Download NB Climate Change Hub | News Monitoring | April

News Monitoring | October 17 - 23, 2009
FRONT AND CENTRE
Here are ideas for a ‘Green Halloween’: www.greenhalloween.org
Videos:
PlanetArk.org | Max Duncan | October 20, 2009
China eyes algae in emissions fight
Max Duncan reports.
http://planetark.org/wen/55136
PlanetArk.org | Penny Tweedie | October 17, 2009
Maldives politicians submerge
Penny Tweedie reports.
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55118
PlanetArk.org | Tara Cleary | October 19, 2009
Shedding light on wind energy
SOUNDBITE: Patrick Marold, Artist
Tara Cleary, Reuters.
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55138
PlanetArk.org | October 21, 2009
Fishing industry looks to go green
Industry representatives gathered at a conference in Denmark to look at the latest in
environmentally friendly fishing technology.
Some companies are working on energy saving gear, others are making trawl nets more speciesspecific and others are working on making marine engines more fuel-efficient.
One of the themes of the conference was that investment in environment protection can pay.
Denmark is the world's fourth largest exporter of fish and the fishing industry in Denmark has
been at the forefront of this green movement.
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55156
October 17, 2009
Environmentalresearchweb | Sustainable Futures | October 16, 2009
How to act fast against dangerous climate change
A temperature increase of two degrees above pre-industrial levels has been proposed as a useful
target to prevent dangerous climate change. But curbs on carbon dioxide emissions will not
result in cooling for around 1000 years or so. With that in mind a team from the US, India and
Kenya has proposed four solutions that are not based on carbon dioxide, can be implemented fast
and will produce a climate response within decades. [more]
ArgusTimes.com | October 16, 2009
Shell CEO urges Senate action on climate change
WASHINGTON — Royal Dutch Shell Chairman Jorma Ollila on Thursday urged the U.S.
Senate to make clear progress on legislation capping greenhouse gas emissions before
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international climate change negotiations in December. [more]
AFP | Michel Viatteau | October 17, 2009
Canada to push 'balance' in Copenhagen
(AFP) OTTAWA — Canada aims to reestablish itself as an environmental defender at the UN
climate talks in Copenhagen by calling on all major emitters to cut carbon emissions, but distrust
lingers as its own emissions soar.
Canada signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol but has so far failed to meet its corresponding
obligations. The December 7-18 meeting in Copenhagen aims to hammer out a pact to replace
the treaty before it expires in 2012. [more]
17 october 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8311838.stm
Maldives cabinet makes a splash
President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet met underwater to highlight the threat of global
warming
The government of the Maldives has held a cabinet meeting underwater to highlight the threat of
global warming to the low-lying Indian Ocean nation.
President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet signed a document calling for global cuts in carbon
emissions. [more]
CBS | Elizabeth Palmer, LONDON, Oct. 17, 2009
Scientists Release New Polar Ice Findings
Critics Say Flawed Catlin Arctic Expedition Couldn't Produce Reliable Scientific Results
(CBS) Last spring, the Catlin Arctic Survey members set out to walk - and sometimes swim- the
just over 600 miles to the North Pole, collecting data on sea ice.
But almost immediately, their radar and a sled loaded with water-testing equipment failed,
reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer. [more]
Telegraph-Journal | October 17, 2009
Smoking ban will protect the young
On Jan. 1, drivers will be prohibited from smoking if anyone under age 16 is in the vehicle. A
generation from now, people will look back at this measure and ask why it took society so long
to decide that children must be protected from second-hand smoke.[more]
October 18, 2009
Canwest News Service | Sheldon Alberts, Washington Correspondent | October 18, 2009
Oil sands get ‘disproportionate’ bad reputation: Gary Doer
WASHINGTON - Canada's new ambassador to the United States said Alberta's oil sands are
facing a "disproportionate amount" of criticism in the climate-change debate -- arguing North
America risks missing "the big picture" on global warming if Canadian oil is singled out as the
chief carbon emissions culprit. [more]
NY TIMES | JOHN BRODER and JAD MOUAWAD | October 18, 2009
Energy Firms Find No Unity on Climate Bill
WASHINGTON — As the Senate prepares to tackle global warming, the nation’s energy
producers, once united, are battling one another over policy decisions worth hundreds of billions
of dollars in coming decades. [more]
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The Associated Press | David Stringer | October 18, 2009
Britain's Brown says talks on climate change pact are historic test of global cooperation
LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will warn representatives of the world's
biggest economies Monday that efforts to agree on a new global pact to tackle climate change are
a historic test of international co-operation.[more]
October 19, 2009
TheVarsity.ca | Stephanie Parish - Science section | Oct 19, 2009
Researchers predict the correlation between climate change and ozone
distribution
University of Toronto researchers have identified the role of climate change on ozone
distribution and atmospheric circulation over the earth’s surface.According to Michaela Hegglin,
a postdoctoral fellow and lead researcher on the project, and professor Theodore Shepherd from
the department of physics at U of T, UV radiation will decrease in the northern high latitudes by
about nine per cent by the year 2100 and increase over the tropics and southern high latitudes by
roughly four per cent. [more]
National-academies.org | Oct. 19, 2009
Report Examines Hidden Health and Environmental Costs Of Energy Production
and Consumption In U.S.
WASHINGTON -- A new report from the National Research Council examines and, when
possible, estimates "hidden" costs of energy production and use -- such as the damage air
pollution imposes on human health -- that are not reflected in market prices of coal, oil, other
energy sources, or the electricity and gasoline produced from them. The report estimates dollar
values for several major components of these costs. The damages the committee was able to
quantify were an estimated $120 billion in the U.S. [more]
esciencenews.com (Stanford University, US)| October 19, 2009
Shifting the world to 100 percent clean, renewable energy as early as 2030 -- here
are the numbers
Most of the technology needed to shift the world from fossil fuel to clean, renewable energy
already exists. Implementing that technology requires overcoming obstacles in planning and
politics, but doing so could result in a 30 percent decrease in global power demand, say Stanford
civil and environmental engineering Professor Mark Z. Jacobson and University of CaliforniaDavis researcher Mark Delucchi. [more]
Reuters | Timothy Gardner| October 19, 2009
Electric cars don't deserve halo yet: study
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Electric cars will not be dramatically cleaner than autos powered by
fossil fuels until they rely less on electricity produced from conventional coal-fired power plants,
scientists said on Monday. [more]
http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/2500/# | October 19, 2009
Electric car charging stations rolled out in Norway and US
The first ‘intelligent’ electric vehicle recharging station has been rolled out in Norway, while
plans are underway for a ‘corridor’ of charging stations in California.
Earlier this month, Norwegian energy supplier Eidsiva opened its first Coulomb Technologies
charging station in Gjøvik. [more]
4
CBC News | October 19, 2009
Layton wants climate bill sped up
NDP Leader Jack Layton says a private-member's climate-change bill is being delayed to stall its
passage before a key United Nations climate-change conference in Copenhagen in December.
[more]
Telegraph-Journal | Carl Duivenvoorden | October 19, 2009
Our biggest environmental challenge
For many people, the most critical environmental challenge facing our beautiful, blue planet is
climate change. For others, it's peak oil, that scenario where we run out of the fossil fuels that
make life as we know it possible. For still others, it's access to clean, healthy water. [more]
Canada.com | October 19, 2009
Informal talks precede UN climate conference
Representatives of the world's biggest carbon polluters began two days of informal talks in
London on Sunday to map out common ground 50 days before a key UN climate conference in
Copenhagen.
The 17 powers that make up the so-called Major Economies Forum (MEF), along with
developing nations and UN representatives, will try to iron out some of their differences before
the crunch summit in December. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Timothy B. Hurst | October 19, 2009
How Green Is the New Sprint 'Reclaim' Phone?
What's green (or blue), smaller than a deck of cards and will remind you to unplug the charger
from the wall after charging? The Reclaim, the new green-themed smart phone made by
Samsung for Sprint, is loaded with a bunch of green content, a handful eco-conscious accessories
and an attention to sustainable packaging that make it more "green" than most other phones out
there. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Sean Maguire and Pete Harrison | October 19, 2009
India Opens Door To Climate Deal, EU Stuck
NEW DELHI/BRUSSELS - India softened climate demands on Friday, helping bridge a richpoor divide, but said a global deal may miss a December deadline by a few months.
In contrast, European Union states struggled to agree a common stance for financing a U.N.
climate pact, meant to be agreed in Copenhagen at a December 7-18 meeting. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Nina Chestney | October 19, 2009
UK Climate Body Urges Govt To Step Up Emissions Cuts
LONDON - Britain needs to accelerate its strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions to have any
hope of meeting its carbon reduction commitments, Britain's chief climate change adviser said
Monday. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which advises the British government on
cutting emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, said the recession exaggerated its
progress toward meeting its carbon budgets and could slow efforts to drive long-term cuts.
[more]
Telegraph-Journal | October 19, 2009
Our biggest environmental challenge
For many people, the most critical environmental challenge facing our beautiful, blue planet is
climate change. For others, it's peak oil, that scenario where we run out of the fossil fuels that
make life as we know it possible. For still others, it's access to clean, healthy water.[more]
5
Times and Transcript | Lauren Krugel | October 19, 2009
Natural gas users will save money
There are also several relatively easy and inexpensive ways to squeeze more savings out of home
heating costs
CALGARY -- Once the snow starts swirling and the wind starts howling outside their windows
this winter, many Canadian homeowners can take some comfort in knowing they'll be paying
less to stay warm.[more]
Telegraph-Journal | Benjamin Shingler | October 19, 2009
Report: Hydroelectric dams on St. John River causing environmental damage but
it's unlikely they will be removed
FREDERICTON - Alarm bells are being sounded about the future of the storied St. John River.
New Brunswick experts agree with a report released last week that says hydroelectric dams on
the river have significantly altered its flow and reduced its fish population, particularly the prized
Atlantic salmon. [more]
The Canadian Press | October 19, 2009
'Last chance' to pass greenhouse gas bill before key UN summit: Layton
OTTAWA - NDP Leader Jack Layton is urging Parliament to pass a climate-change bill that
died in the Senate last year because of the federal election [more]
October 20, 2009
Globe and Mail | Martin Mittelstaedt - Environment Reporter | Oct. 20, 2009
Arctic heat wave 'unique' in history: study
The Canadian Arctic is experiencing a heat wave that has seldom been matched in the past
200,000 years, says a new scientific paper based on the study of sediment found at the bottom of
a remote lake on Baffin Island. [more]
Calgary Herald | Dina O'meara | October 20, 2009
Climate change spurs power sector expectations: experts
Climate change is powering increased expectations on the electricity sector to reduce Canada's
carbon footprint, and stakeholders--including provincial and federal governments-- need to
position themselves to ensure it happens in a realistic, sustainable fashion, experts told an
industry audience Monday. [more]
globeandmail.com | Mary Gooderham | October 20, 2009
LED streetlights put spotlight on Halifax firm
In three years, LED Roadway, a low-energy light startup, expands its business across North
America. Searching for a way to use its lighting and electronics technology in a product with
high-performance standards and a sizable market, LED Roadway Lighting Ltd. only had to look
down the street. [more]
HeraldScotland | Chris Watt | October 20, 2009
Polar leader issues climate change plea
Climate change in the Arctic Circle is forcing Inuits to abandon their homeland and move south,
a visiting polar leader will tell the Scottish Government today. [more]
The Independent | Steve Connor | October 20, 2009
Baffin Island reveals dramatic scale of Arctic climate change
Study delves back into 200,000 years of history to demonstrate the devastating impact of global
warming [more]
6
Reuters -Business Wire | October 20, 2009
Climate Change Litigation Accelerates As New Decisions Build Book of Case Law
Say Pillsbury Attorneys
HOUSTON & WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--Two starkly different decisions handed down
in the past few days by the federal courts illustrate how the courts are addressing the complicated
and controversial issues regarding climate change litigation. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Richard Cowan | October 22, 2009
U.S. Climate Bill Prospects
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration will press ahead with climate control legislation,
despite difficult odds of passage before December's international summit on global warming.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the Reuters Washington Summit that he was putting in
long hours on climate issues and believes there was "a reasonably good possibility" that the U.S.
Congress could deliver legislation reducing carbon dioxide emissions in time for the Copenhagen
meeting. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Richard Cowan | October 20, 2009
Republican Senator Says Open To U.S. Climate Bill
WASHINGTON - A senior Republican in the United States Senate, conservative Senator Lisa
Murkowski, said she would consider voting for a "cap and trade" climate change bill Democrats
are pushing if it also contains a vigorous expansion of nuclear energy and domestic oil drilling.
In an interview set to air on Sunday on the C-SPAN cable TV network, Murkowski said cap and
trade legislation, which aims to mandate reductions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas
emissions, must protect consumers from energy price increases and contain safeguards against
market manipulation of pollution permits that would be traded by companies. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Ed Stoddard and Richard Cowan | October 20, 2009
U.S. Hunters, Anglers Lobby For Climate Bill
DALLAS/WASHINGTON - An unlikely lobbying group is pressing the U.S. Senate to curb
greenhouse gas emissions: American hunting and fishing groups who fear climate change will
disrupt their sport. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Chelsea Emery | October 20, 2009
CEOs No Longer Refute Climate Change
CARY, North Carolina - U.S. chief executives no longer reject claims of human-caused climate
change, putting to rest a dispute that has raged in boardrooms for decades, said the head of
PG&E on Thursday. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Timothy Gardner | October 20, 2009
Electric Cars Don't Deserve Halo Yet: Study
NEW YORK - Electric cars will not be dramatically cleaner than autos powered by fossil fuels
until they rely less on electricity produced from conventional coal-fired power plants, scientists
said on Monday. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Alister Doyle - Gerard Wynn | October 20, 2009
Climate Talks Iin The Balance"
LONDON - Prospects for a new U.N. climate pact in December remained in the balance after
talks among big emitters on Monday but with signs of action by Brazil, India and Australia.
"It's more do-able today than yesterday," British energy and climate secretary Ed Miliband said
at the close of a two-day meeting of 17 emitters that account for about 80 percent of world
greenhouse gases. [more]
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PlanetArk.org | Guillermo Parra-Berna/lRaymond Colitt | October 20, 2009
Brazil seeks climate target for all Amazon nations
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - Brazil wants to forge a common position among all Amazon basin
countries for a global climate summit later this year, the country's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva, said on Monday. Brazil has been seeking a growing role in climate talks designed to agree
upon a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for global warming. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Jehane Sharah | October 20, 2009
Australians To Fortify Coast Homes Against Climate
CANBERRA - Australians living beside some of the country's finest beaches will be allowed to
fortify their beachfront homes against rising seas and storms, as climate change increasingly
threatens the heavily-populated east coast. [more]
The Globe and Mail | Cathryn Atkinson l Oct. 20 2009
Digest this: organic waste to go in a giant stomach
Rotting, smelly organic waste that contributes to climate change, or a precious alternate-energy
resource? Grocery giant Loblaws believes the latter and has entered into an agreement with a
Toronto-based biogas power company to divert produce waste that once ended up in landfills to
facilities that will convert it into renewable energy. [more]
*NOTE DATE: October 19
CSMonitor.com | Johan Rockström | October 19, 2009
Copenhagen: A new global deal for sustainable development?
There are nine planetary boundaries that should be respected in order to reduce risking
the self-regulating capacity of the planet. The environmental conference is only a first step.
STOCKHOLM - Reaching a substantive global agreement in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the UNsponsored climate-change conference this December on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is a
necessary step, but it is not sufficient. In order to avoid catastrophic tipping points, we need to
effectively manage key Earth system processes, and we need to do it now. [more]
The Northern Light | Gesner Hudon | October 20, 2009
The myth about idling vehicles in cold weather
The colder months are just about here and with them comes our bad habit of letting our cars idle
to warm up.[more]
The Northern Light | Paul Chapman | October 20, 2009
The Way I See It
Being naive or skeptical won't save our planet
Climate change is one of those topics people hate to think about.
It's uncomfortable because either you believe it and don't quite know what to do about it, or you
don't believe it and think it's a lot of hogwash. [more]
The Northern Light | Carl Duivenvoorden | October 20, 2009
Green Ideas
A solar revolution has now begun
A wise man once said, "Someday we will harness the rise and fall of the tides and imprison the
rays of the sun."
Unfortunately, people didn't exactly rush to bring his vision to fruition. The wise man was
Thomas Edison. The date was 1921.[more]
October 21, 2009
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Times&Transcript | Beth McLaughlin | October 21, 2009
Real benefits from Cocagne's sustainable development group
"People say you work for non-profit because you can't do anything else. I chose this work.
Helping people to realize that it is the little things that matter is very satisfying, meaningful, real
and direct. (I have) fantastic people to work with, in this beautiful place" says Jocelyne Gauvin,
Co-ordinator of the Sustainable Development Group of Cocagne. [more]
Pascal Fletcher | MIAMI (Reuters) | Oct 21, 2009
Southeast U.S. exposed to climate change impact: Oxfam
Poverty and climate hazards make the southeast United States the country's most vulnerable area
to climate change impact, Oxfam America said on Wednesday. [more]
Canadians for Action on Climate Change | October 21, 2009
Climate Change Solution put forward by Conservative MPP Randy Hillier - Stop
Breathing
In a most outright display of disdain toward climate change action – Randy Hillier - MPP of
Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox, responded to an email regarding climate change [more]
GlobeInvestor.com | Shawn Mccarthy - Global Energy Reporter | October 21, 2009
Oil sector's 'intensity' emission rules assailed
OTTAWA -- Canada's two biggest chemical companies are urging Ottawa to adopt a single,
national emissions cap for greenhouse gases (GHG), rejecting the oil industry argument that the
oil sands sector needs an "intensity-based" system to continue its growth. [more]
21 October 2009, Eddie Oldfield
From Eddie’s subscription to the IISD Climate Change Information Mailing List
Is It Too Late to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change?
by Clive Hamilton , October 2009
A paper under this title can now be read at
http://www.clivehamilton.net.au/cms/index.php?page=articles
Recent analysis of carbon budgets shows that the timing and scale of emission reductions needed
to avert dangerous climate change are well beyond any national policy proposals or anticipated
international agreement. [more]
The Guardian | October 21, 2009
Monckton's circus of climate change denial arrives in cloud cuckoo land
Communists who piled out of the Berlin Wall and into the green movement have taken over – in
Lord Monckton's mind. Lord Monckton, our very favourite climate change sceptic, is currently
on a multi-date tour of North America gigging at any local free market institute which will host
him and his views. We know not whether souvenir T-shirts are available at trestle tables by the
entrance, but feel it would be a wasted marketing opportunity if they were not. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent | October 21, 2009
Space Agencies, Google Seek Ways To Save Forests
OSLO, NORWAY - Space agencies and Google Inc are helping an international project to
monitor forests by satellite to fight global warming, the head of an international earth
observation group said on Tuesday. [more]
Telegraph-Journal | Andrea Harden-Donahuet and Julie Michaud | October 21, 2009
Toward a green economy
The world is at a crucial moment in the battle against runaway climate change. Entire
populations and ecosystems are threatened by climate change impacts including drought, heat
waves, fires, floods, storms and rising sea levels [more]
9
Times and Transcript | Heather Ferguson | October 21, 2009
WASWC aims to keep our environment clean and green
WASWC leads the way for southeastern N.B
The Westmorland-Albert Solid Waste Corporation (WASWC) is committed to enhancing the
quality of life and the standards of living throughout southeastern New Brunswick.[more]
Peter Griffiths | LONDON (Reuters) | Oct 22
UK warns of lack of urgency over Copenhagen talks
The world lacks a sense of urgency over the importance of the U.N. climate change talks in
Copenhagen in preventing a "human emergency" affecting hundreds of millions of people, the
British government said on Thursday. [more]
October 22, 2009
Globe and Mail | Shawn McCarthy | October 22, 2009
Ottawa dashes hope for climate treaty in Copenhagen
Best possible outcome of climate talks is smoother path to later deal, Prentice says
Hope is vanishing that a historic deal to address climate change can be concluded in
Copenhagen, and Environment Minister Jim Prentice says the best chance is for a political
agreement that would pave the way for a treaty to be signed later. [more]
Thegreenpages.ca | F. Los | October 22, 2009
NGO's and Industry offer statement on cap-and-trade
In a joint statement released yesterday, a unique partnership of industry and environmental
organizations have outlined the key elements for an effective Canadian cap-and-trade system for
greenhouse gas emissions. [more]
CNSNews.com | Patrick Goodenough - International Editor | October 22, 2009
China Pledges Climate Cooperation with Obama, But Also Agrees With India to
Resist Legally Binding Targets
China's chief climate change official Xie Zhenhua attends an international conference on
technology and climate change in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009. (AP
Photo/Manish Swarup) [more]
PlanetArk.org | Richard Cowan | October 22, 2009
U.S. Climate Bill Prospects
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration will press ahead with climate control legislation,
despite difficult odds of passage before December's international summit on global warming.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the Reuters Washington Summit that he was putting in
long hours on climate issues and believes there was "a reasonably good possibility" that the U.S.
Congress could deliver legislation reducing carbon dioxide emissions in time for the Copenhagen
meeting. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Bernie Woodall | October 22, 2009
Utilities Pledge To Be Ready For Plug-In Autos
DETROIT, US - If electric cars plug in at rates hoped for by automakers in the coming years,
there will be enough power to serve them, the biggest U.S. electric utilities industry group vowed
on Wednesday.
The utilities have pledged to make sure the electricity is there on demand, to work with policy
makers on tax rebates and customer financial incentives and to make it easy for consumers to
charge up car batteries, according to the Edison Electric Institute. [more]
10
PlanetArk.org | Timothy Gardner | October 22, 2009
Enterprise To Raise $4 Billion For Green Housing
WASHINGTON - Enterprise, a U.S. nonprofit group, said on Wednesday it hopes to raise $4
billion over the next five years to make housing for low-income people more energy efficient.
The effort, which builds on the group's previous commitments, will result in the creation,
preservation or retrofit of 75,000 green homes and community and commercial buildings, it said.
