a feverish pace. For every member of Congress, there are now four climate lobbyists, many of them hoping to derail or water down the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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A Reporter’s Field Notes on <br />the Coverage of Climate Change

Interview

A Reporter’s Field Notes on
the Coverage of Climate Change

For nearly a decade, The New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert has been reporting on climate change.  In an interview with Yale Environment 360, she talked about the responsibility of both the media and scientists to better inform the public about the realities of a warming world.
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Finding New Species:<br /> The Golden Age of Discovery

Report

Finding New Species:
The Golden Age of Discovery

by bruce stutz
Aided by new access to remote regions, researchers have been discovering new species at a record pace — 16,969 in 2006 alone. The challenge now is to preserve threatened ecosystems before these species, and others yet unknown, are lost.
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Pursuing the Elusive Goal<br />  of a Carbon-Neutral Building

Analysis

Pursuing the Elusive Goal
of a Carbon-Neutral Building

by richard conniff
Yale University’s recently opened Kroon Hall is a state-of-the-art model of where the green building movement is headed. Yet even this showcase for renewable energy highlights the difficulties of creating a building that is 100 percent carbon neutral.
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Tracking the Fallout<br /> of the Arctic’s Vanishing Sea Ice

Interview

Tracking the Fallout
of the Arctic’s Vanishing Sea Ice

Julienne Stroeve, a research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, has been closely monitoring the rapid loss of sea ice in the Arctic. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, she explains how the repercussions of that disappearance will be felt throughout the far north and, eventually, the entire hemisphere.audio
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Why I’ll Get Arrested<br /> to Stop the Burning of Coal

Opinion

Why I’ll Get Arrested
to Stop the Burning of Coal

by bill mckibben
On March 2, environmentalist Bill McKibben joined demonstrators who marched on a coal-fired power plant in Washington D.C. In this article for Yale Environment 360, he explains why he was ready to go to jail to protest the continued burning of coal.
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Clinton’s China Visit Opens<br />  Door on Climate Change

Opinion

Clinton’s China Visit Opens
Door on Climate Change

by orville schell
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s trip to China could be the first step in forging a partnership between the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases. A leading China expert sets forth a blueprint for how the U.S. and China can slow global warming – and strengthen their crucial relationship.
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As Effects of Warming Grow, U.N. Report is Quickly Dated

Analysis

As Effects of Warming Grow, U.N. Report is Quickly Dated

by michael d. lemonick
Issued less than two years ago, the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was a voluminous and impressive document. Yet key portions of the report are already out of date, as evidence shows the impacts of warming intensifying from the Arctic to Antarctica.
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Keeping a Watchful Eye<br /> on Unstable Antarctic Ice

Interview

Keeping a Watchful Eye
on Unstable Antarctic Ice

NASA’s Robert Bindschadler, a leading expert on glaciers and ice sheets, is part of an international team monitoring a large and fast-moving glacier in West Antarctica. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he explains the dramatic impact this unstable mass of ice could have on global sea levels.
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What Obama Must Do<br /> on the Road to Copenhagen

Opinion

What Obama Must Do
on the Road to Copenhagen

by michael northrop and david sassoon
If crucial climate negotiations later this year in Copenhagen are to have any chance of success, the U.S. must take the lead. To do that, President Obama needs to act boldly in the coming months.
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The Climate Freeloaders: Emerging Nations Need to Act

Opinion

The Climate Freeloaders: Emerging Nations Need to Act

by fred pearce
Key developing countries have long been exempt from efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now, as global climate talks move forward, that policy must change.
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Opinion

A Call for Tougher Standards
on Mercury Levels in Fish

by jane hightower
In response to industry pressure, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has failed to set adequate restrictions on mercury levels in fish. Now the Obama administration must move forcefully to tighten those standards and warn the public which fish are less safe to eat.
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Opinion

Moving the U.S. Off Carbon
With Less Pain, More Gain

by carl pope
Many environmentalists assume that putting a price on carbon and creating a renewable energy economy will require major public sacrifice. But the Sierra Club’s Carl Pope argues that a well-designed package of market reforms — not austerity — will lead to a prosperous, low-carbon future.
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The Cost of the Biofuel Boom: Destroying Indonesia’s Forests

Report

The Cost of the Biofuel Boom: Destroying Indonesia’s Forests

by tom knudson
The clearing of Indonesia’s rain forest for palm oil plantations is having profound effects – threatening endangered species, upending the lives of indigenous people, and releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
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Report

U.S. Automakers Worry that Greener Cars May Not Sell

by jim motavalli
Even as they debut the next generation of hybrids and battery-powered cars, auto company executives are not confident that the American public will buy them.
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Opinion

As Europe Fiddles, U.S. May
Take Lead on Climate Change

by fred pearce
Europe’s backpedaling last month on toughening its carbon trading system may have signaled the end of its leadership on climate change. Now, with a new administration and Congress, America appears ready to commit itself to tackling global warming.
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Report

On Chinese Water Project,
a Struggle Over Sound Science

by christina larson
Geologist Yong Yang has serious concerns about plans for a massive Yangtze River diversion project. When he went public with them, he found out how difficult it can be to challenge a government decision in China. The third in a series on Chinese environmentalists.
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Is it Time to Consider<br /> Manipulating the Planet?