[more]
PlanetArk.org | Marc Gunther - Greener World Media | October 22, 2009
Why A Coal Guy is Going Green
US - Of all the companies in the U.S., Duke Energy is the 3rd largest emitter of CO2. Of all the
companies in the world, Duke is the 12th biggest emitter. And if North Carolina-based Duke
were a country, it would rank No. 41 in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, ahead of entire
nations in Europe, Africa and Asia. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Peter Murphy | October 22, 2009
Brazil Drivers Ditch Biofuel Over High Sugar Costs
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - Some Brazilian motorists who fuel their cars solely on cane-based
ethanol are switching back to gasoline as high sugar prices now make the biofuel more costly in
some states. [more]
The Associated Press | Christopher Bodeen | October 22, 2009
China-U.S. co-operation vital in tackling climate, says Gore
BEIJING - Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said Wednesday that co-operation between
China and the U.S., the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, is crucial to tackling
the climate change crisis.[more]
PlanetArk.org | Richard Cowan | October 22, 2009
U.S. Climate Bill Prospects
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration will press ahead with climate control legislation,
despite difficult odds of passage before December's international summit on global
warming.[more]
PlanetArk.org | Timothy Gardner | October 22, 2009
Enterprise To Raise $4 Billion For Green Housing
WASHINGTON - Enterprise, a U.S. nonprofit group, said on Wednesday it hopes to raise $4
billion over the next five years to make housing for low-income people more energy
efficient.[more]
PRNewswire-USNewswire | October 22, 2009
New Survey Finds US and 37 Other Countries Demand More Aggressive Climate
Change Action than Congress or Copenhagen Envision
New Survey Finds US and 37 Other Countries Demand More Aggressive Climate Change
Action than Congress or Copenhagen Envision
BOSTON, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The first-ever deliberative global survey of
citizen opinion, World Wide Views on Global Warming (WWViews) has found that people from
diverse backgrounds in the US and worldwide overwhelmingly want faster action, deeper GHG
emissions cuts and stronger enforcement than either US climate legislation proposals or
Copenhagen treaty conference preparations are currently contemplating. Among the survey's
findings [more]
11
arstechnica.com | John Timmer | October 22, 2009
Scientific societies warn Senate: climate change is real
A collection of scientific societies has sent an open letter to all US Senators, reiterating their
individual statements on climate change, and offering to provide more information as legislation
to limit carbon emissions moves forward. [more]
Reuters | Richard Cowan | October 22, 2009
Report urges coordinated federal, state, local planning
* Fewer Americans see global warming as big problem -poll
WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - As Congress considers curbs on carbon dioxide pollution, a
U.S. report on Thursday urged the White House to prepare now for flooding and other natural
disasters brought by global warming. [more]
October 23, 2009
PlanetArk.org | Jonathan Lynn | October 23, 2009
GE Calls For Trade Deal In Environmental Goods
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - A deal freeing up trade in environmental goods and services is
urgently needed to help global efforts to tackle climate change, General Electric Co said on
Thursday. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Nopporn Wong-Anan | October 23, 2009
ASEAN Gearing Up To Be Global Green Auto Hub
HUA HIN, Thailand - Southeast Asia is gearing up to become a global hub for the production
and sale of environmentally friendly cars, a Thai deputy cabinet minister said on Thursday.
Trade ministry officials from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
[more]
PlanetArk.org | Gerard Wynn | October 23, 2009
Advanced Biofuels Will Stoke Global Warming: Study
LONDON/WASHINGTON - A new generation of biofuels, meant to be a low-carbon
alternative, will on average emit more carbon dioxide than burning gasoline over the next few
decades, a study published in Science found on Thursday. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Jeff Mason | October 23, 2009
White House Encouraged By Climate Bill Progress
WASHINGTON - The White House is encouraged by progress on a climate change bill going
through the Senate and is working to advance it even if it is not completed by a December
deadline, a key aide to President Barack Obama said on Thursday. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Joan Gralla | October 23, 2009
NYC Sees Economic Gold In Green Jobs
NEW YORK - Recession-stricken New York City plans to double its current green work force
by creating over 13,000 new jobs in the next decade, partly by competing with London to
become the new center for carbon trading, a city official said on Wednesday. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Ana Isabel Martinez | October 23, 2009
Three-Minute Showers To Conserve Water?
CARACAS, VENEZUELA - Leftist President Hugo Chavez called on Venezuelans on
Wednesday to stop singing in the shower and to wash in three minutes because the oil-exporting
nation is having problems supplying water and electricity. [more]
12
NPR | Richard Harris | October 23, 2009
Scientists: Biofuel Laws May Harm Environment
On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to give a price tag for the Senate's
global warming bill. That will frame next week's scheduled debate on the legislation.
One key part of the climate bill has to do with fuels made from green plants. These can reduce
the use of fossil fuels, and they also are a big draw for farm-state votes. [more]
Daily Gleaner | DAVID SUZUKI with FAISAL MOOLA | October 23, 2009
Forests count in climate change
In 1992, I attended an event that filled me with hope.
Canada and the rest of the world had just signed a climate change treaty at the United Nations
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Gillian Murdoch | October 23, 2009
Time To Trim Fido's "Eco Pawprint", Authors Say
SINGAPORE - They're faithful, friendly and furry -- but under their harmless, fluffy exteriors,
dogs and cats, the world's most popular house pets, use up more energy resources in a year than
driving a car, a new book says. [more]
PlanetArk.org | Yereth Rosen | October 23, 2009
U.S. Maps Protected Alaska Habitat For Polar Bears
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A vast swath of icy sea, barrier islands and coastal land on Alaska's
oil-rich North Slope will be granted special protection because of its importance to the threatened
polar bear, under a proposal released Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. [more]
October 17, 2009
Environmentalresearchweb | Sustainable Futures | October 16, 2009
How to act fast against dangerous climate change
A temperature increase of two degrees above pre-industrial levels has been proposed as a useful
target to prevent dangerous climate change. But curbs on carbon dioxide emissions will not
result in cooling for around 1000 years or so. With that in mind a team from the US, India and
Kenya has proposed four solutions that are not based on carbon dioxide, can be implemented fast
and will produce a climate response within decades.
"Temperature tipping points are approaching quickly, which will trigger abrupt and irreversible
climate impacts, including loss of summer sea ice in Arctic, loss of snow and ice in HimalayanTibetan Plateau, disintegration of Greenland ice sheet [and] die-off of Amazon," Durwood
Zaelke of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, US, told
environmentalresearchweb. "The fast-action strategies [that] we outline can [be] started
quickly with existing governance mechanisms, such as the Montreal Protocol. They do not need
to wait for the current climate negotiations to conclude, nor to wait for ratification and
implementation of whatever agreement is produced through that process."
Zaelke and colleagues from the University of California, San Diego; the Montreal Protocol
Technology and Economics Assessment Panel in India and the US; Scripps Institution of
Oceanography; and the National Environment Tribunal of Kenya looked at four approaches:
reducing hydrofluorocarbon emissions; reducing black-carbon aerosol concentrations; cutting
emissions of ozone precursors; and boosting biosequestration. All of these could be substantially
implemented within 5–10 years and produce a climate response within decades, they say.
The Montreal Protocol has already cut down greenhouse gases by reducing emissions of
chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting substances. Indeed, there are claims that by 2010
13
the benefit of the Montreal Protocol to the climate will be five or six times larger than that of the
Kyoto Protocol.
In 2007 the parties to the protocol agreed to accelerate phase-out of HCFCs, the transitional
replacement for CFCs. But this could lead to a rapid increase in HFCs, which although less
damaging to the ozone layer than HCFCs, are also greenhouse gases and are included in the
Kyoto Protocol.
There are, however, substitutes for HFCs with low global-warming potential, for example HFO1234yf. With this in mind a group of small island nations led by the Federated States of
Micronesia and Mauritius has proposed an amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase down
the use of HFCs with high global-warming potential.
The protocol could also provide additional climate mitigation by preventing emissions of ozonedestroying substances from discarded refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment. Pilot projects
are underway.
Black carbon is emitted by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. In aerosol
form it causes warming in the atmosphere by absorbing solar radiation and, once deposited onto
snow and ice, it can darken their surface and accelerate melting. Black-carbon aerosols can also
affect cloud formation. This either causes low-level clouds to be burnt off, letting more solar
radiation through or, if other water-soluble aerosols are present, increases the persistence of lowlevel clouds and cools the surface.
There are estimates that black carbon could be halved by 2030 by applying existing technologies,
primarily to cut diesel emissions and to improve cooking stoves. Around half of the world uses
fossil fuels for cooking and the associated black carbon can also cause respiratory illness.
Zaelke's co-author Ram Ramanathan has set up Project Surya to try to cut such black-carbon
emissions.
Tropospheric ozone has increased by around 30% since pre-industrial times and it contributes
around one-fifth as much as carbon dioxide does to global warming. Ozone precursor gases, such
as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, methane and other volatile organic compounds, all
contribute to the formation of the pollutant. The UK's Royal Society reckons that the rigorous
implementation of air-pollution regulations across the globe could reduce nitrogen oxide and
carbon monoxide emissions by more than 50%. This would cut anthropogenic forcing from
tropospheric ozone from 20% to 10%.
Biosequestration measures, such as preventing deforestation, boosting afforestation and
reforestation, and biochar production could all mitigate carbon emissions to varying degrees.
"We can delay climate forcing by several decades and reduce the risk of passing the temperature
tipping points for abrupt climate change," said Zaelke. "The race is close, with tipping points and
the threat of accelerating feedbacks that will lead to run-away warming. But if we move
immediately, we may still be able to get ahead of the warming, and actually reverse it using
carbon negative strategies, such as biochar."
Zaelke stresses that there is a real need to focus on speed, that non-carbon dioxide factors
provide half of man-made forcing, and it's the fast half. "We need to remember that we can't win
the climate battle without also winning on the carbon dioxide side, which is the other 50%," he
said.
Now the researchers, who reported their work in PNAS, plan to work on a better metric to
measure the time to produce cooling.
About the author
Liz Kalaugher is editor of environmentalresearchweb.
http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/futures/40682
14
ArgusTimes.com | October 16, 2009
Shell CEO urges Senate action on climate change
WASHINGTON — Royal Dutch Shell Chairman Jorma Ollila on Thursday urged the U.S.
Senate to make clear progress on legislation capping greenhouse gas emissions before
international climate change negotiations in December.
Although the House has passed broad legislation to limit carbon dioxide emissions, the prospects
are murkier in the Senate where Democratic leaders have signaled that the issue may not be
debated until next year.
In remarks at the National Press Club, Ollila suggested that Senate inaction could undermine
negotiations on a global climate change pact.
"As the world prepares for climate negotiations in Copenhagen, we must see American
leadership, backed by its own domestic actions on climate legislation," Ollila said.
Ollila noted that "the U.S. is an important player" in the negotiations and that world leaders will
be closely studying the Obama administration's approach — as well as that of developing
countries such as China and India.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, set to begin Dec. 7 in Copenhagen, will
consider plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
The Obama administration had hoped it would have more leverage in the international
negotiations with a congressional mandate for greenhouse gas reductions in the U.S.
U.S. businesses generally have said they want to see developing countries agree to similar
greenhouse gas emissions cuts as part of any international agreement. Without similar
commitments from China and India to impose limits and a price on carbon dioxide emissions,
they fear, U.S. companies could be put at a competitive disadvantage.
Ollila said he has been encouraged by "a lot of very positive signals" from the leaders of India
and China.
Ollila acknowledged that his comments — and Shell's support of greenhouse gas emissions cuts
— put him at odds with some lobbying by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce against climate
change legislation.
In recent weeks, several companies, including Exelon and Pacific Gas & Electric, have severed
ties or limited their connection with the chamber over the issue. Shell remains in the group,
though Ollila noted that there was "a disagreement" over climate change.
Times Argus, Vermont, USA
Hearst Newspapers - Published: October 16, 2009
http://www.timesargus.com/article/20091016/NEWS01/910160314/1002/NEWS01
15
AFP | Michel Viatteau | October 17, 2009
Canada to push 'balance' in Copenhagen
(AFP) OTTAWA — Canada aims to reestablish itself as an environmental defender at the UN
climate talks in Copenhagen by calling on all major emitters to cut carbon emissions, but distrust
lingers as its own emissions soar.
Canada signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol but has so far failed to meet its corresponding
obligations. The December 7-18 meeting in Copenhagen aims to hammer out a pact to replace
the treaty before it expires in 2012.
Proof the government is mindful of its reputation as a climate change laggard came this week
when Environment Minister Jim Prentice vigorously disputed reports of a "walk-out" by
developing G77 countries representatives at a recent UN climate change meeting in Bangkok to
protest Canada's position.
Ottawa also announced funding for two carbon capture projects in western Alberta province,
where development of vast oil sands has been hotly criticized for pumping huge amounts of
carbon into the atmosphere.
The Canadian government defends its "balanced approach" to fighting climate change while not
jeopardizing its economic growth.
Over the past decade, Canada has outperformed other Group of Seven industrialized nations in
areas of job creation and fiscal prowess and is forecast to lead the G7 out of the current
recession.
"Canada will undertake efforts to meet our global responsibilities in a way that balances
environmental protection and economic prosperity for Canadians, and is comparable to the level
of effort of other industrialized countries," Prentice spokeswoman Sujata Raisinghani told AFP.
"We have committed to reducing our total greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from 2006
levels by 2020, leading to a 60-70 percent reduction from 2006 levels by 2050."
But the figures are less significant when compared to the efforts of other nations and politicaleconomic blocs -- notably the European Union, which is to cut emissions by up to 30 percent by
2020 from 1990 levels, as required by the Kyoto Protocol.
If pegged to 1990 levels, Canadian carbon reductions would amount to a mere three percent,
critics note. And carbon emissions are currently up more than 35 percent from 1990.
Raisinghani said Canada "looks forward to an ambitious and comprehensive outcome in
Copenhagen." But Ottawa also hopes the result is "flexible, so all countries can choose tools and
policies that suit their unique circumstances."
Environmentalists accuse Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government, rooted in
oil-rich Alberta province, of misleading Canadians with strong language on tackling climate
change but actually doing little to combat warming.
Ottawa "is obstructing an ambitious political accord" at the climate talks, said Virginie Lambert
Ferry of Greenpeace Canada.
Greenpeace protested the oil sands development by twice halting operations this month with sitins at facilities.
Harper's government has consistently said the Kyoto Protocol targets agreed by a previous
administration were unattainable, and that it had no choice but to follow Washington's lackluster
lead or risk economic ruin.
Some have expressed fears Canadian companies would face a trade disadvantage since US
companies would not be affected by the Kyoto Protocol because the United States has not yet
signed it. The two nations are the world's largest trading partners.
This argument has been weakened by US President Barack Obama's revision of the policies of
his predecessor, George W. Bush, vowing to take a tougher stand against climate change.
16
But there still remains little wiggle room for policymakers in Ottawa as Canada's oil sands -- the
single largest source of carbon emissions in this country -- are coveted by the United States and
China as a secure source of energy.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j82cDw50t5JrJ_xxBxU8FHZ2tHhw
17 october 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8311838.stm
Maldives cabinet makes a splash
President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet met underwater to highlight the threat of global
warming
The government of the Maldives has held a cabinet meeting underwater to highlight the
threat of global warming to the low-lying Indian Ocean nation.
President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet signed a document calling for global cuts in carbon
emissions.
Ministers spent half an hour on the sea bed, communicating with white boards and hand signals.
The president said the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen this December cannot be
allowed to fail.
At a later press conference while still in the water, President Nasheed was asked what would
happen if the summit fails. "We are going to die," he replied.
The Maldives stand an average of 2.1 metres (7ft) above sea level, and the government says they
face being wiped out if oceans rise.
"We're now actually trying to send our message, let the world know what is happening, and what
will happen to the Maldives if climate change is not checked," President Nasheed said.
"If the Maldives cannot be saved today we do not feel that there is much of a chance for the rest
of the world," he added.
Military minders
Three of the 14 cabinet ministers missed the underwater meeting, about 20 minutes by boat from
the capital, Male, because two were not given medical permission and another was abroad,
officials said.
President Nasheed and other cabinet members taking part had been practising their slow
breathing to get into the right mental frame for the meeting, a
government source said.
About 5m underwater, in a blue-green lagoon on a small
island used for military training, they were observed by a
clutch of snorkelling journalists.
Each minister was accompanied by a diving instructor and a
military minder.
While underwater, they signed a document ahead of the UN
Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December,
calling on all nations to cut their carbon emissions.
World leaders at the summit aim to create a new agreement The cabinet were joined by
to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. instructors and military escorts
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8311838.stm
17
CBS | Elizabeth Palmer, LONDON, Oct. 17, 2009
Scientists Release New Polar Ice Findings
Critics Say Flawed Catlin Arctic Expedition Couldn't Produce Reliable Scientific Results
(CBS) Last spring, the Catlin Arctic Survey members set out to walk - and sometimes swim- the
just over 600 miles to the North Pole, collecting data on sea ice.
But almost immediately, their radar and a sled loaded with water-testing equipment failed,
reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer.
The team had to scale back its ambitions and measure ice thickness the old-fashioned way. In
some places they found it was barely 6-feet thick, half of what they expected.
By May, the ice was on the move. One night, it was so violent the team had to break camp.
Finally, plagued with frostbite and frozen sleeping bags, they gave up only halfway to the Pole.
This week in London, Catlin released its results, fending off accusations that such a flawed
expedition couldn't produce good science.
But for scientists who rely on satellite or submarine data, Catlin says its measurement is unique.
"The scientists really have a lack of what you might call relatively accurate absolute
measurements, what they would call direct observations, made from the surface at the surface,
down through the snow, ice cover and the ice layer below," said expedition leader Pen Hadow.
Eminent climate scientists agree that the data supports a growing consensus that the polar ice cap
is in dramatic retreat.
"The conclusions from this work and from other measurements that have been done, and from
new models, are that the summer ice will disappear within twenty to thirty years, and a lot of it
will be gone within 10 years," said Professor Peter Wadhams, with the University of Cambridge
Polar Ocean Physics Group.
The good news is that it will open up new shipping lanes. The bad news is that polar ice helps
keep the planet cool by reflecting the sun. Once it's gone, it is likely global warming will speed
up.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/17/eveningnews/main5392938.shtml
Telegraph-Journal | October 17, 2009
Smoking ban will protect the young
On Jan. 1, drivers will be prohibited from smoking if anyone under age 16 is in the vehicle. A
generation from now, people will look back at this measure and ask why it took society so long
to decide that children must be protected from second-hand smoke.
New Brunswick is among a handful of jurisdictions showing leadership on this matter, and it is
good to see the province at the front of the pack. Researchers have provided enough evidence to
18
settle the medical question of whether second-hand smoke harms children. Acting on this
information required only political will.
Second-hand smoke can cause health problems ranging from chronic coughs to acute bronchitis
and croup or pneumonia. Babies exposed to cigarette smoke also have a higher risk of sudden
infant death syndrome. In older children, smoke exposure can result in asthma and ear infections.
The long-term impact of exposing children to the toxins in tobacco smoke is not fully
understood. What is known is that the confined environment of a car or truck concentrates these
toxins at levels much higher than the average smoker might suspect. When researchers at the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tested nicotine concentrations in smokers'
vehicles, they found up to 50 per cent more pollution than in air tested at restaurants and bars
that permit smoking.
Children breathe more rapidly than adults, and their small lungs and bodies are more vulnerable
to second-hand smoke. Banning smoking in vehicles when children are present is a simple and
reasonable precaution to protect those powerless to protect themselves.
The ban offers community groups and public health authorities an opportunity to raise awareness
of the issue. So far, the idea is meeting with little resistance - a sign that most parents are
prepared to forego smoking and driving to protect their children's health.
October 18, 2009
Canwest News Service | Sheldon Alberts, Washington Correspondent | October 18, 2009
Oil sands get ‘disproportionate’ bad reputation: Gary
Doer
19
David Cooper/Canwest News Service
Gary Doer, Canada’s new ambassador to the United States, says the oil sands having been
getting a bad rap.
WASHINGTON - Canada's new ambassador to the United States said Alberta's oil sands are
facing a "disproportionate amount" of criticism in the climate-change debate -- arguing North
America risks missing "the big picture" on global warming if Canadian oil is singled out as the
chief carbon emissions culprit.
"One of the concerns that I have is that it represents so little of the emissions in North America.
It's getting a disproportionate amount of chatter," Gary Doer said in an interview Sunday with
Canwest News Service.
"The question is: How much does the oil sands represent as a percentage of emissions in North
America? It's a very small amount. If we don't deal with all sources of emissions, we are not
going to have a solution that's comprehensive."
Mr. Doer, 61, will take up his duties as Canada's envoy in Washington on Monday after a
decade-long tenure as premier of Manitoba.
He arrives in the U.S. capital just as the Obama administration is showing renewed interest in the
emissions-intensive oil sands -- both as a source of pollution and secure energy.
David Jacobson, the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, met with Mr. Doer in Winnipeg on Sunday
after a trip last week to Alberta, where he toured facilities owned by Suncor Energy, Inc. and
Syncrude Canada Ltd. near Fort McMurray.
Following his trip, Mr. Jacobson said he expects that Canada -- which is America's largest
supplier of oil -- would remain "a pillar" of U.S. energy security. He acknowledged "the oil
sands are probably going to be a part of that."
Mr. Jacobson also said most of his discussions in Fort McMurray involved the environmental
challenges posed by oil sands production, and the need to strike an "appropriate balance"
between energy and the environment.
According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the oil sands account for about
five per cent of Canada's overall greenhouse gas emissions. They are also Canada's fastestgrowing source of emissions.
20
For Canada, the stakes in the oil sands debate are high. California has already approved a lowcarbon fuel standard that Ottawa argued unfairly discriminates against oil derived from oil sands.
Several other states are considering similar measures.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed landmark climate-change legislation last year, and the
Senate is set to begin hearing its version of the bill later this fall.
Throughout the debate in Washington, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has sought
to forge a common climate strategy with the White House while also defending the oil industry
from measures that might threaten economic growth in Canada.
Enter Mr. Doer, who earned a reputation in Manitoba as a national leader on climate change. As
Manitoba's premier, he negotiated cross-border partnerships with several U.S. states, including
greenhouse gas reduction deals with California, Kansas, Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon, Arizona
and Minnesota.
Mr. Doer said there's no contradiction in Ottawa's message on climate change.
"You've got to look at everything. How do you reduce emissions from coal? How do you
increase the use of renewables? How do you have the increase in energy efficiency?" Mr. Doer
asked. "All of these items have to be on the agenda. The fact that one project [oil sands] is
discussed means that we've missed the big picture."
Mr. Harper surprised many political veterans by reaching across party lines in August to select
Doer, a New Democrat, to be the federal government's representative in Washington.