Interview

Is it Time to Consider
Manipulating the Planet?

by jeff goodell
Although he finds the possibility unsettling, Canadian climate scientist David Keith believes large-scale geoengineering will eventually be deployed to offset global warming. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Keith explains why scientists must begin researching an “emergency response strategy” for cooling an overheated planet.audio
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The High-Tech Search for <br />a Cleaner Biofuel Alternative

Analysis

The High-Tech Search for
a Cleaner Biofuel Alternative

by carl zimmer
A number of companies, including one headed by biologist and entrepreneur Craig Venter, are developing genetically engineered biofuels that they say will provide a greener alternative to oil. But some environmentalists are far from convinced.
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Exploring the Economics of Global Climate Change

Interview

Exploring the Economics of Global Climate Change

Gary Yohe is spending a lot of time these days studying the economic issues surrounding climate change. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, the Wesleyan University economist talked about why the world needs to start taking steps to adapt to climate change and why strong action must be taken despite uncertainty about the extent of the warming and its ultimate effects.audio
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Opinion

A Green Agenda for the
President’s First 100 Days

Environmentalists – from Bill McKibben and Paul Hawken, to Fred Krupp and Frances Beinecke – offer President Obama their advice on the priorities he should set for the first 100 days of his administration.
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Opinion

A Green Scorecard for
Stimulating the Economy

by richard conniff
In evaluating an economic recovery package, the new U.S. administration and Congress must weigh any proposed spending – on highways or mass transit or wind-power transmission routes – on the basis of clear criteria that would assess just how green the projects will be.
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Regulators Are Pushing<br /> Bluefin Tuna to the Brink

Opinion

Regulators Are Pushing
Bluefin Tuna to the Brink

by carl safina
The international commission charged with protecting the giant bluefin tuna is once again failing to do its job. Its recent decision to ignore scientists’ recommendations for reducing catch limits may spell doom for this magnificent – and endangered – fish.
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Capturing the Ocean’s Energy

Report

Capturing the Ocean’s Energy

by jon r. luoma
Despite daunting challenges, technology to harness the power of the waves and tides is now being deployed around the world – from Portugal to South Korea to New York’s East River. These projects, just beginning to produce electricity, are on the cutting edge of renewable energy’s latest frontier: hydrodynamic power.
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Analysis

Obama is Ready to Move
on a Clean-Energy Economy

by keith schneider
For four decades, American politicians have talked about ending U.S. dependence on foreign oil. But during the campaign and since his election victory, Barack Obama has made it clear that he finally intends to change the way America powers itself.
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Offshore Drilling in Alaska:<br /> Time to Slow the Rush

Opinion

Offshore Drilling in Alaska:
Time to Slow the Rush

by margaret williams
In the last eight years, vast areas of offshore Alaska have been opened to oil drilling. Now, a conservationist argues, the Obama administration must reverse the Bush-era policies if the state is to avoid irreparable harm to Arctic wildlife and to some of the most biologically productive waters on earth.
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Analysis

The Greenhouse Gas That Nobody Knew

by richard conniff
When industry began using NF3 in high-tech manufacturing, it was hailed as a way to fight global warming. But new research shows that this gas has 17,000 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide and is rapidly increasing in the atmosphere – and that's turning an environmental success story into a public relations disaster.
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Under a Sooty Exterior,<br /> a Green China Emerges

Analysis

Under a Sooty Exterior,
a Green China Emerges

by fred pearce
You’ve heard the environmental horror stories: rivers running black, air unfit to breathe, two new coal-fired power plants a week. But thanks to a surging entrepreneurial spirit and new policies, China is fast becoming a leader in green innovation, from recycling to developing electric cars to harnessing the wind.
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Opinion

President Obama’s Big Climate Challenge

by bill mckibben
As he assumes the presidency, Barack Obama must make climate-change legislation and investment in green energy top priorities. And he must be ready to take bold — and politically unpopular — action to address global warming.
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Melting Arctic Ocean Raises Threat of ‘Methane Time Bomb’

Report

Melting Arctic Ocean Raises Threat of ‘Methane Time Bomb’

by susan q. stranahan
Scientists have long believed that thawing permafrost in Arctic soils could release huge amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Now they are watching with increasing concern as methane begins to bubble up from the bottom of the fast-melting Arctic Ocean.
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Opinion

The Clean Air Act:
Jump-Starting Climate Action

by michael northrop and david sassoon
The next U.S. president should not wait for Congress to act on climate-change legislation. Instead, he should make use of the Clean Air Act to begin controlling greenhouse gas emissions and to implement a national cap-and-trade program.
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Despite Global Recession, Focus on Climate Change Critical

Interview

Despite Global Recession, Focus on Climate Change Critical

Stavros Dimas, environmental commissioner for the European Union, says the global economic crisis is no reason to lose focus on efforts to fight climate change. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he talked about the lessons of the EU's emissions trading system, and why the U.S. should not give away permits in a cap-and-trade system — it should get something for them.audio
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Report

Deep Geothermal: The Untapped Renewable Energy Source

by david biello
Until now, geothermal technology has only been used on a small scale to produce power. But with major new projects now underway, deep geothermal systems may soon begin making a significant contribution to the world’s energy needs.
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Environmental Failure: <br/> A Case for a New Green Politics

Opinion

Environmental Failure:
A Case for a New Green Politics

by james gustave speth
The U.S. environmental movement is failing – by any measure, the state of the earth has never been more dire. What’s needed, a leading environmentalist writes, is a new, inclusive green politics that challenges basic assumptions about consumerism and unlimited growth.
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What’s Killing<br/> the Tasmanian Devil?

Report

What’s Killing
the Tasmanian Devil?

by david quammen
Scientists have been trying to identify the cause of a cancer epidemic that is wiping out Australia’s Tasmanian devils. Now new research points to an alarming conclusion: because of the species’ low genetic diversity, the cancer is contagious and is spreading from one devil to another.
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Green Strategies Spur <br />Rebirth of American Cities

Analysis

Green Strategies Spur
Rebirth of American Cities

by keith schneider
U.S. cities have been using green planning to spark economic development, helping create a real urban renaissance in America. With a new administration soon to arrive in Washington, these same approaches may finally start being used on a national scale.
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Thomas Friedman: Hope in a Hot, Flat and Crowded World

Interview

Thomas Friedman: Hope in a Hot, Flat and Crowded World

by elizabeth kolbert
In an exclusive interview with Yale Environment 360, best-selling author Thomas Friedman talks with Elizabeth Kolbert about his new book and about why he’s optimistic that an energy-technology revolution can revitalize the United States and set the world on a new, greener path. audio
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Report

Financial Crisis Dims Chances
for U.S. Climate Legislation

by margaret kriz
Environmentalists had been looking to a new president and a new Congress to pass legislation dealing with global warming next year. But with tough economic times looming, the passage of a sweeping climate change bill now appears far less likely.
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A Corporate Approach to <br />Rescuing the World’s Fisheries

Report

A Corporate Approach to
Rescuing the World’s Fisheries

by nicholas day
The commitment by Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, and other major companies to buy only sustainably-caught seafood is an encouraging sign in an otherwise bleak global fisheries picture. After decades of government inaction and ineffective consumer campaigns, corporate pressure may finally be starting to turn the tide on reckless overfishing.
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Analysis

Carbon Offsets:
The Indispensable Indulgence

by richard conniff
Despite the potential for abuse, the concept of paying others to compensate for our environmental sins can be a valuable tool in helping reduce carbon emissions. But the world can’t simply buy its way out of global warming.
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Revenge of the Electric Car

Report

Revenge of the Electric Car

by jeff goodell
After years of false starts and failures, the electric car may finally be poised to go big-time. With automakers from GM to Chrysler to Nissan preparing to roll out new plug-in hybrids or all-electric models, it looks like the transition from gasoline to electricity is now irreversible.
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Saving the Seeds of the<br /> Next Green Revolution

Analysis

Saving the Seeds of the
Next Green Revolution

by fred pearce
With food prices skyrocketing and climate change looming, the world needs a green revolution like the one a generation ago. But many valuable seed varieties have been lost – and scientists now are scrambling to protect those that remain before they vanish down the genetic drain.
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The Corn Ethanol Juggernaut

Opinion

The Corn Ethanol Juggernaut

by robert bryce
Oil isn't America's only fuel addiction. Inefficient and environmentally damaging, the corn-ethanol boondoggle will nonetheless be hard to stop.
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Solar and Wind Power <br />Held Hostage – Again

Opinion

Solar and Wind Power
Held Hostage – Again

by denis hayes
Congress has repeatedly failed to extend the tax credits for renewable energy, which expire at the end of this year. The gridlock is discouraging investment in renewables and jeopardizing major solar and wind projects throughout the country.
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The U.S. and China: <br />Common Ground on Climate

Opinion

The U.S. and China:
Common Ground on Climate

by orville schell
The crackdown on dissent surrounding the Beijing Olympics has been a reminder of China’s lingering authoritarianism. Yet for all our differences, the U.S. and China — the world’s two largest emitters of carbon dioxide — have no choice but to work together to tackle climate change.
READ MORE

Opinion

Has the Population Bomb Been Defused?

by fred pearce
Paul Ehrlich still believes that overpopulation imperils the Earth’s future. But the good news is we are approaching a demographic turning point: Birth rates have been falling dramatically, and population is expected to peak later this century — after that, for the first time in modern history, the world's population should actually start to decline.
READ MORE

Too Many People, <br />Too Much Consumption

Opinion

Too Many People,
Too Much Consumption

by paul r. ehrlich and anne h. ehrlich
Four decades after his controversial book, The Population Bomb, scientist Paul Ehrlich still believes that overpopulation — now along with overconsumption — is the central environmental crisis facing the world. And, he insists, technological fixes will not save the day.
READ MORE

Report

Solar’s Time Has Finally Arrived

by jon r. luoma
After years of optimistic predictions and false starts, it looks like solar's moment is here at last. Analysts say a pattern of rapid growth, technological breakthroughs, and falling production costs has put solar power on the brink of becoming the world's dominant electricity source.
READ MORE