Mr. Doer was chosen, in part, because of his extensive contacts both within the Obama
administration and among U.S. governors.
In recent years, Mr. Doer established working relationships with top Obama administration
officials, such as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the former Kansas
governor, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who visited Manitoba for a
climate summit in 2007 while governor of Arizona.
Mr. Doer met just last week with Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, an early Obama supporter. Among
Republicans, Mr. Doer has worked closely with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, considered a likely 2012 GOP presidential candidate.
"I think some of these relationships are helpful," Mr. Doer said.
While Mr. Doer will spend most of his time in Washington dealing with Congress and the
administration, he said he plans to put a premium on travelling throughout the United States and
meeting with lawmakers in their own districts.
"Obviously the job is in Washington. The role is in Washington. I'll be doing those kinds of
functions," Mr. Doer said. "But I won't just be relying on Washington. I'm going to get out as
much as I can."
He envisions a schedule that keeps him in Washington during the work week, with travel outside
of the U.S. capital on weekends.
Among the first issues he'll confront is Canada's concern with rising protectionist sentiment in
the U.S.
Mr. Doer described negotiations aimed at exempting Canada from contentious Buy American
provisions as a "work in progress," and offered no hints about the timing of a possible deal.
"One of the things about any negotiations isif it's not resolved, it's not resolved."
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2117774
NY TIMES | JOHN BRODER and JAD MOUAWAD | October 18, 2009
Energy Firms Find No Unity on Climate Bill
WASHINGTON — As the Senate prepares to tackle global warming, the nation’s energy
producers, once united, are battling one another over policy decisions worth hundreds of billions
of dollars in coming decades.
21
Producers of natural gas are battling their erstwhile allies, the oil companies. Electrical
utilities are fighting among themselves over the use of coal versus wind power or other
renewable energy. Coal companies are battling natural gas firms over which should be used to
produce electricity. And the renewable power industry is elbowing for advantage against all of
them.
Some supporters of global warming legislation believe that the division in the once-monolithic
oil and gas industry, as well as other splits among energy producers, could improve the prospects
for the legislation.
“It’s much harder to pass clean-energy legislation when big oil and other energy interests are
united in their opposition,” said Daniel J. Weiss, climate policy director at the liberal Center for
American Progress. “The companies that recognize the economic benefits in the bill can help
bring along their political supporters.”
The American Petroleum Institute trade group, dominated by major oil companies,
opposes the legislation, saying it would discourage domestic exploration and lead to higher oil
prices. But some natural gas companies, though longtime members of the institute, have formed
a separate lobby and are working actively with the bill’s sponsors to cut a better deal for their
product.
The proposal moving through Congress would cap the emissions of greenhouse gases each year
and allow companies to buy and sell permits to pollute. That approach, known as cap and
trade, is meant to guarantee that emissions will decline, while providing market incentives for
companies to invest in low-carbon technologies.
The measure would effectively put a price on carbon, raising the prospect that some energy
producers might have to pay more than others. For that reason, billions of dollars could be at
stake in some of the most arcane language in the bill.
Energy lobbies are using every tactic in the book to protect their industries, producing alarming
studies about $5 gasoline and other steep cost increases that might result from a cap-and-trade
system. They are also financing protest groups and advertising campaigns. In one case, a public
relations firm working for the coal industry even sent opposition letters to Congress under forged
names.
The divisions in the energy sector mirror a split in the broader business community. Several large
companies like Apple and the utility Exelon left the United States Chamber of Commerce
recently over the group’s opposition to climate change legislation.
But the biggest fights are among energy producers. They have spent more than $200 million in
the first half of the year on lobbying efforts in Washington, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group, up from $174 million in the same period last
year.
“The fact that the lobbying is so fast and so furious is a positive sign that this thing is moving
along,” said Mark Brownstein, a managing director at the Environmental Defense Fund
and an advocate of climate legislation. “The fact that everyone is rushing to Washington tells you
people believe it is real.”
As legislation inches through Capitol Hill, onetime allies in the utility sector, like Exelon, which
operates low-emission nuclear plants, and the Southern Company, a big consumer of coal, find
themselves on opposite sides of the debate over renewable energy.
Utilities that have access to hydroelectric power or operate nuclear plants tend to favor a
national mandate to increase the use of renewable power, because their carbon emissions are
relatively low. Many coal-dependent utilities, particularly in the Southeast and Midwest, oppose
the provision because they emit more carbon and would have to buy more permits over time.
In past energy policy debates, the oil and gas lobbies were largely united. In 2005, they won
incentives for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Two years later, after Democrats had taken control
22
of Congress, producers were unable to block a huge new mandate for alternative fuels like
ethanol and biodiesel, but managed to save valuable oil industry tax breaks that some
Democrats tried to end.
Today, each energy subsector, fearing any legislation that might give it a disadvantage, is
battling for favor. The gas producers, for example, have formed the American Natural Gas
Alliance, which is spending heavily on advertising and lobbying to point out that gas emits
roughly half the carbon dioxide of coal. The group has also helped organize its allies in Congress
into a new natural gas caucus, with two dozen members.
“These fissures are happening because a policy is increasingly seen as inevitable,” said David G.
Victor, an energy expert at the University of California, San Diego. “Old coalitions are
splintering and fascinating new alliances are being formed.”
The most important fight is over whether companies have to buy pollution permits, called
allowances, or whether the government hands them out free in the early years to help ease the
cost of the transition.
President Obama has said the permits should be auctioned, an approach that would cost
companies tens of billions of dollars. But after fierce lobbying from electrical utilities, the House
made the permits free in the first decade of the program, to help finance the transition to cleaner
fuels and to shield electrical consumers from higher prices.
Industry analysts say the utilities’ willingness to negotiate with Democratic lawmakers gained
them a huge advantage when the House passed its climate bill in June. The oil and
natural gas industries, by contrast, felt shunned in the House debate because they would not
negotiate, these analysts say.
For example, oil companies complained that their mandated purchase of emissions permits
would amount to a tax to be used to clean up dirty coal plants.
“There was an inherent flaw when Congress set off down the road of favoring one fuel source
over another,” said J. Larry Nichols, chairman of Devon Energy, an independent oil and gas
company, and also chairman of the American Petroleum Institute. “You knew there had to be a
feeding frenzy among various competing fuels trying to protect themselves.”
Half of the nation’s electrical power is generated by burning coal, and emission limits are a longterm threat to the business. The coal industry, through a group it finances called the American
Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, is running a campaign to persuade the public that coal is
affordable, abundant and can be cleaned up thanks to still-distant technology that would capture
carbon emissions and store them underground.
Some coal executives aim to scuttle legislation in the Senate by continuing to cast doubts
on the science of climate change.
“A lot of coal-using utilities seem to be on the wrong side of this issue,” said Don L.
Blankenship, the chief executive of Massey Energy, the largest producer of Appalachian
coal, who has called climate legislation a hoax and a Ponzi scheme. “How can they be so
confident that man is changing the world climate?”
John Broder reported from Washington, and Jad Mouawad from New York. Clifford Krauss
contributed reporting from Houston.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/business/energy-environment/19fuel.html?hp
23
The Associated Press | David Stringer | October 18, 2009
Britain's Brown says talks on climate change pact are
historic test of global co-operation
LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will warn representatives of the world's
biggest economies Monday that efforts to agree on a new global pact to tackle climate change are
a historic test of international co-operation.
Brown planned to address the second day of Major Economies Forum talks in London, and tell
delegates that any failure to strike a new deal on reducing the gas emissions causing global
warming would be catastrophic.
The British leader plans to personally attend a December meeting in Copenhagen - intended to
cap two years of negotiations on a global climate change treaty - and has called on fellow leaders
to join him.
"In every era there are only one or two moments when nations come together and reach
agreements that make history," Brown planned to say, according to excerpts of his speech
released in advance. "Copenhagen must be such a time. There are now fewer than 50 days to set
the course of the next 50 years and more."
Wealthy nations are seeking broad emissions cuts from all countries in a successor pact to the
Kyoto Protocol on carbon dioxide emissions. Developing countries say industrialized nations
should carry most of the burden, and complain that tough limits on emissions are likely to
hamper their economic growth.
Brown says both the industrialized and developing world can take advantage of business
opportunities in developing new energy sources and improving energy efficiency.
"This is a test of our ability to work together as nations facing common challenges in the new
global era," Brown planned to say. "We have shown this year in our approach to the global
economic crisis how co-operation from all can benefit each. Now, we must apply the same
resolve and urgency to the climate crisis also facing us."
Representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, the EU, France, Germany,
India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Britain and the
United States are attending the London talks.
Pressure has been mounting for the U.S. to finalize its position before the December conference
in Denmark. The Obama administration says it is tied to action by the U.S. Congress, where
climate bills are slowing moving toward legislation.
Other nations including India, China, Brazil and Mexico have agreed to draw up national
programs to slow the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, but have so far resisted making those
limits binding and subject to international monitoring in a treaty.
Worries over the U.S. and China have led to mounting pessimism that a deal can be struck in
Copenhagen without major policy changes.
24
"The prospects that states will actually agree to anything in Copenhagen are starting to look
worse and worse," Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N. scientific panel studying climate change,
wrote in a Friday post on the Newsweek Web site.
"Everyone realizes this is a crucial problem that we need to tackle, and everyone realizes that the
deadline is a real deadline," British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said,
following initial talks on Sunday. "I think progress is being made."
He said there was "a lot of convergence, a lot of agreement on some of the key questions"
between delegates.
President Barack Obama initiated the Major Economies Forum earlier this year as an informal
grouping to privately discuss key international problems.
The London meeting is seeking agreement on funding from the developed world for poorer
countries, to help them adapt to changes in the earth's climate that threaten to flood coastal
regions, make farming unpredictable and spread diseases.
Miliband said that no agreement on an annual funding figures had been reached Sunday. Most
estimates that hundreds of billions of dollars would be needed every year.
October 19, 2009
TheVarsity.ca | Stephanie Parish - Science section | Oct 19, 2009
Researchers predict the correlation between climate
change and ozone distribution
Cristina Díaz-Borda
University of Toronto researchers have identified the role of climate change on ozone
distribution and atmospheric circulation over the earth’s surface.
According to Michaela Hegglin, a postdoctoral fellow and lead researcher on the project, and
professor Theodore Shepherd from the department of physics at U of T, UV radiation will
decrease in the northern high latitudes by about nine per cent by the year 2100 and increase over
25
the tropics and southern high latitudes by roughly four per cent. The southern high latitudes—
mainly Antarctica—will experience the greatest jump, however, at an estimated 20 per cent,
which will be most apparent in the spring and summer.
The Toronto team made their predictions using the computer-generated Canadian Middle
Atmospheric Model. They published their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience last month.
Ozone distribution from the tropics to the high latitudes results from the breaking of massive
atmospheric “waves” that stir the air as they move from the troposphere (the lowest atmospheric
layer) into the stratosphere (the second major atmospheric layer). The exact mechanism by which
these waves break remains unknown, although Hegglin’s colleagues are currently investigating
it.
The change in ozone distribution tracked by Hegglin and her team began in the 1960s and will
continue until the year 2095.
UV radiation acts on the skin to promote vitamin D synthesis. People living in northern high
latitudes, like northern Canada, already experience above average rates of vitamin D deficiency
diseases, such as rickets, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, and seasonal affective disorder.
A change in UV radiation will also harm phytoplankton, the foundation of the world’s marine
food chains, which depend on the sun’s UV rays for survival. A decrease in UV radiation could
reduce phytoplankton populations in northern lakes and oceans, consequently affecting
organisms that depend on them for food. Reduced phytoplankton numbers might further
exacerbate the effects of climate change, as the microscopic plants take up the greenhouse gas
carbon dioxide during photosynthesis.
At the other end of Hegglin’s ozone predictions, an increase in radiation over the tropics and
southern high latitudes could have drastic effects on human health and ecosystems. Too much
UV radiation exposure can increase the rate of eye cataracts and skin cancer in humans. There is
some evidence suggesting that these ailments also affect animals.
Hegglin noted that the increase in UV radiation most likely will not affect melting ice sheets, as
it holds less energy than other forms of radiation in the sunlight spectrum.
Hegglin initially didn’t set out to study the effect of climate change and UV on the earth’s
surface, although she was intrigued by other similar studies and decided to quantify these
reported changes. She then used mathematical equations relating total stratospheric ozone with
UV radiation on the earth’s surface. “I was astonished how large the impact was,” she said.
The changes that Hegglin and her team have predicted are imminent and irreversible. “Even if
we stopped all [carbon dioxide] emissions tomorrow, [the predicted changes] would still happen.
This is because of the very long lifetime of the greenhouse gases that are already in the
atmosphere,” said Shepherd. According to Shepherd, the study highlights how climate change
can have unexpected consequences, which should be investigated further.
This research was conducted under a program funded by the Canadian Space Agency and the
Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences.
Shepherd explains that the CFCAS’s mandate is due to expire in approximately one year.
Unfortunately, the government does not see a reason to renew it. Shepherd claims that as a result
of the program’s closure, “Climate change research currently going on at U of T and elsewhere
across the country will come to a crashing halt.”
http://www.thevarsity.ca/articles/21396#
National-academies.org | Oct. 19, 2009
Report Examines Hidden Health and Environmental
Costs Of Energy Production and Consumption In U.S.
WASHINGTON -- A new report from the National Research Council examines and, when
possible, estimates "hidden" costs of energy production and use -- such as the damage air
pollution imposes on human health -- that are not reflected in market prices of coal, oil, other
energy sources, or the electricity and gasoline produced from them. The report estimates dollar
26
values for several major components of these costs. The damages the committee was able to
quantify were an estimated $120 billion in the U.S. in 2005, a number that reflects primarily
health damages from air pollution associated with electricity generation and motor vehicle
transportation. The figure does not include damages from climate change, harm to ecosystems,
effects of some air pollutants such as mercury, and risks to national security, which the report
examines but does not monetize.
Requested by Congress, the report assesses what economists call external effects caused by
various energy sources over their entire life cycle -- for example, not only the pollution generated
when gasoline is used to run a car but also the pollution created by extracting and refining oil and
transporting fuel to gas stations. Because these effects are not reflected in energy prices,
government, businesses and consumers may not realize the full impact of their choices. When
such market failures occur, a case can be made for government interventions -- such as
regulations, taxes or tradable permits -- to address these external costs, the report says.
The committee that wrote the report focused on monetizing the damage of major air pollutants -sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, and particulate matter – on human health, grain crops and
timber yields, buildings, and recreation. When possible, it estimated both what the damages
were in 2005 (the latest year for which data were available) and what they are likely to be in
2030, assuming current policies continue and new policies already slated for implementation are
put in place.
The committee also separately derived a range of values for damages from climate change; the
wide range of possibilities for these damages made it impossible to develop precise estimates of
cost. However, all model results available to the committee indicate that climate-related
damages caused by each ton of CO2 emissions will be far worse in 2030 than now; even if the
total amount of annual emissions remains steady, the damages caused by each ton would
increase 50 percent to 80 percent.
Damages From Electricity Generation
Coal accounts for about half the electricity produced in the U.S. In 2005 the total annual
external damages from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter created by burning
coal at 406 coal-fired power plants, which produce 95 percent of the nation's coal-generated
electricity, were about $62 billion; these nonclimate damages average about 3.2 cents for every
kilowatt-hour (kwh) of energy produced. A relatively small number of plants -- 10 percent of the
total number -- accounted for 43 percent of the damages. By 2030, nonclimate damages are
estimated to fall to 1.7 cents per kwh.
Coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S., emitting on
average about a ton of CO2 per megawatt-hour of electricity produced, the report says. Climaterelated monetary damages range from 0.1 cents to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, based on previous
modeling studies.
Burning natural gas generated far less damage than coal, both overall and per kilowatt-hour of
electricity generated. A sample of 498 natural gas fueled plants, which accounted for 71 percent
of gas-generated electricity, produced $740 million in total nonclimate damages in 2005, an
average of 0.16 cents per kwh. As with coal, there was a vast difference among plants; half the
plants account for only 4 percent of the total nonclimate damages from air pollution, while 10
percent produce 65 percent of the damages. By 2030, nonclimate damages are estimated to fall
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to 0.11 cents per kwh. Estimated climate damages from natural gas were half that of coal,
ranging from 0.05 cents to 5 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The life-cycle damages of wind power, which produces just over 1 percent of U.S. electricity but
has large growth potential, are small compared with those from coal and natural gas. So are the
damages associated with normal operation of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors, which provide
almost 20 percent of the country’s electricity. But the life cycle of nuclear power does pose
some risks; if uranium mining activities contaminate ground or surface water, for example,
people could potentially be exposed to radon or other radionuclides; this risk is borne mostly by
other nations, the report says, because the U.S. mines only 5 percent of the world’s uranium.
The potential risks from a proposed long-term facility for storing high-level radioactive waste
need further evaluation before they can be quantified. Life-cycle CO2 emissions from nuclear,
wind, biomass, and solar power appear to be negligible when compared with fossil fuels.
Damages From Heating
The production of heat for buildings or industrial processes accounts for about 30 percent of
American energy demand. Most of this heat energy comes from natural gas or, to a lesser extent,
the use of electricity; the total damages from burning natural gas for heat were about $1.4 billion
in 2005. The median damages in residential and commercial buildings were about 11 cents per
thousand cubic feet, and the proportional harm did not vary much across regions. Damages from
heat in 2030 are likely to be about the same, assuming the effects of additional sources to meet
demand are offset by lower-emitting sources.
Damages From Motor Vehicles and Fuels
Transportation, which today relies almost exclusively on oil, accounts for nearly 30 percent of
U.S. energy demand. In 2005 motor vehicles produced $56 billion in health and other
nonclimate-related damages, says the report. The committee evaluated damages for a variety of
types of vehicles and fuels over their full life cycles, from extracting and transporting the fuel to
manufacturing and operating the vehicle. In most cases, operating the vehicle accounted for less
than one-third of the quantifiable nonclimate damages, the report found.
Damages per vehicle mile traveled were remarkably similar among various combinations of fuels
and technologies -- the range was 1.2 cents to about 1.7 cents per mile traveled -- and it is
important to be cautious in interpreting small differences, the report says. Nonclimate-related
damages for corn grain ethanol were similar to or slightly worse than gasoline, because of the
energy needed to produce the corn and convert it to fuel. In contrast, ethanol made from
herbaceous plants or corn stover -- which are not yet commercially available -- had lower
damages than most other options.
Electric vehicles and grid-dependent (plug-in) hybrid vehicles showed somewhat higher
nonclimate damages than many other technologies for both 2005 and 2030. Operating these
vehicles produces few or no emissions, but producing the electricity to power them currently
relies heavily on fossil fuels; also, energy used in creating the battery and electric motor adds up
to 20 percent to the manufacturing part of life-cycle damages.
Most vehicle and fuel combinations had similar levels of greenhouse gas emissions in 2005.
There are not substantial changes estimated for those emissions in 2030; while population and
income growth are expected to drive up the damages caused by each ton of emissions,
implementation of new fuel efficiency standards of 35.5 miles per gallon will lower emissions
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and damages for every vehicle mile traveled. Achieving significant reductions in greenhouse gas
emissions by 2030 will likely also require breakthrough technologies, such as cost-effective
carbon capture and storage or conversion of advanced biofuels, the report says.
Both for 2005 and 2030, vehicles using gasoline made from oil extracted from tar sands and
those using diesel derived from the Fischer-Tropsch process -- which converts coal, methane, or
biomass to liquid fuel -- had the highest life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicles using
ethanol made from corn stover or herbaceous feedstock such as switchgrass had some of the
lowest greenhouse gas emissions, as did those powered by compressed natural gas.
Fully implementing federal rules on diesel fuel emissions, which require vehicles beginning in
the model year 2007 to use low-sulfur diesel, is expected to substantially decrease nonclimate
damages from diesel by 2030 -- an indication of how regulatory actions can significantly affect
energy-related damages, the committee said. Major initiatives to further lower other emissions,
improve energy efficiency, or shift to a cleaner mix of energy sources could reduce other
damages as well, such as substantially lowering the damages attributable to electric vehicles.
The report was sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. National Academy of
Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research
Council make up the National Academies. They are independent, nonprofit institutions that
provide science, technology, and health policy advice under an 1863 congressional charter.
Committee members, who serve pro bono as volunteers, are chosen by the Academies for each
study based on their expertise and experience and must satisfy the Academies's conflict-ofinterest standards. The resulting consensus reports undergo external peer review before
completion. For more information, visit http://national-academies.org/studycommitteeprocess.pdf. A
committee roster follows.
Copies of HIDDEN COSTS OF ENERGY: UNPRICED CONSEQUENCES OF ENERGY PRODUCTION
AND USE are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242
or on the Internet at HTTP://WWW.NAP.EDU. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of
News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
#
#
#
[ This news release and report are available at HTTP://NATIONAL-ACADEMIES.ORG ]
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12794
esciencenews.com (Stanford University, US)| October 19, 2009
Shifting the world to 100 percent clean, renewable
energy as early as 2030 -- here are the numbers
Most of the technology needed to shift the world from fossil fuel to clean, renewable energy
already exists. Implementing that technology requires overcoming obstacles in planning and
politics, but doing so could result in a 30 percent decrease in global power demand, say Stanford
civil and environmental engineering Professor Mark Z. Jacobson and University of CaliforniaDavis researcher Mark Delucchi. To make clear the extent of those hurdles – and how they could
be overcome – they have written an article that is the cover story in the November issue of
Scientific American. In it, they present new research mapping out and evaluating a quantitative
plan for powering the entire world on wind, water and solar energy, including an assessment of
the materials needed and costs. And it will ultimately be cheaper than sticking with fossil fuel or
going nuclear, they say.
29
The key is turning to wind, water and solar energy to generate electrical power – making a
massive commitment to them – and eliminating combustion as a way to generate power for
vehicles as well as for normal electricity use.
The problem lies in the use of fossil fuels and biomass combustion, which are notoriously
inefficient at producing usable energy. For example, when gasoline is used to power a vehicle, at
least 80 percent of the energy produced is wasted as heat.
With vehicles that run on electricity, it's the opposite. Roughly 80 percent of the energy supplied
to the vehicle is converted into motion, with only 20 percent lost as heat. Other combustion
devices can similarly be replaced with electricity or with hydrogen produced by electricity.