The Arctic Resource Rush is On

Report

The Arctic Resource Rush is On

by ed struzik
As the Arctic's sea ice melts, energy and mining companies are moving into previously inaccessible regions to tap the abundant riches that lie beneath the permafrost and the ocean floor. The potential environmental impacts are troubling.
READ MORE

Analysis

After Bush, Restoring Science
to Environmental Policy

by chris mooney
The Bush administration has been widely criticized for placing politics over science when it comes to environmental policy-making. The next president must act to reverse that trend.
READ MORE

Analysis

Nanotech: The Unknown Risks

by carole bass
Nanotechnology, now used in everything from computers to toothpaste, is booming. But concern is growing that its development is outpacing our understanding of how to use it safely.
READ MORE

As Energy Prices Rise, <br />the Pressure to Drill Builds

Opinion

As Energy Prices Rise,
the Pressure to Drill Builds

by eugene linden
President Bush is urging Congress to open the U.S. coasts and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. But America must ultimately wean itself off fossil fuels. The question is whether it makes the transition now — or waits until every last one of its unspoiled places has been drilled.
READ MORE

The Limits of Climate Modeling

Report

The Limits of Climate Modeling

by fred pearce
As the public seeks answers about the future impacts of climate change, some climatologists are growing increasingly uneasy about the localized predictions they are being asked to make.
READ MORE

Biodiversity in the Balance

Analysis

Biodiversity in the Balance

by carl zimmer
Paleontologists and geologists are looking to the ancient past for clues about whether global warming will result in mass extinctions. What they're finding is not encouraging.
READ MORE

Opinion

Climate Solutions:
Charting a Bold Course

by denis hayes
A cap-and-trade system is not the answer, according to a leading alternative-energy advocate. To really tackle climate change, the United States must revolutionize its entire energy strategy.
READ MORE

The Tipping Point

Opinion

The Tipping Point

by bill mckibben
New evidence suggests that we have already passed a dangerous threshold for the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – and that the time for taking strong action is slipping away.
READ MORE

Analysis

Water Scarcity: The Real Food Crisis

by fred pearce
In the discussion of the global food emergency, one underlying factor is barely mentioned: The world is running out of water. A British science writer, who authored a major book on water resources, here explores the nexus between water overconsumption and current food shortages.
READ MORE

China’s Emerging <br />Environmental Movement

Report

China’s Emerging
Environmental Movement

by christina larson
Quietly and somewhat surprisingly, green groups are cropping up throughout China and are starting to have an impact. In the first in a series on Chinese environmentalists, journalist Christina Larson visits with Zhao Zhong, who is leading the fight to save the Yellow River.
READ MORE

Report

What the Next President Must Do

by elizabeth kolbert
After years of U.S. inaction, a new president will have to move quickly to address global warming. In an e360 report, New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert surveys the views of various nonpartisan groups and provides a blueprint for what needs to be done.
READ MORE

The Myth of Clean Coal

Opinion

The Myth of Clean Coal

by richard conniff
The coal industry and its allies are spending more than $60 million to promote the notion that coal is clean. But so far, “clean coal” is little more than an advertising slogan.
READ MORE

Analysis

Carbon’s Burden on the World’s Oceans

by carl safina and marah j. hardt
The burgeoning amount of carbon dioxide in oceans is affecting a lot more than coral reefs. It is also damaging marine life and, most ominously, threatening the future survival of marine populations.
READ MORE

Opinion

States Take the Lead on Climate

by michael northrop and david sassoon
With the Bush Administration and Congress failing to act, many states are devising sweeping climate and energy policies that could be a blueprint for a future national climate policy.
READ MORE

Opinion

The Ethics of Climate Change

by richard c. j. somerville
When it comes to setting climate change policy, science can only tell us so much. Ultimately, a lead report author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change writes, it comes down to making judgments about what is fair, equitable, and just.
READ MORE

Russia’s Lake Baikal: Preserving a Natural Treasure

Report

Russia’s Lake Baikal: Preserving a Natural Treasure

by peter thomson
The world's greatest lake, holding 20 percent of the planet's surface fresh water, has long remained one of the most pristine places on earth. Now, as Russia's economy booms and its climate warms, the Siberian lake faces new threats.
READ MORE

A Conversation with Nobel Prize Winner Rajendra Pachauri

Interview

A Conversation with Nobel Prize Winner Rajendra Pachauri

In an interview with Yale Environment 360, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the next U.S. administration must play a leading role in global climate change policy and cautions that China and the developing world must not follow the same path of industrialization as the United States and western Europe. audio
READ MORE

On Climate Legislation, It Looks Like “Wait Until Next Year”