Jacobson and Delucchi used data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration to project
that if the world's current mix of energy sources is maintained, global energy demand at any
given moment in 2030 would be 16.9 terawatts, or 16.9 million megawatts.
They then calculated that if no combustion of fossil fuel or biomass were used to generate
energy, and virtually everything was powered by electricity – either for direct use or hydrogen
production – the demand would be only 11.5 terawatts. That's only two-thirds of the energy that
would be needed if fossil fuels were still in the mix.
In order to convert to wind, water and solar, the world would have to build wind turbines; solar
photovoltaic and concentrated solar arrays; and geothermal, tidal, wave and hydroelectric power
sources to generate the electricity, as well as transmission lines to carry it to the users, but the
long-run net savings would more than equal the costs, according to Jacobson and Delucchi's
analysis.
"If you make this transition to renewables and electricity, then you eliminate the need for 13,000
new or existing coal plants," Jacobson said. "Just by changing our infrastructure we have less
power demand."
Jacobson and Delucchi chose to use wind, water and solar energy options based on a quantitative
evaluation Jacobson did last year of about a dozen of the different alternative energy options that
were getting the most attention in public and political discussions and in the media. He compared
their potential for producing energy, how secure an energy source each was, and their impacts on
human health and the environment.
He determined that the best overall energy sources were wind, water and solar options. His
results were published in Energy and Environmental Science.
The Scientific American article provides a quantification of global solar and wind resources
based on new research by Jacobson and Delucchi.
Analyzing only on-land locations with a high potential for producing power, they found that
even if wind were the only method used to generate power, the potential for wind energy
production is 5 to 15 times greater than what is needed to power the entire world. For solar
energy, the comparable calculation found that solar could produce about 30 times the amount
needed.
If the world built just enough wind and solar installations to meet the projected demand for the
scenario outlined in the article, an area smaller than the borough of Manhattan would be
sufficient for the wind turbines themselves. Allowing for the required amount of space between
the turbines boosts the needed acreage up to 1 percent of Earth's land area, but the spaces
between could be used for crops or grazing. The various non-rooftop solar power installations
would need about a third of 1 percent of the world's land, so altogether about 1.3 percent of the
land surface would suffice.
The study further provides examples of how a combination of renewable energy sources could be
used to meet hour-by-hour power demand, addressing the commonly asked question, given the
inherent variability of wind speed and sunshine, can these sources consistently produce enough
power? The answer is yes.
Expanding the transmission grid would be critical for the shift to the sustainable energy sources
that Jacobson and Delucchi propose. New transmission lines would have to be laid to carry
30
power from new wind farms and solar power plants to users, and more transmission lines will be
needed to handle the overall increase in the quantity of electric power being generated.
The researchers also determined that the availability of certain materials that are needed for some
of the current technologies, such as lithium for lithium-ion batteries, or platinum for fuel cells,
are not currently barriers to building a large-scale renewable infrastructure. But efforts will be
needed to ensure that such materials are recycled and potential alternative materials are explored.
Finally, they conclude that perhaps the most significant barrier to the implementation of their
plan is the competing energy industries that currently dominate political lobbying for available
financial resources. But the technologies being promoted by the dominant energy industries are
not renewable and even the cleanest of them emit significantly more carbon and air pollution
than wind, water and sun resources, say Jacobson and Delucchi.
If the world allows carbon- and air pollution-emitting energy sources to play a substantial role in
the future energy mix, Jacobson said, global temperatures and health problems will only continue
to increase.
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/10/19/shifting.world.100.percent.clean.renewable.energy.
early.2030.here.are.numbers
Reuters | Timothy Gardner| October 19, 2009
Electric cars don't deserve halo yet: study
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Electric cars will not be dramatically cleaner than autos powered by
fossil fuels until they rely less on electricity produced from conventional coal-fired power plants,
scientists said on Monday.
"For electric vehicles to become a major green alternative, the power fuel mix has to move away
from coal, or cleaner coal technologies have to be developed," said Jared Cohon, the chair of a
National Research Council report released on Monday called "Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced
Consequences of Energy Production and Use."
About half of U.S. power is generated by burning coal, which emits many times more of
traditional pollutants, such as particulates and smog components, than natural gas, and about
twice as much of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
Nuclear and renewable power would have to generate a larger portion of U.S. power for electric
cars to become much greener compared to gasoline-powered cars, Cohan, who is also president
of Carnegie Mellon University, said in an interview.
Advances in coal burning, like capturing carbon at power plants for permanent burial
underground, could also help electric cars become a cleaner alternative to vehicles powered by
fossil fuels, he said.
Pollution from energy sources did $120 billion worth of damage to human health, agriculture and
recreation in 2005, said the NRC report, which was requested by the U.S. Congress in 2005 and
sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Electricity was responsible for more than half of the damage, the report said.
Electric cars have other benefits such as reducing imports of foreign oil. But they can also have
hidden costs
Materials in electric car batteries are hard to produce, which adds to the energy it takes to make
them. In fact, the health and environmental costs of making electric cars can be 20 percent
greater than conventional cars, and manufacturing efficiencies will have to be achieved in order
for the cars to become greener, the report said.
Emissions from operating and building electric cars in 2005 cost about 0.20 cents to 15 cents per
vehicle mile traveled, it said. In comparison, gasoline-powered cars cost about 0.34 cents to 5.04
cents per vehicle mile traveled.
31
The report estimated that electric cars could still cost more than gasoline-powered cars to operate
and manufacture in 2030 unless U.S. power production becomes cleaner.
Hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles with batteries that are charged by the driver hitting the brakes
scored slightly better than both gasoline-powered cars and plug-in hybrid cars, which have
batteries that are charged by the power grid. (Editing by Christian Wiessner)
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE59I5QH20091019
http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/2500/# | October 19, 2009
Electric car charging stations rolled out in Norway and
US
The first ‘intelligent’ electric vehicle recharging station has been rolled out in Norway, while
plans are underway for a ‘corridor’ of charging stations in California.
Earlier this month, Norwegian energy supplier Eidsiva opened its first Coulomb Technologies
charging station in Gjøvik.
The ‘intelligent’ ChargePoint™ stations are linked to a network that provides useful information
for drivers such as when their vehicle is recharged and where to find nearby recharging stations.
Coulomb’s European partner 365 Energy Group will install a further three recharging stations in
Lillehammer and Hamar. ChargePoint stations have already been installed in the Netherlands,
Germany and Belgium.
“I am very optimistic that the ChargePoint charging stations will soon be available in all
European countries,” says Hong Thieu, CFO of the 365 Energy Group.
Meanwhile, SolarCity and local California bank Rabobank are joining forces on plans for a
corridor of four solar-powered charging stations between San Francisco and Los Angeles in
California.
The recharging stations, which will be owned and operated by SolarCity, will be built at
Rabobank branches in Salinas, Atascadero, Santa Maria and Goleta in cooperation with electric
carmaker Tesla Motors.
SolarCity has already installed over 100 solar car recharging stations at the homes of Tesla car
owners.
“We hope that this corridor of charging stations provides new travel opportunities for electric
vehicle owners and gives further momentum to the renewable energy movement,” says Marco
Krapels of Rabobank.
For further information:
www.coulombtech.com
32
www.365-energy.com
www.eidsivaenergi.no/
www.solarcity.com
www.solarcity.com/residential/electric-vehicle-charging-stations.aspx
www.rabobankamerica.com
http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/2500/#
CBC News | October 19, 2009
Layton wants climate bill sped up
NDP leader Jack Layton says delaying an NDPproposed climate-change bill could mean Canada's position in Copenhagen won't represent the
views of Parliament. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
NDP Leader Jack Layton says a private-member's climate-change bill is being delayed to stall its
passage before a key United Nations climate-change conference in Copenhagen in December.
Bill C-311, the climate change accountability act, which sets strict targets for greenhouse gas
emissions, has passed through two readings in the House of Commons since it was introduced by
NDP member of Parliament Bruce Hyer.
It was set for a final vote after it had gone through a House environment committee.
On Oct. 8, however, the committee requested an extension of 30 sitting days to consider Bill C311, saying in its request it "has been disrupted by several unforeseen items of business, resulting
in a delay of its clause by clause consideration" of the bill.
Layton said the delay, to be considered Wednesday when the House sits, would undermine
efforts to have the bill passed into law before the Copenhagen summit, which hopes to yield a
successor to the Kyoto Protocol, a global greenhouse-gas treaty ratified by dozens of countries,
including Canada but not the United States.
"If that motion passes, it would be impossible for the bill to come back before Copenhagen, and
Canada would simply have to go and stand naked before the world with Stephen Harper’s
terrible position on climate change," said Layton in Ottawa on Monday.
Layton urged the opposition Liberals and Bloc Québécois, who helped support the bill during
earlier readings, to deny the delay request.
Bill C-311 calls for Canada to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 25 per cent below 1990 levels by
2020 and 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050. It also gives the government the authority to
make regulations to meet the targets, including penalties for contravention.
33
The Conservative government has pledged to lower greenhouse gases 20 per cent from 2006
levels by 2020.
An identical bill was introduced by Layton in the last session of Parliament. It passed its final
reading in the House of Commons in June, but died before making it through the Senate when
the election was called in the fall.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/10/19/greenhouse-gas-bill-c331-layton-copenhagen.html
Telegraph-Journal | Carl Duivenvoorden | October 19, 2009
Our biggest environmental challenge
For many people, the most critical environmental challenge facing our beautiful, blue planet is
climate change. For others, it's peak oil, that scenario where we run out of the fossil fuels that
make life as we know it possible. For still others, it's access to clean, healthy water.
jupiter images
Not only are there four times as many of us today as there were 100 years ago, but each of us is
using four times the resources. The planet hasn’t grown, but over the past century our load on it
has increased sixteen-fold.
They're all valid finalists, but if truth be acknowledged, none of these qualify as our biggest
challenge. To find that, we need to look upstream at what's behind each of these issues.
The answer we find there is likely no more palatable to you than it is to me.
The problem is us, collectively - or more precisely our exploding population and insatiable
consumption.
The population bomb
Surging human population is not good news, but it's not new news either. Thomas Malthus first
sounded the alarm back in the early 1800s. Paul Ehrlich's 1968 book The Population Bomb
predicted widespread despair during the '70s and '80s as human population growth surpassed the
limits of Planet Earth to sustain it.
Ehrich's dire forecasts didn't come true because we learned better ways to grow more food, using
fertilizer, irrigation and higher yielding varieties - but that allowed our population to continue
growing.
It's still growing today, by 80 million a year. That's equivalent to adding another New Brunswick
to the planet every three and a half days, or another Canada every six months. The 2004 Pacific
tsunami was one of the world's worst natural disasters, yet the enormous loss of life it
represented is equivalent to just 31 hours of global population growth. The United Nations
34
predicts that there will be more than nine billion of us by 2050, a third more than today's 6.8
billion.
It doesn't help that almost all that growth is happening in developing or impoverished countries,
some poorly equipped to deal with it. Ethiopia had 40 million people during the drought-induced
famine of the mid '80s. It has double that today and is estimated will have 160 million in 32
years if current growth rates continue. Other countries facing crushing population increases
include Pakistan, Nigeria, Iran, Bangladesh, China and India.
Surging consumption
At the same time, our consumption per capita is also growing. Not only are there four times as
many of us today as there were 100 years ago, but each of us is using four times the resources.
The planet hasn't grown, but over the past century our load on it has increased sixteen-fold.
There's no end to consumption growth in sight either. Thanks to television and the Internet, the
planet's poorest people pretty much know how the richest live, and they want in on our good life
of homes, cars and gadgets.
Who can blame them? We Westerners live pretty well. But in the process, we leave a huge
footprint. It's estimated that babies born in Canada or the U.S. will produce 1,500 tons of
greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes - five times the figure for a Chinese baby and 90
times that of a Bangladeshi baby. It's understandable that the rest of the world wants to live like
us, but it's not very feasible: if everyone on Earth did, it's estimated that we'd need six planets to
sustain us.
Yet our consumption continues to balloon undeterred. In August, over 60,000 new cars were sold
in Beijing alone, nearly double the number sold a year earlier.
What to do
Not surprisingly, governments are extremely reluctant to talk about the problem of
overpopulation. Universally, it's a huge and frightening moral issue to contemplate. Yet it is a lot
like a leaky roof: it will only get more serious the longer it's ignored, and it has the potential to
ruin the house. There's no quick fix, but clearly education, family planning and empowerment of
women are critical elements.
First, though, our leaders need to acknowledge that overpopulation lies at the core of our
resource and environmental challenges, and begin an international conversation on how to
address the issue in a human and reasonable way.
As for the rest of us, we'd do well to limit our numbers; understand that overpopulation is not a
problem that can be ignored or wished away; and stand prepared to support intelligent and
compassionate solutions that are befitting of our species.
Carl Duivenvoorden www.changeyourcorner.com is a speaker, writer and green consultant living
in Upper Kingsclear. His column runs every other Monday.
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/828334
Canada.com | October 19, 2009
Informal talks precede UN climate conference
With files from Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald
Agence France-Presse
Representatives of the world's biggest carbon polluters began two days of informal talks in
London on Sunday to map out common ground 50 days before a key UN climate conference in
Copenhagen.
The 17 powers that make up the so-called Major Economies Forum (MEF), along with
developing nations and UN representatives, will try to iron out some of their differences before
the crunch summit in December.
35
"We represent about 90 per cent of global emissions, so if we can get a way forward and narrow
some of the differences between the . . . countries that represent the lion's share of the problem,
then it might make those UN talks easier," British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed
Miliband told the BBC.
He said the Copenhagen talks, when nations will try to agree on a new global climate treaty to
replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012, were unlikely to succeed if left to the summit
itself.
"The truth is that if this is left to the negotiators in the formal negotiations, I think we'll fail," he
said.
The MEF was launched by U. S. President Barack Obama earlier this year on the back of an
initiative by his predecessor, George W. Bush, to speed up the search for common ground among
the most polluting world economies.
It then intends to hand this consensus for approval by the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), the sprawling 192-nation global arena.
The London talks will focus on emissions cuts, the protection of forests and climate finance-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said $100 billion a year is needed to help developing
countries tackle climate change.
Brown will address the MEF meeting on Monday and warn of the consequences of failing to
reach a deal in December.
Speaking from London Sunday, Canada's Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the day's talks
also focused on mitigating climate change, and technology to reduce greenhouse gases.
"Everyone is very aware there is only 51 days left to the Copenhagen forum," Prentice said.
"There is increasing pressure to try to bridge the differences."
Prentice said there continues to be a significant split between countries such as the U. S.,
Australia and Canada, and emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil-- who have
resisted hard caps as their nations emerge from poverty.
Canada has been criticized for not taking more of a leadership role in the global talks and
moving immediately to significant greenhouse gas reductions to combat the dangerous effects of
climate change. However, Prentice has said Canada is pursuing a realistic, "pragmatic," approach
given its energy-intensive economy.
Prentice, along with the representatives of the other major economies, was set to meet with
Prince Charles Sunday evening.
© The Calgary Herald 2009
http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=72b2f511-1183-4e90-85739ffba885e3e0#
PlanetArk.org | Timothy B. Hurst | October 19, 2009
How Green Is the New Sprint 'Reclaim' Phone?
What's green (or blue), smaller than a deck of cards and will remind you to unplug the charger
from the wall after charging? The Reclaim, the new green-themed smart phone made by
Samsung for Sprint, is loaded with a bunch of green content, a handful eco-conscious accessories
and an attention to sustainable packaging that make it more "green" than most other phones out
there.
But you can't just slap a case made from forty percent corn plastic, dip it in green paint and call it
green, can you? The folks at Sprint sent me the new Reclaim so I could answer those questions
myself.
The phone
Out of the box, I was first struck by the small size and light weight of the Reclaim. As I testdrove it, I barely noticed the 3.5-ounce phone in my pants pocket. I even found myself looking
36
for it a couple of times even though I had it right there on me. But for a small phone, it packs a
pretty good punch.
Easy to navigate and operate, with Sprint's one-click navigation which brings features like GPS
navigation, messaging and web portals like Facebook and Google to the front and center of your
interface.
While some like this stuff front and center, an electrician friend of mine who recently got the
phone told me he didn't want all of the shortcut keys on his main screen, telling me they were too
big and that he just wanted a picture of his daughter up there.
The phone had good sound and video quality on an especially large screen for such a small
device. The 3G speed was a little clunky at times, but that can at least be partially to be explained
by the weakish Sprint signal at my house where I did most of the tinkering with the features.
A 2.0 megapixel camera with portrait mirror for capturing mobile video and the ubiquitous
twenty-first century self-portraits. The Reclaim is also smart enough to ask you if you want to
share the pic you just took on the internet via flickr, facebook and YouTube. Have other digital
media? A well-placed Micro SD memory card slot on side makes transferring digital audio and
pictures a snap.
It took me a little while to get accustomed to the slide-out QWERTY keyboard-particularly the
fact that it didn't need to stay open after dialing a phone call and that closing the slider wouldn't
end a phone call-the functionality of the slider was smooth and well-engineered.
The green parts
Built from 80 percent recyclable material with 40 percent of the phone casing made from cornbased bio-plastic. The Reclaim is 80 percent recyle-able material, not recycle-ed material. That is
fairly normal. The bulk of material in most other cell phones can also be recycled and that's why
there is a market for used cell phones.
To Sprint's credit, included in the box is a postage-paid cell phone recycling bag for you to drop
your old phone in the mail to be scrapped for e-waste (which I filled three old phones sitting in a
drawer I've been meaning to recycle).
Sprint has committed to recycle ninety percent of the phones they make by 2017. With current
recycling rates at roughly one-third, Sprint admits they have a long way to go but are also quick
to point out that they have collected roughly 18 million phones thus far and have increased
recycling rates substantially over 2007.
I like the idea of the green content portals. Easily-accessed content from Planet Green including
Best of Green, Five Simple Things, All Things Green and a Green Glossary from Planet Green.
These shortcut keys access fast-loading pages of green content and info. Don't expect links,
images, flash, etc. These are fast-loading pages that provide quick access to basic green info, and
for that purpose they are excellent.
I was also too-easily amused by the chirps, ribbits and other preloaded eco-sonic ringtones that
keep with the Reclaim's green theme.
Fortunately, the instruction manuals were not big, glossy tomes reprinted in seven languages.
Only the "essentials" in manual literature were included in the package, but considering that
several pages were filled with full-color images of people enjoying their new phone way too
much, even that seemed a bit too much.
The paper that was included in the package was printed with soy inks on a paper stock that
clearly had some percentage of recycled content in it, but nowhere on the package was that
clearly labeled or otherwise discerned. Other than the plastic FedEx package the phone arrived
in, the package itself has very little plastic, only two small bags.
Festooned with a litany of certification labels and brands, Sprint has clearly made some attempts
to get the Reclaim some green cred - and most of it is deserved. Overall, I think Sprint has done
more than pull of a green marketing coups. They have taken real steps towards cleaning up an
industry that contributes an incredible amount of material into the global e-waste stream.
37
That is not to say there isn't any room for improvement. Cutting back even more on printed
materials and packaging waste and giving more attention to labeling and transparency would
make the Reclaim even greener.
If this phone does anything, it helps show an industry that little steps can make a big difference
when they are being manufactured at thousands of pieces at a time. Hopefully leading us to the
day where a phone that pays attention to sutainability and cradle-to-cradle principles will become
the norm, rather than the exception.
Reprinted with permission from CleanTechnica
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55086
PlanetArk.org | Sean Maguire and Pete Harrison | October 19, 2009
India Opens Door To Climate Deal, EU Stuck
An oil refinery is seen in Norco, Louisiana August 15, 2008.
Photo: Shannon Stapleton
NEW DELHI/BRUSSELS - India softened climate demands on Friday, helping bridge a richpoor divide, but said a global deal may miss a December deadline by a few months.
In contrast, European Union states struggled to agree a common stance for financing a U.N.
climate pact, meant to be agreed in Copenhagen at a December 7-18 meeting.
India wanted generous aid on advanced carbon-cutting technologies but dropped a core demand
that industrialized countries cut greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2020.
"If we say, let's start with 25 percent, that's a beginning. I'm not theological about this. It's a
negotiation. We have given a number of 40 but one has to be realistic," environment minister
Jairam Ramesh said in a Reuters interview.
Ramesh said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, keen to overturn India's image as obstructionist
in multi-lateral negotiations, had mandated him to be flexible.
"I tell you my prime minister has told me two days ago, 'don't block, be constructive...make sure
there's an agreement.' What more can I say?"
38
Indian is now in line with the European Union, which has promised to cut greenhouse gas
emissions by 20-30 percent by 2020 below 1990 levels. U.S. President Barack Obama wants to
return U.S. emissions to 1990 levels by then.
India also now supported a British estimate that the developed world should pay about $100
billion annually by 2020 to help poorer nations cope with and slow climate change.
Until now it has suggested that the developed world pay 1 percent of their national wealth -- a far
higher figure which some rich countries branded a fantasy.
But Europe struggled to find a common position on climate finance on Friday, as member states
guard national treasuries with a robust economic recovery still not in sight.
SILENT
The EU was silent about stepping up climate aid to developing nations, after talk last month from
its executive Commission of paying up to 15 billion euros ($22.4 billion) a year by 2020 to break
the impasse between rich and poor.
China and India say they cannot cut emissions and adapt to changing temperatures without help
from industrialized nations, which grew rich by burning fossil fuels, emitting carbon.
A draft EU report for finance ministers called the past figures "a useful estimate for overall
public and private efforts" but pointed to the "uncertainty...of such numbers."
And cracks emerged over EU plans for cuts in emissions.
The 27-country bloc has pledged to cut its own emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by
2020, and to increase cuts to 30 percent if other rich regions take similar action.
But Romania and Slovakia have proposed making the increase to 30 percent less of a foregone
conclusion, documents obtained by Reuters show. Romania also questions proposals to cut
emissions by up to 95 percent by 2050.
In Nairobi, the United Nations on Friday urged a smarter approach to biofuels that could be part
of a shift to renewable energies under a Copenhagen deal.
"A more sophisticated debate is urgently needed," U.N. Environment Programme Executive
Director Achim Steiner told reporters.
Generating electricity at power stations using wood, straw, seed oils and other crop or waste
material was "generally more energy efficient than converting crops to liquid fuels."
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55089
PlanetArk.org | Nina Chestney | October 19, 2009
UK Climate Body Urges Govt To Step Up Emissions
Cuts
LONDON - Britain needs to accelerate its strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions to have any
hope of meeting its carbon reduction commitments, Britain's chief climate change adviser said
Monday.
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which advises the British government on cutting
emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, said the recession exaggerated its progress
toward meeting its carbon budgets and could slow efforts to drive long-term cuts.
Britain and other countries have embarked on ambitious targets to reduce planet-warming
greenhouse gases. World leaders will meet in Copenhagen in December to agree on a new deal
to curb the effects of climate change.
"It is crucial (...) that government focuses its efforts on developing and implementing policies
that will lead to deep emissions cuts in the next five years and beyond," the CCC said.
Adair Turner, the committee's chairman, will present the group's full report later Monday in
central London.
39
Most of the emissions reductions in recent years have centred on gases other than one of the
most dangerous -- carbon dioxide (CO2), the CCC said.
CO2 reductions averaged 0.6 percent a year from 2003 to 2007. This needs to increase to 2-3
percent a year to meet the government's carbon budgets, the committee said.
Although the recession depressed economic activity and emissions fell by 2 percent in 2008, this
trend will not continue once economic growth resumes.
The recession also caused European Union industrial emissions to slump, which reduced the
carbon price in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and has undermined incentives
for investment in low-carbon technologies.
Finance available for investment in new wind generation capacity was also restricted. UK
capacity needs to reach 23 gigawatts (GW) by 2020 to meet EU-wide targets.
ACTION NEEDED
To reduce uncertainty in the carbon market, ideally the EU needs to tighten its cap on emissions
in the EU ETS beyond 2020 and introduce an auction reserve price, the Committee advised.
Britain can help underpin the price of CO2 by introducing a tax which adjusts according to
fluctuations in the EU ETS.
To get wind capacity to 23 GW, Britain needs to consider loan guarantees to banks so that
finance is available for wind projects over the next couple of years.
Currently, up to 7 GW of new wind power projects have gained planning permission but have
not yet been built.
New investments to ease bottlenecks in Britain's electricity transmissions network are needed by
2011 so wind power construction can begin in 2012.
A national policy on nuclear power generation is needed by the Spring of 2010 to support
proposals for nuclear new-builds going through the planning process.
Among the committee's recommendations on improving household energy efficiency, it
advocated "whole house" energy audits with a follow-up package including installation and
financing to help households reduce emissions.
In April the government announced all new coal-fired power generators need to apply the
pioneering carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology within five years of 2020 and said it
would support up to four demonstration projects.
Funding needs to be in place in the next two years for the four projects, with more funding by
2015 to support investments from 2018, the CCC advised.
(Additional reporting by Peter Griffiths; Editing by Andy Bruce)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55088
Telegraph-Journal | October 19, 2009
Our biggest environmental challenge
For many people, the most critical environmental challenge facing our beautiful, blue planet is
climate change. For others, it's peak oil, that scenario where we run out of the fossil fuels that
make life as we know it possible. For still others, it's access to clean, healthy water.
They're all valid finalists, but if truth be acknowledged, none of these qualify as our biggest
challenge. To find that, we need to look upstream at what's behind each of these issues.
The answer we find there is likely no more palatable to you than it is to me.
The problem is us, collectively - or more precisely our exploding population and insatiable
consumption.
40
The population bomb
Surging human population is not good news, but it's not new news either. Thomas Malthus first
sounded the alarm back in the early 1800s. Paul Ehrlich's 1968 book The Population Bomb
predicted widespread despair during the '70s and '80s as human population growth surpassed the
limits of Planet Earth to sustain it.
Ehrich's dire forecasts didn't come true because we learned better ways to grow more food, using
fertilizer, irrigation and higher yielding varieties - but that allowed our population to continue
growing.
It's still growing today, by 80 million a year. That's equivalent to adding another New Brunswick
to the planet every three and a half days, or another Canada every six months. The 2004 Pacific
tsunami was one of the world's worst natural disasters, yet the enormous loss of life it
represented is equivalent to just 31 hours of global population growth. The United Nations
predicts that there will be more than nine billion of us by 2050, a third more than today's 6.8
billion.
It doesn't help that almost all that growth is happening in developing or impoverished countries,
some poorly equipped to deal with it. Ethiopia had 40 million people during the drought-induced
famine of the mid '80s. It has double that today and is estimated will have 160 million in 32
years if current growth rates continue. Other countries facing crushing population increases
include Pakistan, Nigeria, Iran, Bangladesh, China and India.
Surging consumption
At the same time, our consumption per capita is also growing. Not only are there four times as
many of us today as there were 100 years ago, but each of us is using four times the resources.
The planet hasn't grown, but over the past century our load on it has increased sixteen-fold.
There's no end to consumption growth in sight either. Thanks to television and the Internet, the
planet's poorest people pretty much know how the richest live, and they want in on our good life
of homes, cars and gadgets.
Who can blame them? We Westerners live pretty well. But in the process, we leave a huge
footprint. It's estimated that babies born in Canada or the U.S. will produce 1,500 tons of
greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes - five times the figure for a Chinese baby and 90
times that of a Bangladeshi baby. It's understandable that the rest of the world wants to live like
us, but it's not very feasible: if everyone on Earth did, it's estimated that we'd need six planets to
sustain us.
Yet our consumption continues to balloon undeterred. In August, over 60,000 new cars were sold
in Beijing alone, nearly double the number sold a year earlier.
What to do
Not surprisingly, governments are extremely reluctant to talk about the problem of
overpopulation. Universally, it's a huge and frightening moral issue to contemplate. Yet it is a lot
like a leaky roof: it will only get more serious the longer it's ignored, and it has the potential to
41
ruin the house. There's no quick fix, but clearly education, family planning and empowerment of
women are critical elements.
First, though, our leaders need to acknowledge that overpopulation lies at the core of our
resource and environmental challenges, and begin an international conversation on how to
address the issue in a human and reasonable way.
As for the rest of us, we'd do well to limit our numbers; understand that overpopulation is not a
problem that can be ignored or wished away; and stand prepared to support intelligent and
compassionate solutions that are befitting of our species.
Carl Duivenvoorden www.changeyourcorner.com is a speaker, writer and green consultant living
in Upper Kingsclear. His column runs every other Monday.
Times and Transcript | Lauren Krugel | October 19, 2009
Natural gas users will save money
There are also several relatively easy and inexpensive ways to squeeze more savings out of home
heating costs
CALGARY -- Once the snow starts swirling and the wind starts howling outside their windows
this winter, many Canadian homeowners can take some comfort in knowing they'll be paying
less to stay warm.
Outside of Atlantic Canada, where more than half of all homes used oil for heat in 2003 (the
most recent figures available), the majority of Canadian households use natural gas.
With the price of that fuel the lowest it's been in seven years, those consumers will notice the
difference on their utility bills, said Michael Cleland, president and chief executive officer of the
Canadian Gas Association.
"At least for the first part of the heating season and probably well into it, what consumers are
going to see is a pretty affordable price of natural gas," he said.
As of the end of September, the average residential natural gas commodity cost was about 45 per
cent lower than a year ago, according to the CGA.
And the bargain prices should stick around at least over the first half of the winter, since the
prices of consumers' bills tend to lag the spot market for natural gas by a few months.
The reason for the dirt-cheap heating costs is twofold.
On one hand, enormous supplies of natural gas have been flowing into the North American
market, mainly from shale rock formations that until recently were too technically difficult to tap
into.
At the same time, the recession has dampened demand from industrial users, like manufacturers.
Direct Energy, a natural gas and electricity provider in Canada and the United States, has been
able to pass on those savings to customers, said spokeswoman Lynzey MacRae.
42
But how those changes are reflected depends on whether customers have opted for a variable or
fixed price plan, she said.
The lower natural gas prices are no doubt welcome, but there are several relatively easy and
inexpensive ways for consumers to squeeze more savings out of their home heating costs this
winter, said Ken Elsey, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Energy Efficiency
Centre.
"The first thing is, stop air leaks. Caulking is probably the cheapest thing that a consumer can do
to save on their heating costs," he said.
"Look at how you use heat," Elsey adds. For instance, Close the heat register in rooms that aren't
begin occupied on a regular basis.
A home can lose up to 30 per cent of its heat through poorly fitted windows and doors, said Dave
Walton, director of Home Ideas for Direct Energy.
Making sure your furnace's filter is clean could save about 10 per cent on heating costs, Walton
added.
The greatest savings could come from investing a newer, higher efficiency furnace over the long
run, but that comes with an up front cost of a few thousand dollars at least.
"Many homes still have furnaces that are upwards of 18, 19, 20 years old. And those furnaces,
when they were manufactured, were manufactured to only operate at about 60 per cent
efficiency," Walton said.
"And what that means is 40 cents of every dollar they're spending is going right up the chimney."
In contrast newer furnaces can be up to 96 per cent efficient.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Telegraph-Journal | Benjamin Shingler | October 19, 2009
Report: Hydroelectric dams on St. John River causing
environmental damage but it's unlikely they will be
removed
FREDERICTON - Alarm bells are being sounded about the future of the storied St. John River.
New Brunswick experts agree with a report released last week that says hydroelectric dams on
the river have significantly altered its flow and reduced its fish population, particularly the prized
Atlantic salmon.
The report by the World Wildlife Federation says that downstream from hydroelectric dams,
river flows can fluctuate by as much as 91 per cent over a 24-hour period.
"At times flows are reduced to the point that the riverbed almost dries up," states the report,
which examines the health of 10 major rivers in Canada.
43
New Brunswick has seven hydroelectric dams, including three along the St. John River,
generating 20 per cent of NB Power's total capacity.
Mactaquac, located 20 km up the St. John River from Fredericton, is the largest among them.
"The really big problem is the Mactaquac headpond," said Fred Whoriskey, vice-president of
Research and Environment at the Atlantic Salmon Federation.
Salmon depend on cues as they migrate along the river, and the absence of a clear current in the
headpond causes confusion, he said.
"It's the single largest headpond in the world, and they lose their way," he said.
If young salmon do manage to make their way through the headpond, Whoriskey said, they can
face an even greater risk - getting caught in the dam's turbines and turning into "fishmeal."
Whoriskey acknowledges that the Mactaquac dam is a major source of renewable energy and
will not be taken down any time soon.
"We have not found a magic, brilliant idea that would solve all the problems on the Mactaquac
headpond," he said.
For now, Whoriskey says the federation is hoping to work with NB Power to develop a better
system at some of New Brunswick's smaller dams, such as Beachwood and Tobique.
David Coon, executive director of the Conservation Council, believes NB Power should go even
further and remove some of them.
"Some of those dams should never have been built on the St. John, but they were," he said.
"It bears examination to determine what we can do about it, and surely there are things that can
be done."
NB Power, however, has suggested it may even increase its hydroelectric presence as it searches
for cheap, renewable forms of electricity.
"We are looking at potential opportunities to expand, but it is preliminary right now," Phillip
Gilks, NB Power's hydro manager, said back in March.
Power from the dams is the cheapest source of electricity in New Brunswick. In a good year,
when there's plenty of rain and the flows are strong, hydro can pump up NB Power's bottom line
by $50 million to $60 million.
Hydroelectricity decreases generation costs and provides renewable energy without emitting
greenhouse gases, said Heather MacLean, spokeswoman for NB Power.
That last point could be important, since the report also suggests that over the next century,
climate change will further alter the river's flow as the global temperature continues to climb.
44
"Climate change appears to have already made its presence felt in the watershed with snowpack
in New Brunswick decreasing up to 50 per cent in the past 30 years," the report says.
Tony Maas, director of fresh water program for WWF-Canada, says he recognizes that
hydroelectricity is an important source of renewable energy, and one that cannot be abandoned in
the fight against climate change. But he argues that more can be done to reduce the
environmental impact of hydroelectric dams.
"We haven't paid as good attention as we should to how dams impact our rivers," he said.
He says that as hydro dams are gradually repaired or replaced over the next several decades,
there will be opportunities to reduce their impact on river flows and fish life.
The Canadian Press | October 19, 2009
'Last chance' to pass greenhouse gas bill before key
UN summit: Layton
OTTAWA - NDP Leader Jack Layton is urging Parliament to pass a climate-change bill that
died in the Senate last year because of the federal election.
Layton says the Conservatives are set to delay the bill this week until after a key United Nations
climate-change conference in Copenhagen in December.
That summit is hoped to yield a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, a global greenhouse-gas treaty
ratified by dozens of countries, including Canada but not the United States.
But Layton called on other parties to pass the Climate Change Accountability Act - which sets
strict targets for greenhouse-gas emissions and calls for an 80-per-cent reduction from 1990
levels by 2050 - before Copenhagen.
The New Democrat leader says the vote on Wednesday will signal to the world whether Canada
is delaying or taking action to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The Conservative government has pledged to lower greenhouse gases 20 per cent from 2006
levels by 2020.
October 20, 2009
Globe and Mail | Martin Mittelstaedt - Environment Reporter | Oct. 20, 2009
Arctic heat wave 'unique' in history: study
Lake sediment suggests summer temperatures have only been this warm once before in last
200,000 years
The Canadian Arctic is experiencing a heat wave that has seldom been matched in the past
200,000 years, says a new scientific paper based on the study of sediment found at the bottom of
a remote lake on Baffin Island.
Scientists looking at the remains of microscopic plants and insects preserved in the lake's crusty
bottom say a comparison of flora and fauna found in the remote past and in recent decades
suggest temperatures similar to those occurring now have been exceedingly rare.
45
Over the 200,000 years, the sediment revealed a natural ebbing and rising of various species that
either favoured warmer or colder climate conditions.
But recently, there have been unprecedented increases of some algae types dependent on warmer
weather that were almost never found during the preindustrial era.
"Our findings show that the last several decades have been the most ecologically unique in
200,000 years," said Neil Michelutti, a research scientist at Queen's University in Kingston and
one of the members of the team that conducted the study, which is appearing this week in the
online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
According to the study, the only time that summer temperatures were similar to current readings
was just after the last ice age ended about 8,000 years ago, and during a warm period before the
last glaciation.
The research also extends far back into time reconstructions of previous climate conditions in the
Arctic.
Up until now, past climates have been inferred from Greenland's ice cores and the 120,000 years
of records they provide. But the data derived from the lake sediment predate the creation of
Greenland's massive ice sheets by 800 centuries, allowing scientists to peer that much further
back.
The new finding is adding to the flurry of research suggesting dramatic and far-reaching changes
are under way in the Arctic, considered the part of the world most at risk from climate change.
Last week, a team of British researchers said the Arctic Ocean is undergoing a swift melting that
they predicted will leave it largely free of summertime ice in as little as 20 years. Earlier this
year, a report suggested global warming in the decades ahead would allow tree growth as far
north as Baffin Island.
In the new research, scientists conducted a painstaking reconstruction of life at the site by
looking at the fossilized remains of tiny algae and insects preserved in the sediment at the water
body, located in an isolated part of the east coast of Baffin Island facing Greenland.
The algae are microscopic, with hundreds fitting onto the head of a pin, and the insects primarily
midges, small two-winged gnats.
While the composition of the insect and plant communities varied over time, depending on the
climate, recently the species have switched to those that thrive in ice-free conditions to a degree
unlike anything previously seen.
"The lake has followed a trajectory through the 20th century toward increasingly exceptional
environmental conditions with no natural analogues in the past 200,000 years," the study said.
Over the period preserved in the sediments, there were two ice ages and three warmer periods,
so-called interglacial eras, highlighting the rarity of modern climate conditions.
"This historical record shows that we are dramatically affecting the ecosystems on which we
depend. We have started uncontrolled experiments on this planet," said John Smol, a biologist at
Queen's University.
The lake was small and unremarkable by most standards - less than a square kilometre in surface
area and with a maximum depth of only 10 metres.
But scientists say it had one rare attribute that made it a major scientific find: during previous ice
ages, it wasn't covered with moving glaciers, but rather frozen solid. That meant the sediments at
its bottom were preserved. They weren't scoured up and deposited elsewhere, bulldozer fashion,
as were lake bottoms throughout the rest of the area that was covered by the glaciers.
The study was conducted by researchers at five U.S. and Canadian universities, including the
University of Alberta in Edmonton and the University of Colorado in Boulder.
[email protected]
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/arctic-heat-wave-unique-in-historystudy/article1330231/
46
Calgary Herald | Dina O'meara | October 20, 2009
Climate change spurs power sector expectations:
experts
Climate change is powering increased expectations on the electricity sector to reduce Canada's
carbon footprint, and stakeholders--including provincial and federal governments-- need to
position themselves to ensure it happens in a realistic, sustainable fashion, experts told an
industry audience Monday.
Photograph by: Herald Archive, Reuters
Climate change is powering increased expectations on the electricity sector to reduce Canada's
carbon footprint, and stakeholders--including provincial and federal governments-- need to
position themselves to ensure it happens in a realistic, sustainable fashion, experts told an
industry audience Monday.
Investments of some $237 billion in transmission and distribution networks across Canada will
be needed by 2030 to meet projected power demands, Pierre Guimont, president of the Canadian
Electricity Association, said at a conference in Calgary.
"That's a lot of money, and when we talk about price, we really have to consider our next
moves," Guimont said. "The electricity industry is expected to help other sectors of the economy
reduce their emissions, through transit and even gas pipelines through compressors. Expectations
are running high for tools so they can reduce their own emissions and allow the rival of
renewables onto the grid. These are all expectations rolled into something with a very, very, very
big dollar sign for us."
Guimont, who was speaking at a Canadian Energy Research Institute conference, called on the
provinces and Ottawa to update antiquated policies and make sure changes are made on a
system-wide basis.
The crux of the carbon matter is governments don't like to impose costs on voters, said Joseph
Doucette, professor with the School of Business at the University of Alberta.
"The broad consensus is that something has to be done and everybody's contention is that it
should be done by other people," Doucette said.
"It is really, really difficult to obtain unanimity in any meaningful fashion when dollars are
involved," he added. "That's when it really gets tough."
47
As well as the massive projected investment in the national grids, the federal government
requires the electricity sector to reduce emissions by 30 per cent below 2006 levels by 2020, a
more ambitious plan than south of the border where legislators are looking at reducing emissions
by 15 per cent below 2005 levels during the same period.
Alberta needs to use modern models, not historic ones, when planning the provincial
transmission grid, said Dr. Marlo Reynolds, executive director of the environmental think-tank
Pembina Institute.
Reynolds said the province needs to be thinking like the classic hockey player, Wayne Gretzki,
who said a smart player skated to where he thought the puck would be, not where it's been.
"What we know for certain is increasingly there will be technologies that will allow for
distributed generation at a smaller scale, as opposed to our past of large, centralized coal-fired
power plants," he said, from the sidelines of the conference. "We are going to have a
combination of wind farms, cogeneration, solar photo-volteics, we're going to have a whole
bunch of smaller systems, and the electricity grid needs to grow and adapt to that."
[email protected]
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Climate+change+spurs+power+sector+expectations+
experts/2121580/story.html#
globeandmail.com | Mary Gooderham | October 20, 2009
LED streetlights put spotlight on Halifax firm
In three years, LED Roadway, a low-energy light startup, expands its business across North
America
Searching for a way to use its lighting and electronics technology in a product with highperformance standards and a sizable market, LED Roadway Lighting Ltd. only had to look down
the street.
The small Halifax company focused its attention on the ubiquitous street lamps found in
communities everywhere. Some 500 million of them line highways and roads, and an additional
100 million or so illuminate parking lots worldwide.
The typical streetlight, which today uses high-pressure sodium technology, accounts for about 35
per cent of each municipality's energy bill. LED Roadway, with its own research and
manufacturing facilities and government support in the form of a loan, design assistance and a
capital investment, developed a streetlight based on light emitting diode (LED) technology that
can cut that amount in half or more.
The low-energy, long-life and environmentally sound LED Roadway streetlights now being used
and tested have the potential to reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs for
municipalities and utilities around the world.
"The sheer volume and size of the market is huge," says Ken Cartmill, vice-president of business
development for the private company, which has 20 employees.
The custom-designed LED streetlights can last 20 years, about four times the life of highpressure sodium fixtures. They are robust, made of recyclable materials, function in a broad
range of temperatures and do not waste light and energy by flooding into homes or the night sky.
In a recent installation in Halifax, the fixtures provided an average of 60 per cent energy savings
and increased the light levels on roadways and sidewalks, Mr. Cartmill says.
LED Roadway was started by his father, Charles Cartmill, its president, who has been in the field
for more than 35 years, selling lighting and industrial products through his company, CSA
Enterprises Ltd. in Halifax. Seeing the potential in emerging LED lighting, in 2002 he started CVision Ltd., an electronics manufacturing and design plant with 85 employees in nearby
Amherst, N.S.
48
Three years ago he created LED Roadway, with the help of a $2.1-million interest-free loan from
the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency's Atlantic Innovation Fund and with input from Nova
Scotia Power on the lights' performance requirements and design. Earlier this year, LED
Roadway got a $6-million equity investment from Nova Scotia Business Inc., a government
agency responsible for business development in the province.
Stephen Lund, the agency's president and chief executive officer, says it's tough for small,
regional companies such as LED Roadway to get noticed by venture capitalists, especially given
today's difficult economy. He says the home-grown firm's strong management, its compelling
product and significant market opportunities prompted the agency to make the investment, its
largest ever.
"If you've got a company that has a good product, a good management team, and you've
identified a niche market where you're a leader, you have a pretty good chance of hitting a home
run," he says.
The key to getting government funding and finding a significant market, Mr. Cartmill says, was
focusing solely on streetlights, which fall under strict performance requirements for public safety
rather than needing to be "as cheap as possible." That way LED Roadway doesn't have to
compete in "the Wild West" of large, offshore manufacturers with questionable quality.
"This is a market where people are held to some standard," he explains. "As a small company ...
we were able to separate ourselves from the rest of the pack."
The LED fixture is not a bulb but a solid-state device. It includes a series of LEDs and a power
supply set in a cast-aluminum housing. On a typical cobra-shaped lighting pole, the head is
removed and the new fixture is popped on. Although the upfront capital cost is substantial - $600
to $1,000 per new fixture - LED Roadway says there is a savings of $1,500 to $2,500 over its
lifetime.
The largest deployment of the lamps has been a demonstration project in Nova Scotia, where
1,100 high-pressure sodium streetlights in 10 municipalities as well as at Halifax's Stanfield
International Airport and along some highways were converted, with the support of provincial
and federal government energy conservation programs. The town of Annapolis Royal converted
all of its 120-plus streetlights, estimating it would save $3,620 per fixture over the 20-year life of
the lamps.