Washington Watch

On Climate Legislation, It Looks Like “Wait Until Next Year”

by darren samuelsohn
As debate begins on Capitol Hill, the prospects for passing a climate change bill this year are dimming. Increasingly, it appears as though any new law will await a new Congress and a new president.
READ MORE

e360 digest

RELATED e360 DIGEST ITEMS


20 Nov 2009: Emergency Rainforest Fund
Created by Prince Charles and 35 Nations

Britain’s Prince Charles has struck an agreement with 35 nations to contribute $22 billion to $36 billion to reduce the destruction of tropical forests by 25 percent by 2015. The Prince of Wales said the U.S. has agreed to contribute $275 million to the rainforest protection fund, which will pay countries such as Indonesia and Brazil to preserve forests rather than felling them for timber or agricultural use. Ed Miliband, the U.K.’s energy and climate change secretary, said a global mechanism for paying countries to protect tropical forests is on the agenda at next month’s Copenhagen climate summit and is “closer than it’s ever been” to being codified in an international treaty. Deforestation is responsible for nearly 20 percent of global carbon emissions, and various nations and conservation groups are working to develop programs known as REDD
Prince Charles
— Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation. Conservationists said that the Prince of Wales’ effort must ensure the funds are not squandered through local corruption or questionable forest protection schemes. The conservationists cited the example of Norway’s pledging $250 million to slow deforestation in Guyana. Since the Guyanese government claimed an artificially high rate of previous deforestation, it can receive payments while actually doing little or nothing to slow current forest loss.
PERMALINK

 

19 Nov 2009: Oceans’ Ability to Absorb CO2
May be Diminishing, New Study Says

A study of the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the world’s oceans from 1765 to the present shows that as humanity pumps more CO2 into the atmosphere, the capacity of the world’s oceans to continue absorbing carbon appears to be decreasing. Researchers from Columbia University and NASA estimate that since 2000, the proportion of fossil-fuel emissions absorbed by the oceans may have declined by as much as 10 percent. In effect, researchers say that industrial activity has been producing so much C02 since 1950 that the oceans are slowly becoming saturated with the gas. “The more carbon dioxide you put in, the more acidic the ocean becomes, reducing its ability to hold CO2,” said lead researcher Samar Khatiwala, an oceanographer at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. The study, published in the journal Nature, estimated that the oceans currently hold about 150 tons of industrial carbon — a third more than in the 1990s. The researchers used data on ocean chemistry, salinity, temperature, and other measures to calculate the amount of industrial carbon in the ocean for the past 245 years. The study showed that the land may now being absorbing more carbon than it is producing, perhaps because higher atmospheric CO2 levels are increasing the rate of photosynthesis.
PERMALINK

 

18 Nov 2009: Companies Increase Commitment
To Tackling Climate Issues, Report Says

Major corporations in the U.S. have shown an increased willingness to voluntarily reduce their impact on climate change despite a sluggish economy, according to a new scorecard produced by the nonprofit group Climate Counts. Eighty-one of the 90 major companies assessed saw an average increase of 22 percent from last year’s scorecard, with Nike topping the list with a score of 83 out of a possible 100 points. Scores are based on 22-criteria in four general areas: measurement of impact on global warming; reduction of impact; engagement in climate-related public policy; and transparency. In Climate Counts’ third corporate scorecard, several companies saw major improvements, including eBay, which completed a company-wide inventory of its effects on global warming; US Airways, which set goals to reduce climate impacts; and Apple, which resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of the chamber's opposition to climate legislation. Companies with leading climate ratings include Starbucks, General Electric, HP, IBM, Unilever foods, UPS, and L'Oreal. The scorecard was developed with oversight from an independent panel of business and climate experts from universities and non-governmental groups. See the full list.
PERMALINK

 

18 Nov 2009: Massive CO2 Increases
Documented in Comprehensive New Study

Emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels soared by 41 percent from 1990 to 2008 and have jumped 29 percent since 2000, according to one of the most comprehensive studies to date of global carbon emissions. The study’s lead author, Corinne Le Quere of the University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survey, said that unless these runaway emissions are soon brought under control, global temperatures would likely rise by 9 to 11 degrees F by 2100, an increase that most scientists say could lead to catastrophic changes, including rapid melting of polar ice sheets. Le Quere’s study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, said that humanity was pouring so much CO2 into the atmosphere that the ability of oceans, forests, and soils to absorb the gas was diminishing. These carbon sinks, which absorbed 60 percent of atmospheric CO2 in 1950, are now absorbing only 55 percent, the study said. The study reported that for the first time, more CO2 is being emitted by burning coal than burning oil, and that developing countries are now emitting more CO2 than developed countries. CO2 emissions increased at an average annual rate of 3.4 percent from 2000 to 2008 and, after a slight dip this year because of the global recession, are expected to rise rapidly again in 2010, the study said.
PERMALINK

 

16 Nov 2009: Dutch Cabinet Okays Tax
Based on Miles Driven by Motorists

In an effort to reduce automobile usage and greenhouse gas emissions, the Dutch cabinet has approved a driving tax that would charge motorists seven cents a mile. The plan, which must still be approved by parliament, would use GPS systems installed in each car to keep track of mileage and automatically bill drivers. The mileage charges would be higher at rush hour, for large cars, and for commercial vehicles. Dutch officials said the driving tax, which would replace existing road taxes and duties on new car purchases, is designed to cut traffic by 15 percent and reduce emissions from transport by 10 percent. Other European nations are considering similar driving taxes, and a driving tax experiment was recently tried in Oregon in the United States. The chances of a tax comparable to the Dutch tax being levied in the U.S. are slim, however, as that would more than triple the $260 a year that the average U.S. driver now pays in state and federal gasoline taxes.
PERMALINK