In the past year, LED Roadway has supplied its streetlights for use in a number of tests and pilot
projects throughout North America, including high-profile locations such as the Confederation
Bridge and FDR Drive in New York and as well as in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh
and cities across Canada.
LED Roadway is hoping that large-scale orders will follow, Mr. Cartmill says, particularly
prompted by infrastructure funding and programs to help pay for energy-saving projects.
*****
WHITE NIGHTS
Darkening the night sky
Anyone who has flown over a city at night or star-gazed from an urban back yard has seen the
effect of street lamps on the night sky. Typical high-pressure sodium fixtures radiate light high
into the air, have hot-spots around them as seen from above and glare into bedrooms and other
unwanted places on the ground. "It's wasted light, and it's wasted energy to produce that light,"
says Ken Cartmill, vice-president of business development for LED Roadway Lighting Ltd. in
Halifax. LED streetlights direct the beam along the roadway or sidewalk. "We've eliminated light
pollution," he adds.
Making white light
Many people are familiar with early LED lights used in tiny red pointers and traffic lights.
Indeed, coloured LEDs are much easier and cheaper to make. To produce what is perceived as
white light usually means taking a blue LED and adding a yellow-green phosphor coating, like a
lens, Mr. Cartmill says. Combining the two can be difficult to get right and especially to make
49
bright enough. Buyer beware: not all white LED lights are created equal; some may change
colour or lose their whiteness over time.
They just fade away
Unlike conventional bulbs with filaments, ballasts and lenses that can pop, fizzle and fail all at
once, solid-state LED fixtures typically never burn out. Instead, the tiny LEDs simply dim as
they age, becoming fainter over the years. Eventually they degrade to such a point that the fading
is noticeable to the human eye and the entire unit must be replaced. Most high-pressure sodium
lights are rated such that 50 per cent of the fixtures will burn out after five years. The LED
Roadway fixtures are designed to maintain their required light output for 20 years and then be
replaced.
Mary Gooderham
https://secure.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/gam/20091020/SRSBLEDROADWA
YART2007
HeraldScotland | Chris Watt | October 20, 2009
Polar leader issues climate change plea
Climate change in the Arctic Circle is forcing Inuits to abandon their homeland and move south,
a visiting polar leader will tell the Scottish Government today.
Aqqaluk Lyng, vice-chairman of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), is to lobby Climate
Change Secretary Stewart Stevenson on the plight of northern peoples during a meeting at
Holyrood.
He told The Herald that Scots must take responsibility for their actions, and realise that
emissions are already having a real effect on people in other parts of the world.
Describing the troubles facing the Inuit population, he said: "It really hurts when you know that
we didn't create the climate situation we have now. It's you down here - your coal-burning is
destroying us."
His words echoed those of Gordon Brown, who yesterday warned Britain will face a
"catastrophe" of floods, droughts and killer heatwaves if world leaders fail to agree a deal on
climate change in Copenhagen this December.
In a bleak message to a meeting of 17 leading nations, Mr Brown said negotiators had 50 days to
save the world from global warming and break the "impasse".
He told the Major Economies Forum in London, which brings together the countries responsible
for the world's biggest greenhouse gas emissions, that there was "no plan B" for the planet.
"If we do not reach a deal at this time, let us be in no doubt: once the damage from unchecked
emissions growth is done, no retrospective global agreement, in some future period, can undo
that choice," he told delegates.
Mr Lynge, the elected leader of Greenland's 40,000 Inuits and a former head of the world's entire
Inuit population, praised Scotland's ambitious targets for energy reduction.
"I think the goal that the Government here have set is an example to the rest of the world," he
said.
50
However, he added that it was up to individual citizens to make the sacrifices necessary for
change.
He said: "People themselves have to change their way of thinking, and their lives. For some of us
climate change may seem like a theory, but it's an important reality for us now.
"Climate change is visible in our area, and you can see it with changes in the fish and the other
living creatures, and changes in the migration of birds and marine animals."
Mr Lynge said the time to act was now. "The answer won't be to live like we are used to," he
said "We will be forced to change many things that we can't imagine today."
Mr Lynge was hosted in the country by Mike Robinson, who is chief executive of the Royal
Scottish Geographical Society and chairman of the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland Network, an
umbrella organisation of environmental campaign groups.
Today's meeting is one of several planned in advance of The Wave, a massive global
demonstration timed to coincide with the Copenhagen climate change talks in December.
www.heraldscotland.com
Source: Northern Climate Exchange electronic newsletter
The Independent | Steve Connor | October 20, 2009
Baffin Island reveals dramatic scale of Arctic climate
change
Study delves back into 200,000 years of history to demonstrate the devastating impact of global
warming
51
Jason Briner
Ayr Lake on Baffin Island may hold the secrets to Arctic climate change
A frozen lake on a remote island off Canada's northern coast has yielded remarkable insights into
how the Arctic climate has changed dramatically over 50 years.
Muddy sediment from the bottom of the lake, some of it 200,000 years old, shows that Baffin
Island, one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, has undergone an unprecedented warming
over the past half-century. Scientists believe the temperature rise is probably due to humaninduced warming. It has more than offset a natural cooling trend which began 8,000 years ago.
Instead of cooling at a rate of minus 0.2C every 1,000 years - a trend that was expected to
continue for another 4,000 years because of well-known changes to the Earth's solar orbit Baffin Island, like the rest of the Arctic, has begun to get warmer, especially since 1950. The
Arctic is now about 1.2C warmer than it was in 1900, confirming that the region is warming
faster than most other parts of the world.
Baffin Island, the largest island in the Arctic Canadian Archipelago, is subjected to prevailing
northerly winds that keep average temperatures at about minus 8.5C, well below similar Arctic
locations at a comparable latitude. Polar bears, arctic fox and arctic hares walk the island's
territory while narwhal, walrus and beluga whale patrol its coastline.
The island is dotted with lakes, the bottoms of which have been periodically scoured by glaciers
with each passing ice age. However, scientists have found that the sediments at the bottom of
52
some of the lakes, which build up each year rather like tree rings, have survived this scouring
process intact.
This has enabled the scientists to take core samples going back tens of thousands of years. One
such lake on Baffin Island, known as CF8, has been found to have layers of sediment dating back
200,000 years, which makes it the oldest lake sediment bored from any glaciated parts of Canada
or Greenland, according to the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.
It is the CF8 lake that has provided scientists with the sediment core showing the unprecedented
warming of Baffin Island over the past few decades, compared with a time span going back
200,000 years, a period which included two ice ages and three interglacial periods - and roughly
the time that Homo sapiens has been on earth.
"The past few decades have been unique in the past 200,000 years in terms of the changes we see
in the biology and chemistry recorded in the cores," said Yarrow Axford of the University of
Colorado at Boulder. "We see clear evidence for warming in one of the most remote places on
earth at a time when the Arctic should be cooling because of natural processes." The scientists
found that certain cold-adapted organisms in the layers of sediment have decreased in frequency
since about 1950. Larvae from species of Arctic midge, which only live in cold conditions, have
abruptly declined and two species in particular have disappeared altogether.
Meanwhile, a species of lake alga or diatom that is better suited to warmer conditions has
increased significantly over the same period, indicating longer periods when the lake's surface
was free of ice, the scientists said. Other sediment measurements support a dramatic reversal of
the natural cooling trend, they said.
As part of a 21,000-year cycle, the Arctic has been receiving progressively less summertime
energy from the Sun for the past 8,000 years because of a well-established "wobble" in the
Earth's solar rotation - the Earth is now 0.6 million miles further from the Sun during an Arctic
summer solstice than it was in 1BC. This decline will not reverse for another 4,000 years, but
changes to the climate of Baffin Island show that the cooling it should have caused has gone into
reverse in the past few decades.
A separate team of scientists analysing Arctic lakes in Alaska found a similar warming trend in
recent years compared to sediment records going back a few thousand years. They, too,
concluded that the warming was unprecedented and could be explained by human activities,
namely the build of man-made carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
"The amount of energy we're getting from the Sun in the 20th century continued to go down, but
the temperature went up higher than anything we've seen in the last 2,000 years," said Nicholas
McKay of the University of Arizona in Tucson .
"The 20th century is the first century for which how much energy we're getting from the Sun is
no longer the most important thing governing the temperature of the Arctic," said Dr McKay,
when the study was published last month in the journal Science.
Baffin Island: An ancient trading post
53
Baffin Island lies between Greenland and the northern coast of Canada and, for all its remoteness
and inhospitable climate, it may have played an important role as a staging post on the first-ever
transatlantic trade route.
Archaeologists have found wooden items and a length of yarn at Nunguvik in the south which
they believe indicate that visiting Vikings were interacting with the local natives, known as the
Dorset people, who lived on Baffin Island between 500BC and AD1500.
The scientists believe that the Dorset, who dressed in animal skins, did not know how to spin
yarn, unlike the Vikings. The three-metre strand, found frozen in the tundra, was spun from
arctic hare fur mixed with goat hair, similar to yarn found at Viking settlements on Greenland.
There are no goats on Baffin Island.
Further evidence comes from one of the wooden carvings which shows two faces chin to chin.
One has the features of indigenous North Americans, whose ancestors had an Asian origin, while
the other shows a long, narrow face and nose with a heavy beard - a portrait perhaps of a visiting
Viking.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/baffin-island-reveals-dramatic-scaleof-arctic-climate-change-1805623.html
Reuters - Business Wire | October 20, 2009
Climate Change Litigation Accelerates As New
Decisions Build Book of Case Law Say Pillsbury
Attorneys
HOUSTON & WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)-Two starkly different decisions handed down in the past few days by the federal courts illustrate
how the courts are addressing the complicated and controversial issues regarding climate change
litigation.
On Friday, October 16, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that
the complaint of the class action plaintiffs in the case of Ned Comer v. Murphy Oil USA,et. al.,
Case No. 07-60756, could proceed. Reversing the lower federal court, the court ruled that the
plaintiffs, residents and owners of land and property along the Mississippi Gulf Coast had
standing to assert their claims that the defendants' operation of energy, fossil fuels and chemical
industries in the United States caused the emission of greenhouse gases, which contributed to
global warming, which in turn caused a rise in sea levels and added to the ferocity of Hurricane
Katrina, which destroyed their property. Moreover, the court held that this complaint did not
assert a non-justiciable political question.
The plaintiffs sought compensatory and punitive damages based on Mississippi common law
precedent and the provisions of the Mississippi Constitution, and they argued they had standing
to litigate these claims based on the 2007 decision of the United States Supreme Court in
Massachusetts v. EPA. The Court held that the states had standing to seek review of a decision
by the EPA not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, and that CO2 is a pollutant as defined by
the Clean Air Act, and could be regulated as such provided that EPA makes the appropriate
finding that its emissions are an "endangerment" under the law, and there was a plausible link
between man-made emissions of greenhouse gases and global warming. While allowing the
claims based on private and public nuisance, negligence and trespass to continue, the Appeals
Court dismissed the claims based on allegations of unjust enrichment, fraudulent
misrepresentation and civil conspiracy.
54
The Appeals Court not only overturned the brief dismissal order issued by the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of Mississippi, but also harshly criticized the lower court decisions in
California v. General Motors Corporation and the first American Electric Power case decided in
the Southern District of New York. However, the court noted that the Second Circuit recently
reversed the American Electric Power case, using a footnote to remark that "the Second Circuit's
reasoning is fully consistent with ours, particularly in its careful analysis of whether the case
requires the court to address any specific issue that is constitutionally committed to another
branch of government."
"The U.S. Supreme Court ruling to classify carbon emissions as pollutants was an important
turning point," said environmental lawyer Anthony Cavender, who is based in Pillsbury`s
Houston office. "Given that the Obama Administration has already advocated for tighter
regulations related to the environment as a whole, and in particular, for tougher policies
governing carbon emissions, many plaintiffs may now feel that the time is right to file such suits,
hoping that both state and federal courts will be equally sympathetic. That tactic paid
off in Comer given the unanimous ruling for the plaintiffs."
On the other hand, in Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corporation, et al., Case No. C
08-1138 SBA, decided September 30, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
California dismissed a federal common law nuisance claim filed by the plaintiffs, members of
the Inupiat Eskimos living in a village near the Arctic Circle. The plaintiffs alleged that the
defendants, 24 oil, energy, and utility companies, contributed to the excessive emissions of
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases which caused global warming and consequently
diminished the Arctic sea ice that protects their village from winter storms, and that the resulting
erosion and destruction will require their relocation.
Here the court ruled that the complaint must be dismissed as a non-justiciable claim under the
political question doctrine of the Supreme Court's 1962 decision in Baker v. Carr. In doing so,
the court took issue with a contrary ruling of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Connecticut
v. American Electric Power, decided on September 21, 2009. In addition, the court held that the
plaintiffs failed to adequately establish that they have standing to pursue these claims, failing to
show that there was any connection between their alleged damages and the defendants' conduct.
"While each case must be evaluated on the merits of evidence on a individual, basis, the decision
in Kivalina is more in keeping with how courts have traditionally ruled--often dismissing these
types of cases as "nuisance suits" filed by plaintiffs for no other purpose than to cause headaches
for companies they politically or personally disagree with," said partner Sheila Harvey, head of
Pillsbury`s Climate Change & Sustainability team. "But as more carbon emission cases go to
trial, testing case law or reinterpreting it differently as happened here when both cases cited
Connecticut v. American Electric Power, companies may find themselves increasingly facing
potential liability if they can`t demonstrate that every effort has been made to reduce or limit
carbon emissions as part of the standard cost of doing business."
Pillsbury`s Climate Change & Sustainability team assists clients in funding, supporting, and
building technologies, facilities or products that help reduce the world`s carbon footprint.
Pillsbury`s experience advising energy clients on carbon emissions-related matters dates back
more than 20 years when the State of California first began mandating specific rules related to
reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs). Our team members have advised on more than 100 climate
change matters in the past five years, including negotiating at the international level
55
under the Framework Convention on Climate Change and on the EU`s GHG cap-and-trade
program; legislative activity at the U.S. federal and state level, and GHG-related litigation.
Pillsbury also serves clients in the area of financing projects aimed at securing GHG-emission
reduction credits. We also have significant experience assisting cleantech start ups to secure
financing and patent new technologies designed to burn cleaner fuels or reduce greenhouse
gases. For more visit, www.pillsburylaw.com/climatechange.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Sandi Sonnenfeld
Director of Public Relations
212-858-1741
[email protected]
Copyright Business Wire 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS194529+20-Oct-2009+BW20091020
PlanetArk.org | Richard Cowan | October 20, 2009
Republican Senator Says Open To U.S. Climate Bill
The Valero St. Charles oil refinery is seen during a tour of the refinery in Norco, Louisiana
August 15, 2008.
Photo: Shannon Stapleton
WASHINGTON - A senior Republican in the United States Senate, conservative Senator Lisa
Murkowski, said she would consider voting for a "cap and trade" climate change bill Democrats
are pushing if it also contains a vigorous expansion of nuclear energy and domestic oil drilling.
In an interview set to air on Sunday on the C-SPAN cable TV network, Murkowski said cap and
trade legislation, which aims to mandate reductions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas
emissions, must protect consumers from energy price increases and contain safeguards against
market manipulation of pollution permits that would be traded by companies.
56
Some of these elements already are included in Democratic legislation in the Senate and House
of Representatives.
"Count me as one of those who will keep my mind open as we move forward," said Murkowski,
the senior Republican on the Senate energy panel and a member of her party's leadership.
Murkowski's remarks came after her fellow conservative, Senator Lindsey Graham, published a
column in The New York Times with liberal Senator John Kerry, in which they vowed to work
together to advance legislation tackling global warming.
In signaling her willingness to work on a bill, Murkowski said Democrats must include tangible
incentives for building nuclear power plants and stepping up domestic oil drilling, offshore and
on land. It has got to be "more than just window dressing," she warned.
Most Republicans in Congress have dismissed the Democratic initiative as little more than a
"national energy tax" that would kill U.S. jobs at a time when the country is grappling with
severe economic problems.
While the full Senate probably will not have time this year to debate and vote on a climate
change bill, the willingness of some Senate conservatives to consider major environmental
legislation could keep the effort in play next year.
Legislation narrowly passed the House in June, but faces a tougher time in the Senate.
ALASKA SEEING CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked about the Kerry-Graham column, Murkowski said, "It's a good indicator that perhaps the
conversation is changing."
As the senior senator from Alaska, Murkowski acknowledged problems that could be linked to
climate change.
"When you see changes to the land coming about ... what is causing the loss of the sea ice that
adds to the erosion issues, yes, in Alaska we are seeing change," she said. "That's why I have
been one of those Republicans who has stepped out front a little bit more on the issue of climate
change."
President Barack Obama has been urging Congress to pass a bill reducing industries' carbon
emissions through a cap and trade system. It would require companies to hold a dwindling
number of pollution permits over the next four decades.
Companies that find ways to use clean, alternative energy in manufacturing and end up with an
excess number of permits could sell them to firms making slower environmental progress.
The effort in Congress is intended to be part of an international fight against global warming,
which scientists say could bring catastrophic consequences as temperature changes hurt
agriculture, especially in poor countries, and create more violent storms and the spread of
disease.
The problem with weaning the world off of cheap, high-polluting fossil fuels is that they would
be largely replaced by wind, solar and other energy sources that for now are more expensive,
with some of the technology unproven.
(Editing by Chris Wilson)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55103
57
PlanetArk.org | Ed Stoddard and Richard Cowan | October 20, 2009
U.S. Hunters, Anglers Lobby For Climate Bill
A man casts his fishing line into the Pacific Ocean along Baker Beach with the Golden Gate
Bridge in background in San Francisco, California May 27, 2007.
Photo: Robert Galbraith
DALLAS/WASHINGTON - An unlikely lobbying group is pressing the U.S. Senate to curb
greenhouse gas emissions: American hunting and fishing groups who fear climate change will
disrupt their sport.
Hunters and anglers are mainly a Republican Party constituency representing tens of millions of
votes in the U.S. heartland and could help swing crucial votes as the Senate tries to pass
legislation to cut carbon output.
Twenty national hunting and fishing groups urged senators in a letter last month to ensure "the
climate legislation you consider in the Senate both reduces greenhouse gas emissions and
safeguards natural resources."
Among those calling for "comprehensive" legislation were groups not usually associated with
liberal causes, like the Dallas Safari Club, the National Trappers Association and Pheasants
Forever.
One of their worries, for example, is that the fowl they hunt might not migrate as far south if
northern U.S. states become warmer.
"If you go out and hunt at the same time in the same season and the same place every year, then
you understand the changes that are happening," said Jeremy Symons, senior vice president for
conservation at the National Wildlife Federation, which claims a membership 420,000 sportsmen
in 46 states.
These groups will be going up against powerful Washington lobbies -- the coal and oil industries,
for example -- that are pushing hard to soften any mandatory pollution controls.
Legislation to reduce U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, which scientists link to global warming,
is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic policy priorities.
He has urged fellow Democrats in Congress to send him a bill before December's international
climate summit in Copenhagen. But the effort has bogged down in the Senate, where most
Republicans and some moderate Democrats are loathe to talk about the prospects of higher
energy prices that could result.
58
OIL AND WATER
Hunting and global-warming activism usually mix about as well as oil and water.
Former President George W. Bush, ex-Vice President Dick Cheney and former Alaska governor
Sarah Palin are the most prominent on a long list of hunting and fishing Republican politicians
who have cast doubt on the link between burning fossil fuels and climate change.
But hunters and anglers spend a lot of time outdoors and notice changes like shifting bird
migrations or earlier spring run-offs in rivers from melting snow.
Republicans are mostly skeptical of any move to "cap and trade" U.S. carbon emissions that
result from burning coal and oil, decrying it as a massive job-killing tax by forcing the use of
more expensive wind and solar power.
The NWF estimates that 42 million Americans hunt or fish and that those sports and other
wildlife-related activities contribute around $172 billion to the economy.
A nationwide survey the NWF commissioned in 2006 found that half of all licensed hunters and
anglers counted themselves as "evangelical Christians," a heavily Republican group.
A 2008 NWF poll of over 1,000 hunters and fishers found that over half classified themselves as
"politically conservative." The respondents were mostly white, male and middle-aged -- classic
Republican demographic.
Even so, 85 percent agreed with the statement: "We can improve the environment and strengthen
the economy by investing in renewable energy technologies that create jobs while reducing
global warming."
Lindsey Graham, a conservative Republican senator from South Carolina, broke ranks with his
party and outlined a compromise to limit carbon emissions in a New York Times opinion piece
he co-wrote with Democratic Senator John Kerry.
That won him praise from national hunting groups and local ones in South Carolina, which has a
robust outdoor sports culture woven into its rural fabric.
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55104
PlanetArk.org | Chelsea Emery | October 20, 2009
CEOs No Longer Refute Climate Change
CARY, North Carolina - U.S. chief executives no longer reject claims of human-caused climate
change, putting to rest a dispute that has raged in boardrooms for decades, said the head of
PG&E on Thursday.
Members of the Business Council, a group of executives from the top 120 U.S. companies, have
altered their beliefs about climate change significantly, said PG&E Chief Executive Officer Peter
Darbee in an interview.
Darbee was attending the Business Council's October gathering in Cary, North Carolina.
"No one among the group was arguing the science of climate change," said Darbee. "That debate,
at least in that forum, appears to be over. The discussion was really about, 'climate change is
happening, it is a challenge of vast proportions and it will require an effort on the part of
mankind to respond to this challenge.'"
Darbee also said a tangled web of state and federal laws governing energy use and conservation
was delaying action.
"The greatest challenge we face getting our business done is the unintentional gauntlet of
government regulation," he said. "What renewable energy developers have to go through -- the
hoops and hoops and hoops."
(Editing by Carol Bishopric)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55105
59
PlanetArk.org | Timothy Gardner | October 20, 2009
Electric Cars Don't Deserve Halo Yet: Study
An electric car made by Mini is seen during its presentation in Berlin August 19, 2009.
Photo: Thomas Peter
NEW YORK - Electric cars will not be dramatically cleaner than autos powered by fossil fuels
until they rely less on electricity produced from conventional coal-fired power plants, scientists
said on Monday.
"For electric vehicles to become a major green alternative, the power fuel mix has to move away
from coal, or cleaner coal technologies have to be developed," said Jared Cohon, the chair of a
National Research Council report released on Monday called "Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced
Consequences of Energy Production and Use."