 

16 Nov 2009: With Copenhagen Pact Stalled,
Leaders Look for Climate Treaty in 2010

With the announcement by President Obama and other world leaders this weekend that no binding climate agreement will be reached in Copenhagen next month, numerous officials expressed hopes that a treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions could be signed by mid- to late-2010. Meeting in Singapore, Obama and other leaders agreed that lack of accord on setting precise emissions reductions targets would prevent the signing of a binding climate treaty in Copenhagen. But in a process that Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen labeled as “one agreement, two steps,” climate negotiators are hopeful that the 192 nations meeting in Copenhagen will sign a non-binding political agreement calling for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and for aid to developing nations to help
Lars Lokke Rasmussen
them adapt to a warming world. Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, said he hoped a final agreement could then be reached by mid-2010 at a meeting in Bonn. The host of the Copenhagen meeting, Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard, said officials should set a clear deadline for signing a climate treaty, possibly in time for a December 2010 meeting scheduled for Mexico City. Some environmentalists criticized Obama for the treaty delay, but others said he could not commit to firm greenhouse gas reductions until Congress acts on a pending climate change bill.
PERMALINK

 

13 Nov 2009: U.S. May Endorse Scaled-Back
Agreement at Copenhagen, Report Says

The Obama administration, faced with the failure of Congress to pass climate legislation before global talks in Copenhagen next month, may endorse a more limited interim agreement and defer stronger U.S. commitments until next year, according to the Washington Post. While the scaled-back agreement would fall short of what European leaders wanted from the U.S., administration and congressional leaders say it will at least prevent the global talks from being seen as a failure. “An interim, operational deal is not meant to be seen as a substitute for a real agreement,” Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy on climate change, told the Post. “It’s meant to be seen as substantive building blocks to a full, legal agreement, and perhaps the best chance of getting such an agreement.” The interim pact, outlined last month by Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, would include “political commitments” from key nations on carbon emissions targets and agreements on how much money richer nations would be willing to spend to help developing nations adapt to the impacts of climate change.
PERMALINK

 

11 Nov 2009: China's Yangtze Basin
Will See Weather Extremes, Report Says

Extreme weather events caused by a warming climate pose a growing threat to China’s Yangtze River basin, which encompasses Shanghai and some of the most productive agricultural land in the nation, according to a new study. The basin, which cuts through the center of China, has already seen a spike in floods, heat waves, and drought over the last two decades, according to the study conducted by the conservation group WWF. And over the next 50 years, the report predicts, temperatures will increase an average of 1.5 to 2 degrees C (2.7 to 4 degrees F). Of particular concern is the threat of rising waters as increasing glacier melt from the Himalayas flows into the basin, posing a greater threat of flooding to major cities and damage to corn, winter wheat, and rice crops. Sea level in Shanghai has risen by 4.6 inches in the last three decades, and will rise another 7 inches by 2050, according to the report. “If we take the right steps now, adaptation measures will pay for themselves,” said Xu Ming, lead author of the report.
PERMALINK

 

10 Nov 2009: Retreating Antarctic Ice Has
Created New Carbon Sink, Study Says

The melting of Antarctic ice has allowed large blooms of tiny marine phytoplankton to flourish, creating a significant new biological sink for carbon, according to a new study by the British Antarctic Survey. Over the last five decades, retreating glaciers around the Antarctic Peninsula have opened about 24,000 square kilometers of open water that has been colonized by the carbon-absorbing phytoplankton, according to the study being published in the journal Global Change Biology. After the phytoplankton dies, it eventually sinks to the ocean floor where it can store carbon for thousands or millions of years. The researchers estimate this new carbon sink will absorb about 3.5 million tons of carbon from the ocean and atmosphere annually. “Although this is a small amount of carbon compared to global emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, it is nevertheless an important discovery,” said the study's lead author, Lloyd Peck. The authors called the new bloom the second largest factor acting against climate change so far discovered on Earth (the largest being new forest growth in the Arctic).
PERMALINK

 

09 Nov 2009: Heat-Related Nitrogen Loss
Endangers Desert Plant Life, Study Finds

The loss of nitrogen from arid soils caused by a warming climate could make the world’s deserts even more inhospitable to plant life, according to a new study by researchers at Cornell University. Using highly sophisticated instrumentation that measures nitrogen in the parts per trillion — and using dark covers to remove sunlight as a factor in the measurements — researchers found that nitrogen loss in the arid soils of the Mojave Desert of the southwestern United States increased rapidly as temperatures reached 40 to 50 degrees C (100 to 120 degrees F). Noting that nitrogen is second only to water as a constraint on plant life in arid ecosystems, the researchers said a warming climate, as well as shifting precipitation patterns, could make soil arid ecosystems even more infertile. “We’re on a trajectory where plant life in arid ecosystems could cease to do well,” said Carmody McCalley, lead author of the study, which will be published in the journal Science. With deserts accounting for 35 to 40 percent of the planet’s surface, and future human developments likely to be targeted in arid and semi-arid regions, the researchers urged that climate models be altered to factor in these findings.
PERMALINK

 