About half of U.S. power is generated by burning coal, which emits many times more of
traditional pollutants, such as particulates and smog components, than natural gas, and about
twice as much of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
Nuclear and renewable power would have to generate a larger portion of U.S. power for electric
cars to become much greener compared to gasoline-powered cars, Cohan, who is also president
of Carnegie Mellon University, said in an interview.
Advances in coal burning, like capturing carbon at power plants for permanent burial
underground, could also help electric cars become a cleaner alternative to vehicles powered by
fossil fuels, he said.
Pollution from energy sources did $120 billion worth of damage to human health, agriculture and
recreation in 2005, said the NRC report, which was requested by the U.S. Congress in 2005 and
sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Electricity was responsible for more than half of the damage, the report said.
Electric cars have other benefits such as reducing imports of foreign oil. But they can also have
hidden costs
Materials in electric car batteries are hard to produce, which adds to the energy it takes to make
them. In fact, the health and environmental costs of making electric cars can be 20 percent
greater than conventional cars, and manufacturing efficiencies will have to be achieved in order
for the cars to become greener, the report said.
60
Emissions from operating and building electric cars in 2005 cost about 0.20 cents to 15 cents per
vehicle mile traveled, it said. In comparison, gasoline-powered cars cost about 0.34 cents to 5.04
cents per vehicle mile traveled.
The report estimated that electric cars could still cost more than gasoline-powered cars to operate
and manufacture in 2030 unless U.S. power production becomes cleaner.
Hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles with batteries that are charged by the driver hitting the brakes
scored slightly better than both gasoline-powered cars and plug-in hybrid cars, which have
batteries that are charged by the power grid. (Editing by Christian Wiessner)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55107
PlanetArk.org | Alister Doyle - Gerard Wynn | October 20, 2009
Climate Talks Iin The Balance"
Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaks at the Major Economies Forum in central London
October 19, 2
Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth
LONDON - Prospects for a new U.N. climate pact in December remained in the balance after
talks among big emitters on Monday but with signs of action by Brazil, India and Australia.
"It's more do-able today than yesterday," British energy and climate secretary Ed Miliband said
at the close of a two-day meeting of 17 emitters that account for about 80 percent of world
greenhouse gases.
61
"It remains in the balance in my view."
Todd Stern, Washington's climate envoy who co-hosted the meeting, echoed hopes of a deal
despite sluggish progress in 190-nation talks meant to end with a new pact to fight global
warming in Copenhagen in December.
"More progress needs to be made but we think that something can be done," he said.
Both he and Miliband said there was no "Plan B," for example to delay Copenhagen into 2010.
Earlier, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged world leaders to go to Copenhagen for the
December 7-18 meeting, up to now intended as a gathering for environment ministers.
"Leaders must engage directly to break the impasse," he told the talks. "I've said I'll go to
Copenhagen, and I'm encouraging them to make the same commitment."
Talks are bogged down in disputes between industrialized and developing countries over how to
share out curbs on emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels. Just one week of formal talks
remains before Copenhagen, in Barcelona in early November.
BALI TO COPENHAGEN
The U.N. talks launched in Bali, Indonesia, in 2007 are stuck on how big carbon cuts recessionhit rich countries should make by 2020 and how much they should pay developing countries to
fight global warming.
Away from the meeting, Brazil, Australia and India took steps that could help inch toward a deal.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that Brazil wanted to forge a common position
among all Amazon basin countries for Copenhagen and was considering inviting presidents of all
Amazon states to discuss the issue on November 26.
Brazil is considering freezing its total greenhouse gas emissions at 2005 levels.
In Canberra, Australian Climate Minister Penny Wong said the government would bring carbon
trade legislation back to parliament on Thursday and will demand a vote on the controversial
laws before the end of November.
The conservative opposition on Sunday demanded changes to the scheme, already rejected once
by the upper house, to avert a second defeat that would give Prime Minister Kevin Rudd an
excuse to call a possible snap election.
The government, which is ahead in opinion polls and could benefit from an election, wants to
start carbon trading from July 2011, putting a price on greenhouse gas and helping curb
emissions in one of world's highest per capita polluters.
And an Indian newspaper said Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh wanted New Delhi to
accept curbs on the country's rising carbon emissions, dropping insistence that they should hinge
on new finance and technology from rich nations.
"We should be pragmatic and constructive, not argumentative and polemical," The Times of
India quoted Ramesh as writing in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
India, China and other big developing countries fear they will be hard hit by climate change and
say it is in their national interest to limit the effects of more extreme droughts, floods, rising seas
and melting glaciers that feed major rivers.
A big sticking point for Copenhagen is that the United States, the only industrialized country
outside the current Kyoto Protocol for curbing emissions, is struggling to pass carbon-cutting
laws by December.
"I don't want to speculate about what happens if it doesn't go all the way," Stern said.
And in Cape Town, South Africa pointed to one area of soaring emissions -- next year's soccer
World Cup. Emissions would leap almost tenfold from a 2006 benchmark set by Germany, partly
because air travel would be added to the count.
(Editing by Angus MacSwan)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://www.planetark.com/enviro-news/item/55106
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PlanetArk.org | Guillermo Parra-Berna/lRaymond Colitt | October 20, 2009
Brazil seeks climate target for all Amazon nations
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - Brazil wants to forge a common position among all Amazon basin
countries for a global climate summit later this year, the country's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva, said on Monday.
Brazil has been seeking a growing role in climate talks designed to agree upon a reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for global warming.
Lula was considering inviting the presidents of all Amazon states to discuss the issue on
November 26, he told reporters after a meeting in Sao Paulo with Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe.
Brazil, one of the world's top greenhouse gas emitters, is expected to announce its own targets
for the December summit in Copenhagen by the end of this month.
It is considering freezing its total greenhouse gas emissions at 2005 levels.
Lula last week said Brazil, which harbors the vast majority of the Amazon rain forest, would cut
deforestation 80 percent by 2020 from a 10-year average through 2005.
Other countries of the Amazon region include Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela,
Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana.
(Editing by Brian Ellsworth and Cynthia Osterman)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55111
PlanetArk.org | Jehane Sharah | October 20, 2009
Australians To Fortify Coast Homes Against Climate
A surfer leaves Collaroy beach next to the stairs of a multi-million dollar beachfront property in
Sydney August 17, 2009.
Photo: Daniel Munoz
63
CANBERRA - Australians living beside some of the country's finest beaches will be allowed to
fortify their beachfront homes against rising seas and storms, as climate change increasingly
threatens the heavily-populated east coast.
Many Australians live within a short car-ride of the coast and are feeling the impact of more
frequent storms blamed in part on global warming, prompting national soul-searching over
whether to adopt a "retreat or defend" approach to beach living.
Environmentalists fear widespread coastal defenses could scar beaches and cause massive
erosion, as the movement of sand is blocked by concrete and stone barriers.
But the government in New South Wales (NSW) state, home to a third of the country's 22
million population, said it would override local planning and allow coastal fortification, with
appropriate environmental safeguards.
"It's not just, 'I'll build a wall', it'll protect me and I'll be right mate," Simon Smith, the Deputy
Director of the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, told the Sydney Morning
Herald newspaper.
Scientists say Australia is experiencing "accelerated climate change" because of its dry climate,
resulting in more frequent storms, droughts and estimated average temperature rises of between
1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius by 2100.
It is estimated that over 700,000 coastal properties in Australia are threatened by rising sea
levels, with coastal flooding and erosion costing NSW A$200 million a year.
The NSW government said it would list 19 "hot spot" beaches where waterfront homes were at
risk from rising sea levels, including several along Sydney's upmarket northern coast, where the
popular television series "Home and Away" was largely filmed.
Property owners in those areas would be given more rights to construct sea walls and barriers,
with the state government appointing itself as final judge over any barrier plans rejected by local
councils.
The plan would also target the famous resort town of Byron Bay and the nearby international
surfing mecca of Lennox Head, after legal wrangles between coastal homeowners and the
council.
(Editing by Rob Taylor and Bill Tarrant)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55112
The Globe and Mail | Cathryn Atkinson | October 20, 2009
Digest this: organic waste to go in a giant stomach
Rotting, smelly organic waste that contributes to climate change, or a precious alternate-energy
resource?
Grocery giant Loblaws believes the latter and has entered into an agreement with a Torontobased biogas power company to divert produce waste that once ended up in landfills to facilities
that will convert it into renewable energy.
The five-year agreement with Loblaws is StormFisher Biogas's largest partnership since the
company was founded three years ago.
"To see all the efforts we've made culminate into a partnership like this it is definitely very
exciting for us," said Ryan Little, the vice-president of business development at StormFisher.
The agreement involves taking 15,000 tonnes a year of discarded food and other organics from
stores around southwestern Ontario, or 75,000 tonnes over five years, for processing at
StormFisher's soon-to-be-built plant near London. The facility will generate 2.8 MW of
continuous power once it opens in late 2010.
A second Ontario plant is in the planning stages near Listowel.
64
Biogas plants are set up to break down biodegradable waste by using oxygen-free anaerobic
digestion, a series of processes using different types of microorganisms to break down
carbohydrates, fats or proteins in a way that is similar to how a stomach operates, said Mr. Little.
The process produces a methane and carbon dioxide-rich biogas suitable for energy production,
which can replace fossil fuels. What's more, the nutrient-rich byproduct of the process is an
organic, all-natural fertilizer that can be used in agriculture to reduce dependence for chemical
fertilizer.
Europe has been the biggest proponent of the technology so far, he added, with the number of
biogas plants increasing from 300 in 2000 to 4,000 in 2008.
The London facility will mix Loblaws's organic slurry with microbes to generate gas that
supports the running of a generator and create electricity that will be contributed to the regional
grid under Ontario's Green Energy Act.
Mr. Little believes Ontario is well placed for a biogas revolution.
"We like jurisdictions where there is a lot of food processing, where they're looking for solutions
for organics, where there are large urban centres and it is becoming increasingly difficult to
dispose of organics and a big push towards renewable energy," he said.
"There are those places that are pushing a more green agenda and those taking a wait-and-see
approach, but that's changing very fast [in places like Ontario]."
Mark Schembri, vice-president of store maintenance at Loblaws, said the chain generates about
90,000 tonnes of organic waste per year nationally.
"All the organic waste in [Ontario] is separated at store level and the produce waste, primarily,
will be packaged and granulated and sent to this facility. The thing that we find very exciting
about this is that a number of years ago, this waste would have just gone into landfill and when
organic waste gets trapped in landfill it rots and generates methane gas, a powerful greenhouse
gas."
Mr. Schembri said the move was part of Loblaws' wider green project initiative, with a similar
project taking place at an Ottawa region farm-based biogas facility. The company is also looking
to do something similar in the Toronto area, and hopes to one day take it across Canada.
Mr. Little said the biogas industry in North America is still in its infancy, but added that
StormFisher Biogas had agreements in place with 22 food processing facilities, restaurant chains
and agricultural groups to supply 140,000 tonnes of biodegradable waste.
This includes Maple Lodge Farms, one of Canada's largest independently owned poultry
processors and suppliers.
"Even three years ago, the awareness of biogas was very low. The understanding of its potential
in terms of turning organics into energy was not there, but this is quickly changing," he said.
Three other North American biogas plants are at different stages of development, said Mr. Little,
including a 3.2 MW plant near Lethbridge, Alta., and two more in the United States, in
Wisconsin and Iowa.
"In terms of Alberta, we are fairly far along; we've got permits, we've got our construction
company, we've got term sheets for our power agreement and we're still securing our organics
sources. Once we've secured them we're ready to go. We're pushing pretty hard," he said.
Mr. Little credits Ontario's Green Energy Act with providing the political will to raise biogas
from theory to viability and says this has garnered international attention.
"We're getting calls from around the world and definitely in North America from large
companies interested in having us build plants onsite to process [waste]. A lot of the large food
companies in the U.S. are watching us," he said.
"Our biggest challenge, frankly, is to decide which ones to do and which ones to pass on because
there are so many opportunities. There are far more opportunities than there are companies doing
anything with it."
******
A virtuous cycle
65
The organic waste from grocery stores, food-processing plants and farms goes into anaerobic
digesters, which break down the waste by using different types of microorganisms to break down
carbohydrates, fats or proteins in a way that is similar to how a stomach operates. The process
produces a biogas that can replace fossil fuels, and a natural fertilizer that can be used in
agriculture.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/digest-this-organic-waste-to-go-in-a-giant-stomach/article1328802/
*Note Date: October 19
CSMonitor.com | Johan Rockström | October 19, 2009
Copenhagen: A new global deal for sustainable
development?
There are nine planetary boundaries that should be respected in order to reduce risking
the self-regulating capacity of the planet. The environmental conference is only a first
step.
STOCKHOLM - Reaching
a substantive global agreement in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the UNsponsored climate-change conference this December on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is a
necessary step, but it is not sufficient. In order to avoid catastrophic tipping points, we need to
effectively manage key Earth system processes, and we need to do it now.
In the run-up to the climate negotiations in Copenhagen, it is easy to get the impression that as
long as we reduce emissions of greenhouse gases we will be safe from dangerous, or even
disastrous, outcomes for humanity.
But mounting scientific evidence strongly suggests that is very unlikely.
For decades, we have lived with the predominant belief that environmental change occurs in an
incremental, linear, and predictable fashion.
But growing evidence indicates that this may be the exception, not the rule, and that long periods
of gradual change can eventually push us past thresholds that result in abrupt and potentially
disastrous changes.
In fact, we can no longer exclude the possibility that we are crossing hard-wired thresholds at the
planetary level, threatening the self-regulating capacity of the planet to remain in the stable and
favorable state in which human civilizations and societies have developed during the past 10,000
years.
Compared with the 200,000 years or so that we humans have roamed around on Earth, this
Holocene state has been extraordinarily stable from an environmental perspective, providing
humanity with the precondition for human development as we know it, from the rise of
agriculture to the modern industrial societies of today.
In a recent article presented in the scientific journal Nature, my colleagues and I make a first
attempt to identify and quantify the Earth system processes and potential biophysical thresholds
that, if crossed, could generate unacceptable environmental change for humanity, such as
irreversible loss of inland glaciers, a transition of rain forests to savannas, massive destruction of
tropical coral reefs, desertification of current agricultural land, and the shift in the Indian and
African monsoon systems.
For each of the processes we identified, we also propose planetary boundaries that should be
respected in order to reduce the risk of crossing these thresholds and moving into an undesired
state for humanity on Earth.
We identified nine critical Earth system processes including climate change, depletion of
stratospheric ozone, land-use change, freshwater use, rate of biological diversity loss, ocean
acidification, amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the biosphere and oceans, air
pollution from aerosol loading, and chemical pollution.
Our scientific proposition, based on this new concept, is that as long as we stay within the
boundaries for these nine, we give ourselves a long-term safe operating space for human
66
development on Earth. We thereby stand a good chance of keeping Earth within the stable
Holocene state for at least another couple thousand years, providing ample opportunities to
support long-term social and economic development in the world.
Climate change is, not surprisingly, one of the nine proposed boundary processes, and here we
build on the latest climate science, which indicates that we may have to stabilize the
concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million (p.p.m.) in order to
avoid nonlinear and potentially irreversible environmental change.
We are already at approximately 390 p.p.m., i.e., we are already in a danger zone.
But when it comes to climate change, our research shows that focusing on reducing emissions
without putting in place mechanisms to maintain the integrity of current "carbon sinks" in oceans
and on land will prevent us from making any significant gains in greenhouse-gas reductions.
This is because, to date, nature has been doing us a huge favor.
Land and oceans have been providing a free ecosystem service, in the form of sinks that store
carbon dioxide. As much as 50 percent of today's carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed by
terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
But the capacity of this ecosystem service may now be decreasing due to temperature increases,
acidification of oceans, and land-use changes.
And if we continue to warm and acidify the oceans and cut down forests, we risk not only
collapsing ecosystems followed by increased human starvation, but also reducing or even
reversing this free service nature provides us . If the planet turns from friend to foe, i.e., from
sink to source, when eroding the resilience of the biosphere, we will enter a potentially disastrous
domain of runaway climate change. To avoid such outcomes will require radical action not only
on emission reductions but also on active stewardship of the world's ecosystems.
The boundaries are, in other words, tightly coupled; transgressing the boundaries for nitrogen,
land, water, oceans, ozone, and biodiversity will all threaten the ability to stay within the safe
space of the climate system. An example of this is that fresh water determines the amount of
biomass growth, i.e., the amount of carbon captured from the atmosphere in trees and plants,
which in turn determines the amount of organic matter, i.e., carbon, in the world's soils. The
world's soils hold some 1,500 billion tons of carbon, compared with the annual global emissions
of some 9 billion tons of carbon.
Whether or not humanity will be able to stabilize climate within safe levels depends upon our
ability to reduce emissions and constructively manage a number of critical natural systems on the
planet.
This profoundly changes the agenda on solving the problem of anthropogenic climate change, as
it indicates the need for an Earth systems approach to climate mitigation.
This is a rather depressing conclusion given the worrying state of the current climate
negotiations, where the rift continues to widen between what science shows is needed to solve
the human-induced climate problem and what is considered politically possible to do.
But if the best available science is telling us that the Earth system is in serious jeopardy of
tipping into an unfavorable state for human development, should today's political realities dictate
how we define success?
Unfortunately, in this drama there are no second chances. Nature does not do bailouts.
This is why reaching a substantive global agreement in Copenhagen on reducing greenhouse-gas
emissions is necessary, but not sufficient for steering clear of catastrophic, irreversible tipping
points in the Earth system.
To reduce the risk of tipping into the unknown, we need a new global deal for sustainable
development.
Copenhagen should be viewed as a first, necessary step toward this new deal.
Johan Rockström is the director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University, and
lead author, joined by Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen and others, of a new article in the scientific
journal Nature on how to cope with climate change.
67
© Global Viewpoint. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. Hosted online by The Christian
Science Monitor.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1019/p09s05-coop.html
The Northern Light | Gesner Hudon | October 20, 2009
The myth about idling vehicles in cold weather
The colder months are just about here and with them comes our bad habit of letting our cars idle
to warm up.
Sadly enough, what our parents told us about warming our cars and trucks is wrong and has
caused us to pollute for years for no reason. After extensive research, I have found that new car
technologies do not require the vehiciles to be idled as a means to heat and prepare the engine for
its journey.
By not idling your vehicle, you could help Canadians save 68 million litres of gas per year! Here
is an interesting article I found on the NRCAN website. Please keep in mind that this is also true
for heavy machinery such as transport trucks (see Detroit-Diesel website).
''Minimizing vehicle idling can save you money, prolong the life of your vehicle and help to
reduce harmful emissions.
The average Canadian driver idles their vehicles an average of five to 10 minutes to warm up
their engines on cold days. You may be surprised to hear that idling is not an effective way to
warm up your vehicle – even in cold weather! Idling your vehicle costs you money, wears out
your vehicle's engine and generates emissions that contribute to climate change, urban smog and
acid rain.
The best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it. An idling engine isn't operating at its peak
temperature, which results in fuel residues that can contaminate oil and damage parts of the
engine. Excessive idling also lets water condense in the vehicle's exhaust, which can lead to
corrosion and reduce the life of the exhaust system.
Here are some basic tips for reducing the waste and environmental damage caused by vehicle
idling:
• Idle your vehicle for no more than 30 seconds. Avoid high speeds and rapid acceleration for the
first five kilometres so that all moving parts can warm up.
• Use a block heater to warm the engine before you start it. This reduces engine wear, improves
fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. Use an automatic timer to turn on the block heater two
hours before you plan to start the vehicle.
• If you idle your car to warm the passenger compartment, you can purchase a plug-in heating
fan that can also be plugged to a timer. This is also a great technique to defrost your windshield.
• When you are stopped for more than 10 seconds, except in traffic, turn the engine off.
• Avoid using a remote car starter - it will just encourage you to start the car before you're ready
to leave, which means unnecessary idling."
68
Let's change our habits to help keep a beautiful planet.
The Northern Light | Paul Chapman | October 20, 2009
The Way I See It
Being naive or skeptical won't save our planet
Climate change is one of those topics people hate to think about.
It's uncomfortable because either you believe it and don't quite know what to do about it, or you
don't believe it and think it's a lot of hogwash. You could be one of those people who believe the
climate is changing, but don't believe it has anything to do with what humans are doing, and that
it's nature taking its course.
Columnist Gwynne Dyer recently wrote that if everything stays the same as it is right now, and
we continued to burn fossil fuels the way we do, his teenage daughter will be okay for her early
years, but her later years will be very difficult, and his grandchildren will have it harder from the
start. His predictions are so dire it's easier not to think about it.
Coming to a slightly different conclusion, but with similar consequences was an article I read in
the magazine The Walrus. It was about a geologist by the name of Dave Hughes in Alberta who
says that we cannot burn as much fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas as being predicted by
the experts, because there isn't that many fossil fuels there to burn. Within a couple of decades,
he believes we will have hit peak production, and from there we will be going downhill, and the
cost will go uphill.
It's difficult to buy into these doomsday scenarios, to listen to all the competing data. If global
warming doesn't get you, then the disappearance of the energy source that has driven the
industrial revolution will. To think that somehow we will engineer our way out of this is naïve.
It doesn't change the fact that there will be dramatic changes in how we live our lives in the
future. Our consumption of products that include petroleum and petrochemical products is
staggering. More than we can imagine.
As the world heads into climate change talks in December in Copenhagen, Denmark to negotiate
a replacement to the ill-fated Kyoto accord, this whole issue of our environment will seem like a
world away. It isn't. It's here.
The optimists claim there is still hope for humans, although, the way I see it, the earth cares little
whether we are here or not. It's been here for hundreds of millions of years, and humans for only
12,000 of those.
We have given it no reason to keep us around
The Northern Light | Carl Duivenvoorden | October 20, 2009
Green Ideas
A solar revolution has now begun
A wise man once said, "Someday we will harness the rise and fall of the tides and imprison the
rays of the sun."
69
Unfortunately, people didn't exactly rush to bring his vision to fruition. The wise man was
Thomas Edison. The date was 1921.
For most of the nine decades since that challenge, little effort has been devoted to harnessing the
free and abundant energies of sun and tide. Instead, we humans followed a path of lesser
resistance, the path of cheap, abundant and readily accessible fossil fuels. Today, oil, coal and
natural gas supply over 80 per cent of the world's energy needs. But the emissions they cause are
threatening the stability of our climate.