05 Nov 2009: Atlantic Fish Stocks Are
Moving North as Ocean Warms, NOAA Finds

About half of 36 fish stocks in the northwest Atlantic Ocean have shifted north over the last four decades as ocean temperatures have warmed, according to a new U.S. study. Comparing data for dozens of fish stock from 1968 to 2007 — and using ocean temperature records from the same period — researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that many species in the waters from Cape Hatteras, N.C., to the Canadian border have shifted northward or migrated farther offshore. Some species have nearly disappeared from U.S. waters altogether. “They all seem to be adapting to changing temperatures and finding places where their chances of survival as a population are greater,” said Janet Nye, a NOAA researcher and lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series. Researchers selected fish stocks that were consistently caught in greater numbers in NOAA's annual fish surveys and were considered important commercially or ecologically, including Atlantic cod and haddock, and yellowtail and winter flounder.
PERMALINK

 

Interview: IPCC’s Pachauri Still
Sees Hope for Copenhagen Talks

Despite growing pessimism that a global climate treaty will be signed in Copenhagen next month, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, believes a flurry of
Rajendra Pachauri
Rajendra Pachauri
last-minute negotiations may lead to an agreement, although the U.S. may not initially be a part of it. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Pachauri expresses disappointment that the U.S. has not yet committed itself to firm greenhouse gas reduction targets. During the Bush administration there was a “complete absence of responsibility” in tackling global warming, Pachauri says, and while the Obama administration is moving swiftly to make up lost ground, climate legislation remains bogged down in Congress. As a result, Pachauri contends, the world community may move ahead with a treaty without the U.S., creating a “small window of opportunity for the U.S. to take a little more time and come back and make its own commitments.”
Read the interview with Pachauri here
PERMALINK

 

03 Nov 2009: U.S. Comes Under Pressure
in Final Session Before Copenhagen Summit

With just a month remaining before the Copenhagen climate summit, delegates from 192 countries are meeting in Barcelona to attempt to lay the groundwork for a climate treaty, with some influential figures saying the U.S. must be prepared to make firm greenhouse gas reduction commitments if Copenhagen is to be a success. Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister for climate and energy, who is hosting the Copenhagen meeting, said the U.S. had risen to global challenges throughout the 20th century, adding, “I believe they have to deliver on this challenge.” The Obama administration has declined to commit to a firm greenhouse gas reduction target, saying it cannot make a commitment until Congress — which is now considering major climate legislation — passes a bill. That stance does not sit well with many in the European Union, which has committed to reducing emissions 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and 85 to 95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Yvo de Boer, the UN’s chief climate negotiator, said an enormous amount of work remained to be done before Copenhagen. “Do any of you believe it will be easier next year or the year after?” he asked the delegates. Read a full e360 report.
PERMALINK

 

03 Nov 2009: Glacial Ice on Kilimanjaro
Melting at Increased Rate, Study Says

Glacial ice atop Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania continues to melt at an accelerated rate, shrinking 26 percent since 2000, and about 85 percent since 1912, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study’s lead author, Ohio State University glaciologist Lonnie G. Thompson, said melting of this level has not occurred on Kilimanjaro in 11,700 years. The study was based on aerial photographs and examination of long stakes of the ice core collected nine years ago.
Mount Kilimanjaro
When those samples were extracted in 2000, Thompson found high volumes of bubbles in the upper regions — evidence that the ice had been melted and refrozen in recent years. There was no such evidence from deeper levels of the ice core. Georg Kaser, of Austria’s Institute for Geography of the University of Innsbruck, said the ice samples were only a few hundred years old, so no such conclusion could be reached. In fact, he said, the recent melting is more likely the result of lower moisture levels than a warmer climate. But Thompson noted the Kilimanjaro melting seems to mirror trends elsewhere in the world, including rapid ice-field melting in South America, Indonesia and the Himalayas. “It’s when you put those together,” he said, “that the evidence becomes very compelling.”
PERMALINK

 

02 Nov 2009: Prospects Dim for Passage
Of Climate Bill in U.S. Senate, Report Says

Passage of climate change legislation in the U.S. Senate appears increasingly unlikely in the face of divisions among Democrats and stiff opposition by Republicans, the Washington Post reports. Top Democrats have been unable to enlist key Republican lawmakers to support the bill, which would create a cap-and-trade system and gradually cut the level of carbon emissions allowed. One of the key Republicans targeted to back the bill, Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, has instead led the opposition, organizing a boycott of the bill’s markup at a hearing of the Environment and Public Works Committee last week. In recent days, Democrats have offered to include amendments to make the bill more palatable to lawmakers on the fence by accelerating the approval of new nuclear power plants. But even that may not be enough. A spokesman for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, another lawmaker targeted by Democrats, said a “tepid nuclear title isn’t enough to get her to support a bad climate bill.” Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said a compromise remained possible since Americans are not divided on party lines when it comes to climate change. “Is there bipartisanship in the country? I think clearly there is,” Udall said.
PERMALINK

 

02 Nov 2009: New European Satellite
Will Monitor Fresh Water Globally

The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched a 315 million Euro ($465 Million) satellite that will monitor soil moisture, plant growth, and the salt content of sea water, all of which will be useful in tracking environmental changes as the planet warms. The satellite, called SMOS — Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity — has the capacity to measure the water content of soil across the planet every three days to a depth of seven feet, enabling it not only to gauge surface water sources but also to monitor photosynthesis and plant growth. The data also will be valuable to scientists interested in forecasting drought and flood risk. The SMOS satellite also will measure the salt content of ocean waters, crucial information in not only tracking an increase in freshwater in oceans from melting glaciers and ice sheets, but also valuable in understanding global ocean circulation patterns, which are partially driven by water temperature and salinity. The satellite will collect the data using a variety of technologies, including microwave radiation.
PERMALINK

 

30 Oct 2009: Canadian Actions Preserve
20 Percent of Its Vast Boreal Forest

With the addition of a new forest reserve in Manitoba, Canada has now set aside 250 million acres of its vast boreal forest as parks or preserves, prohibiting logging, mining or oil drilling in these areas. The protected areas, more than twice the size of California, represent roughly one-fifth of Canada’s 1.3
Boreal
Wikimedia
Boreal forest
billion acres of boreal forests, which scientists say contain 22 percent of the stored carbon on the Earth’s land surface. Gary Doer, the outgoing premier of Manitoba, announced a $10 million fund that will support efforts by indigenous leaders to designate 10.8 million acres of boreal forest in eastern Manitoba as a Unesco world heritage site. Environmental leaders say that protecting the boreal, or northern, forest is one of the best defenses against a warming climate. “There is so much carbon sequestered in it already that if it escaped it would pose a whole new, very grave threat,” said Steve Kallick, director of the Pew Environment Group’s International Boreal Conservation Campaign. The boreal forest, located primarily in Canada and Russia, consists of swamps, peatlands, and forests that are made up of five primary tree species — spruce, fir, pine, birch, and aspen.
PERMALINK

 

30 Oct 2009: Thick, Multi-Year Arctic Ice
Has Effectively Disappeared, Scientist Says

One of Canada’s top Arctic experts, recently returned from an expedition in the far north, has told the Canadian parliament that the Arctic’s thick, multi-year sea ice has largely vanished, removing the last barrier to ships navigating the polar region. David Barber, Canada’s Research Chair in Arctic System Science at the University of Manitoba, said his expedition aboard an icebreaker was looking for a huge pack of thick ice that has existed for tens of thousands of years in the Beaufort Sea. But that multi-year ice, often dozens of feet thick, has largely been replaced by one-year-old “rotten” ice less than 20 inches thick, which is not an impediment to navigation. “We are almost out of multi-year ice in the northern hemisphere,” Barber told Parliament. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my 30 years of working in the high Arctic... From a practical perspective, we almost have a seasonally ice-free Arctic now.” Barber’s icebreaker did find a 10-mile-wide floe of multi-year ice that was 20 to 26 feet thick, but he said the expedition watched as those floes began breaking apart after being hit large waves. In 2007, the extent of Arctic sea ice, most of it thin, was 40 percent below the long-term average.
PERMALINK

 

28 Oct 2009: Surplus of Carbon Credits
Threatens EU Emissions Trading Plan

The European Union’s emissions trading scheme — which puts a price on carbon dioxide emissions with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas pollution — is threatened by a vast number of emissions credits earned by major industries and power plants in Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe. Peter Zapfel, deputy director of the environment department at the European Commission, said that because of the Eastern European economic collapse of the 1990s and loopholes in the EU emissions trading scheme that began in 2005, Russian and Eastern European enterprises have racked up 10 billion emissions credits because they released fewer greenhouse gases than originally allocated under the Kyoto Protocol. As these enterprises begin selling these credits on the EU carbon market, the price of emissions allowances could plummet, thereby defeating the goal of slashing CO2 emissions by establishing a high price on carbon pollution. Zapfel called the surplus credits the “gorilla sitting in the background and nobody dares to touch it.” The price of EU carbon allowances has fallen from a peak of 30 Euros ($44) in 2006 to roughly 10 Euros ($15) this year. The EU’s emissions trading scheme, which covers more than 10,000 major carbon emitting power plants and factories, is designed to cut CO2 emissions by 21 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
PERMALINK

 

27 Oct 2009: Ocean Acidification’s Effects
Documented in New Study of Shellfish

Relatively small increases in ocean acidity significantly harm clams, bay scallops, and oysters, particularly in their crucial larval stage, according to a new study. Researchers at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, exposed shellfish to levels of acidity expected in Earth’s oceans later this century and next century, and found that modest increases in acidity led to a 50 percent decline in survival of clam and scallop larvae, reduced the size of the larvae, and caused the larvae to develop more
slowly. Oyster larvae also grew more slowly, but their survival was not affected until ocean acidity reached levels expected next century. The world’s oceans absorb about half of the 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide released annually by burning fossil fuels, and the increased carbon dioxide is rapidly making the oceans more acidic, inhibiting the ability of mollusks such as clams and scallops to make their calcium carbonate shells. The researchers said the detrimental impact of ocean acidity on shellfish larvae growth rates is particularly worrisome, as the larvae are free-swimming and exposed to predation. The group’s work is being published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography.
PERMALINK

 

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