Better late than never, but the good news is this: there is a solar revolution under way. All over
the world, governments and companies are scrambling to develop and implement technology to
use the limitless energy that shines down on us for free every day.
• Solar heat
The simplest way to take advantage of solar energy is to use it in the precise form it arrives: as
warmth for our living space.
That's not as complicated as it may seem. The biggest factor in solar heating is design: orienting
a home toward the sun, and incorporating simple features to maximize capture of that wonderful
free warmth. The PassivHaus, originally from Germany, is a solar design that uses just 10 per
cent of the energy of a comparable typical home. The Solar Energy Society of Canada
(www.sesci.ca) and Solar Nova Scotia (www.solarns.ca) offer training, information and designs.
It's not possible to turn an existing home toward the sun, but it is easy to add a solar heater.
Cansolair, a Newfoundland company (www.cansolair.com), offers an inexpensive heater that can
be fitted to most homes.
• Solar hot water
The second easiest way to capture and use the sun's energy is for domestic hot water. If you've
ever run a garden hose on an asphalt roof in summer just for fun, you'll know just how hot the
water can get.
A Dartmouth company, Thermo Dynamics (www.thermo-dynamics.com), manufactures solar
panels that pre-heat your home's hot water - even in winter - and can reduce water heating costs
by up to 65 per cent. Other systems use technology called "evacuated tubes"; both types of
system work well, and can pay off in savings. The Cardinal Motor Inn in Sudbury, Ontario is
installing solar panels that will reduce the motel's energy use by 17 per cent. The Listel Hotel in
Vancouver has installed a system that will pay for itself in just six years.
• Solar cooking
Any inquisitive kid knows what happens when you use a magnifying glass to focus a sunbeam;
pity the ant. On a larger scale, that same principle can be used to cook a turkey. A friend of mine
recently bought a solar oven - basically a microwave-sized box of glass and mirrors - and now
regularly uses it to cook lunch.
70
• Solar electricity It's one thing to heat air or water, but quite another to produce electricity from
the sun. Yet, that's where much of the solar world's focus is now.
Solar power panels are expensive, but they are becoming mainstream in places like Ontario and
Germany, where subsidies (called "feed-in tariffs") help bring down the cost. Germany is a world
leader, with 1.3 million solar power 'plants' on rooftops across the country. A total of 1,300
megawatts of capacity were added in 2007 alone – equal to three times our Belledune Generating
Station. Germany is no sunny tropic either; most of the country lies further north than New
Brunswick.
Large-scale solar power projects are becoming feasible thanks to new technology like parabolic
trough mirrors and solar power towers. Both Australia and Argentina are planning solar projects
that would generate more power than NB's biggest plant, Coleson Cove.
With the threats of climate change and resource depletion looming larger, we'd do well to listen
to the wise man, and join the solar revolution. Then once that's done, we can turn our attention to
the tides.
October 21, 2009
Times&Transcript | Beth McLaughlin | October 21, 2009
Real benefits from Cocagne's sustainable
development group
"People say you work for non-profit because you can't do anything else. I chose this work.
Helping people to realize that it is the little things that matter is very satisfying, meaningful, real
and direct. (I have) fantastic people to work with, in this beautiful place" says Jocelyne Gauvin,
Co-ordinator of the Sustainable Development Group of Cocagne.
In the 1700s, explorer Nicholas Denys described the area as 'le pays de Cocagne' (land of
plenty). The non-profit environmental group is working to assure that plenitude is restored.
The Sustainable Development Group of Cocagne is better known as the Groupe de
développement durable du Pays de Cocagne (GDDPC) by those in the region. The group evolved
from the elimination of a government sponsored Sustainable Development Committee a decade
ago. "The GDDPC acts as a catalyst to furnish possibilities, mechanisms and opportunities that
empower citizens toward sustainable development," explains Ms. Gauvin.
The Sustainable Development Group of Cocagne was formed in 2000 and incorporated in 2003.
Starting with the basic element of water (wells, rivers and bays), the group facilitated, with a
$2,700 incentive for homeowners from the NB Environmental Trust Fund program, the
upgrading of 115 septic systems over a five-year period. The remaining costs were paid by the
owner, thereby injecting $600,000 cash into the local economy.
This restoration also diverted up to 35 million litres of wastewater annually from direct entry into
the environment. This was a beneficial win-win-win public-private partnership.
"The entire program engendered such great communication," explains the co-ordinator. "People
phoned to inquire about the program, then went on to discuss other matters. We got new
volunteers and new ideas for future programs. That is how the Speaker Series came to be."
In its ninth year, the GDDPC's special talk series addresses topics such as renewable energies,
organic gardening and health -- all of great local interest. Speakers are mainly New
Brunswickers: civil servants, business people and other experts in their field.
71
Presently four people work part-time at GDDPC and 20 volunteers participate regularly in their
various projects. Depending on the type of project, (a clean up, for example) 40 to 60 people will
come out. Funds come from the NB Environmental Trust Fund, EcoAction (the federal
Department of Environment), the Fondation des Jeux de l'Acadie, donations and partners' service
contracts. In-kind donations from local businesses are a great help. GDDPC has 15 to 30
different partners, telling of the work being done from year to year.
A demonstration garden using non-indigenous plants at the École Blanche Bourgeois led to great
community involvement in gardening. Plans for new gardens to reflect biodiversity and
indigenous plants are in the works.
Matching educational outcomes and highlighting entrepreneurship resulted in a Seed Selling
program. NB Environmental Network award-winning Littoral et vie, educators and researchers
from l'Université de Moncton, had a Grade 3 class study the effect of sedimentation on water
quality. Follow-up by the nine-year-olds included writing letters to a manufacturer of ATVs
asking that a sticker be applied to the machines reminding drivers to not ride through
watercourses! The Youth Environmental Leadership program, funded by the Fondation des Jeux
de l'Acadie, is in its fourth year in the schools. Now francophone youth participation is
dominating the ranks.
There's more. Partnering with the Kent Watershed Association, water quality is monitored
monthly in the Cocagne, Little Bouctouche, Bouctouche and Kouchibougouacsis rivers.
A bird monitoring program identified 196 species and thanks to avid bird species reporter LouisÉmile Cormier, that list has grown to 218. Shore bird surveys with Bird Studies Canada and
beach cleanups are ongoing. The Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence Coalition on Sustainability will
help provide training on how to measure coastal erosion. Gathering this data for several years
will yield a good profile of coastal changes. Couple this with the Conservation Council's Inka
Milewski's study on the state of the bays of New Brunswick's eastern coast and the extensive
Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise Study by Environment Canada will bring about
recommendations to better care for our estuaries and waterways.
Their most recent project is called Transition Cocagne, based on the Transition Movement begun
in Totnes, England. "Getting to know your community, its people, its resources are essential"
states Léo-Paul Bourgeois, co-president of the GDDPC's board, "to help people adapt to the
changes we are undergoing because of the prices and supplies of fossil fuels." To that end,
workshops will begin soon. Food and lodging (gardening, preserving and energy efficient
buildings) will be some of the topics.
* Beth McLaughlin, of Moncton, has a Masters degree in Environmental Studies and is a retired
teacher. Her series will appear in this space every second Wednesday.
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/search/article/831048
Pascal Fletcher | MIAMI (Reuters) | Oct 21, 2009
Southeast U.S. exposed to climate change impact:
Oxfam
Poverty and climate hazards make the southeast United States the country's most vulnerable area
to climate change impact, Oxfam America said on Wednesday.
A report released by the relief organization identified high-risk "hotspots" across 13 southeast
states from Arkansas to Virginia where poverty factors combined with high risk of drought,
flooding, hurricanes and sea-level rise.
"Social factors like income and race do not determine who will be hit by a natural disaster, but
they do determine a population's ability to prepare, respond, and recover when disaster does
strike," Oxfam America President Raymond Offenheiser said in a statement accompanying the
report.
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"As climate change increases and intensifies floods, storms, and heat waves, many of the world's
poorest communities, from Biloxi (Mississippi) to Bangladesh, will experience unprecedented
stress," Offenheiser added.
Oxfam said the study, using a method developed by experts from the University of South
Carolina's Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute, for the first time overlaid risk of climate
hazards with social variables.
It was released at a time when President Barack Obama's administration is trying to push a
climate change bill through Congress ahead of a United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen
in December. The initiative faces opposition from Republicans.
But progress on the bill in Congress is seen as vital to unblocking an impasse on carbon
emissions targets and financing at the U.N.-led talks.
"Congress must act now to address climate change and invest in the resiliency of poor
communities on the frontlines of climate change at home and abroad," Offenheiser said.
The Oxfam report, available at www.oxfamamerica.org/adapt, includes layered maps that depict
different levels of social and climate change-related hazard vulnerability in the U.S. southeast,
which accounts for roughly 80 percent of all U.S. counties that experience persistent poverty.
MIAMI-DADE AMONG HIGH-RISK ZONES
For example, one identified high-risk area was Iberia Parish in Louisiana, which had some of the
highest hazard exposures -- 76.8 percent of land in a flood zone, 78.9 percent in the extreme
drought zone, 56 percent in a sea-level rise zone, and all within a hurricane wind zone.
It also had some of the highest social vulnerability scores, due to its growing Latino population
with young children, racial inequalities, and employment dependencies on industries like fishing,
oil, and gas.
"Given Iberia's propensity to climate disaster and high social vulnerability, most of the families
there will be negatively affected if any one of the climate risks occurs," the Oxfam report said.
Poor families were among the worst affected when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in
Louisiana in 2005.
Miami-Dade County in Florida -- a state viewed by many as a playground for the rich -- was also
qualified by the report as a high-risk area, whose social vulnerability was reflected in the
prevalence of households headed by women earning low wages, and large communities of
immigrants, many of them poor. Miami-Dade has high numbers of Haitian, Cuban and other
Caribbean immigrants.
Overlaid onto this was Miami-Dade's high climate hazard exposure -- over half of the county lies
within a flood zone, over 40 percent is in an extreme drought zone, 38 percent is at sea-level rise
risk, and all of it is in a hurricane zone.
Coastal counties suffering from both high exposure and high social vulnerability include most of
coastal south Texas, portions of south Louisiana, western Florida north of Tampa, western
Alabama, and the coastal plains of South Carolina.
The Oxfam report urged vulnerable communities to lobby local, state and national policymakers
to back climate change legislation that reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and to strengthen
disaster preparedness and response plans.
(Editing by Eric Beech)
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59K4PR20091021?pageNumber=1
&virtualBrandChannel=11621
Canadians for Action on Climate Change | October 21, 2009
Climate Change Solution put forward by Conservative
MPP Randy Hillier - Stop Breathing
73
In a most outright display of disdain toward climate change action – Randy Hillier - MPP of
Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox, responded to an email regarding climate change by expressing that
organizers of a climate change action organization should take hold of their argument and ‘Stop
Breathing.’ In a communication dated October-20-09 2:34 PM Mr. Hillier wrote to the non
government organization ‘Canadians for Action on Climate Change’ a message stating the
following:
“Be the first to take hold of your argument and embrace the prevention of Global warming. Stop
CO2 *emmisions now - stop breathing. Randy Hillier” (*Spelling error is his)
Cory Morningstar spokesperson for Canadians for Action on Climate Change states ‘The
conservative party is succeeding in distracting Canadians of the very real climate emergency that
is destroying our planet and risking the future of civilization itself. This very real planet ending
threat of catastrophic global warming is taken so lightly that action is successfully being
portrayed by the conservatives as ‘optional’. How many times do we need to read about
methane percolating out of the poles before we wake up to the harsh fact that this is one big
tipping point we are crossing today, now, as we speak? Randy Hillier’s response clearly validates
his parties overwhelming ignorance on climate change, as well as the parties disdain for the
Canadian people fighting for our children’s very survival on this planet.”
“If ever there was a need for a non confidence vote this is it.” says Morningstar. “The
conservative government’s blatant contempt for any action on climate change is irresponsible
beyond belief. The entire world is beyond dangerous climate change. We all are facing a real
and rapidly rising risk of total catastrophe. Mothers should be outraged. Not only are we in a
car barreling full speed toward a cliff – we have our children strapped in the back seats. In our
society we call this infanticide. Canada has written a suicide note and the note is signed by the
conservative government. The shortsightedness and lack of vision is not only appalling, it is
terrifying.”
The latest science tells us that we have to peak our emissions now and bring them back down to
zero as quickly as possible. (See Climate Change Imperative below) Leading climatologists
including Holdren, Hansen, and Schellnhuber are telling us we have ten years to get to zero in
order to avoid the worst tipping points and GHG emissions that will commit us to 0.4C or more
in the not so distant future. Eighteen months ago, no one dared imagine humanity pushing the
climate beyond an additional two degrees C of heating, but rising carbon emissions and inability
to agree on cuts has meant science must now consider the previously unthinkable. “Two degrees
C is already gone as a target,” said Chris West of the University of Oxford’s UK Climate
Impacts Programme. “Four degrees C is definitely possible…This is the biggest challenge in our
history,” West told participants at the “4 Degrees and Beyond, International Climate Science
Conference” at the University of Oxford last week. A four-degree C overall increase means a
world where temperatures will be two degrees warmer in some places, 12 degrees and more in
others, making them uninhabitable.
Recent Climate Change Imperative
Comments by Schellnhuber who ranks among the world's half-dozen most eminent climate
scientists.
His latest report has monumental implications for the pivotal meeting in December in
Copenhagen, where world leaders, must try to agree on reversing global warming in order to
save humanity.
2009: G-8 leaders agreed in July to limit the global temperature rise to 2 degrees C (3.6 F) above
the pre-industrial level at which human civilization developed. Schellnhuber, addressing the
74
Santa Fe conference, joked that the G-8 leaders agreed to the 2C limit "probably because they
don't know what it means." In fact, even the "brutal" timeline of the WBGU study, Schellnhuber
cautioned, would not guarantee staying within the 2 C target. It would merely give humanity a
two out of three chance of doing so -- "worse odds than Russian roulette," he wryly noted. "But it
is the best we can do." To have a three out of four chance, countries would have to quit carbon
even sooner. Likewise, we could wait another decade or so to halt all greenhouse emissions, but
this lowers the odds of hitting the 2 C target to fifty-fifty. "What kind of precautionary principle
is that?" Schellnhuber asked.
Schellnhuber: "I myself was terrified when I saw these numbers." He urges governments to
agree in Copenhagen to launch "a Green Apollo Project." Like John Kennedy's pledge to land a
man on the moon in ten years, a global Green Apollo Project would aim to put leading
economies on a trajectory of zero carbon emissions within ten years. Combined with carbon
trading with low-emissions countries, Schellnhuber says, such a "wartime mobilization" might
still save us from the worst impacts of climate change.
Most recently, Schellnhuber told the 4 degrees and beyond conference in Oxford: “Political
reality must be grounded in physical reality or it’s completely useless.” Schellnhuber recently
briefed U.S. officials from the Barack Obama administration – he states that they chided him that
his findings were “not grounded in political reality” and that “the [U.S.] Senate will never agree
to this”. Schellnhuber told them that the U.S. must reduce its emissions from its current 20
tonnes of carbon per person average to zero tonnes per person by 2020 to have an even chance of
stabilising the climate around two degrees C. “Policymakers who agreed to a two-degree C goal
at the G20 summit easily fool themselves about what emission cuts are needed,” Schellnhuber
said. Even with a two-degree rise, most of the world’s coral reefs will be lost, large portions of
the ocean will become dead zones, mountain glaciers will largely vanish and many other
ecosystems will be at risk, Schellnhuber warned. And there is the risk of reaching a tipping point
where the warming rapidly accelerates.
For further information, please contact:
Kevin Lomack | Communications | 519.872.0978
Cory Morningstar | 519.642.4890
GlobeInvestor.com | Shawn Mccarthy - Global Energy Reporter | October 21, 2009
Oil sector's 'intensity' emission rules assailed
OTTAWA -- Canada's two biggest chemical companies are urging Ottawa to adopt a single,
national emissions cap for greenhouse gases (GHG), rejecting the oil industry argument that the
oil sands sector needs an "intensity-based" system to continue its growth.
DuPont Canada Inc. and Dow Chemical Canada Inc. joined with a handful of other companies
and environmental groups in supporting a national regulatory system with "common definitions
and standards."
"The cap-and-trade system should place an absolute, national cap on covered emissions," the
group said in a statement released yesterday. It added that intensity measures are "not suitable"
for determining caps faced by large emitters, such as oil companies, chemical producers and
power companies.
Different types of caps - absolute versus intensity - would create "equity issues" as by allocating
greater emissions room for some sectors at the expense of others. It could also undermine the
efficient trading of emission credits, a system designed to encourage the most cost-effective,
economy-wide reduction of emissions, the group warned.
75
In addition to the two chemical companies, the statement was signed by Catalyst Paper Corp.,
Direct Energy, Spectra Energy, Rio Tinto PLC, Enmax Corp., Royal Bank of Canada and
Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice has yet to unveil its new regulatory plan for larger
greenhouse gas emitters, but is expected to provide broad outlines prior to a climate change
meeting in Copenhagen in December.
Those regulations "must be stringent enough to achieve necessary emissions reductions within
time frames that prevent an unacceptable level of GHG concentrations and climate change," the
group's statement said.
The Calgary-based oil industry is urging Mr. Prentice to follow Alberta's lead in setting specific,
intensity-based targets for each major emitter.
The intensity approach, which would apply on a per barrel basis, would reduce the cost of
complying with emission regulations in the rapidly expanding oil sands sector. But other
provinces and industries worry they would be required to pick up the burden in order to meet
overall national caps.
Under a cap-and-trade system, the government would set a national emissions level, and then
require industry to acquire permits for each tonne of carbon emitted below that cap.
Governments could either provide free allocation initially, or auction the allocation permits. "We
do not believe that caps for individual sectors are appropriate," DuPont spokesman Roger
Goodman said.
Dow Chemical spokesman Jonathan Moser said intensity targets are incompatible with a national
cap-and-trade plan, particularly given the desire to make it compatible with a proposed
regulatory system in the United States.
© The Globe and Mail
http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/GAM.20091021.REMISSIONS21ART1936/GIS
tory/
21 October 2009 –
From Eddie’s subscription to the IISD Climate Change Information Mailing List
Is It Too Late to Prevent Catastrophic Climate
Change?
by Clive Hamilton , October 2009
A paper under this title can now be read at
http://www.clivehamilton.net.au/cms/index.php?page=articles
ABSTRACT
Recent analysis of carbon budgets shows that the timing and scale of emission
reductions needed to avert dangerous climate change are well beyond any
national policy proposals or anticipated international agreement.
There have been two alarming developments in recent years. First, climate
scientists are reporting that the scale of damages associated with warming of
2°C is much worse than previously believed, suggesting that more stringent
emission cuts are essential.
Secondly, global growth in greenhouse gas emissions is much higher than
anticipated a few years ago and the world is now on a warming path that is
worse than the worst-case scenario. Rather than decarbonising, the world is
carbonising at an unprecedented rate.
Analysis reviewed in this paper shows that, under the most optimistic
assumptions about the timing and extent of global greenhouse gas emission
reductions, cumulative emissions over the next few decades will result in
76
atmospheric concentrations reaching 650 ppm of CO2-e, associated with warming
of 4°C or more before the end of the century, a temperature not seen on Earth
for 15 million years.
It now seems almost certain that, if it has not occurred already, within the
next several years enough warming will be locked into the system to set in
train positive feedback processes that will overwhelm any attempts to cut
back on carbon emissions. Humans will be powerless to stop the shift to a new
climate on Earth, one much less sympathetic to life.
From C3 News Digest (Climate Change Central, Alberta)
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson releases a plan that will make Vancouver the greenest city by 2020.
Vancouver 2020: A Bright Green Future sets out the broad long-term vision as well as ten specific goals
to be achieved by 2020:
 Making the city a mecca for green enterprise by setting up a low-carbon economic
development zone to attract investment for advancing renewable energy, energy-efficient
and low-carbon technologies, with the object of creating 20,000 new green jobs.
 Eliminating Vancouver’s dependence on fossil fuels with a reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions by 33 per cent from 2007 levels.
 Making Vancouver a world leader in the design and construction of green buildings and,
by 2020, making all new construction in the city carbon-neutral while improving efficiency
of existing buildings by 20 per cent.
 Encouraging greater green mobility by having more than 50 per cent of residents walking,
cycling or using public transit to move around the city.
 Reducing the amount of solid waste per capita that goes to landfills or is incinerated by
40 per cent.
 Giving every citizen easy access to nature by providing “incomparable access to green
spaces” by expanding “the world’s most spectacular urban forest in Stanley park” so that
by 2020 every person would live within a five-minute walk of a park, beach or greenway.
Another 150,000 trees will be planted in the city within the next 10 years.
 Reducing the ecological footprint of Vancouver by 33 per cent on the way to realizing the
“one-planet footprint.”
 Maintaining the highest international standards for drinking water but reducing the percapita consumption of water by 33 per cent.
 Achieving the cleanest air of any major city in the world.
 Becoming a global leader in urban food systems and reducing the carbon footprint of
food production by 33 per cent.
The Guardian | October 21, 2009
Monckton's circus of climate change denial arrives in
cloud cuckoo land
Communists who piled out of the Berlin Wall and into the green movement have taken over – in
Lord Monckton's mind
77
The 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley aka Christopher Monckton is seen by his home at
Carie, Loch Rannoch, Scotland. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
Lord Monckton, our very favourite climate change sceptic, is currently on a multi-date tour of
North America gigging at any local free market institute which will host him and his views. We
know not whether souvenir T-shirts are available at trestle tables by the entrance, but feel it
would be a wasted marketing opportunity if they were not. He certainly provides a pithy T-shirt
slogan towards the beginning of his lecture and slideshow: "The science is in, the truth is out, the
scare is over."
Monckton's travelling show recently rolled into St Paul, Minnesota, where the organisers kindly
allowed a video of Monckton's speech to be recorded. By all means watch the full 95 mins –
you'll get to hear his interesting take on DDT and HIV/Aids – but let's concentrate on an excerpt
of his closing remarks which have been attracting attention in recent days.
As is now the norm among sceptics, the speech contained a hearty serving of conspiracy theory
about how "factions of the left" are colluding to take over the world and "do not care how many
people die" as a result of their misguided policies. But the conclusion (go to 1:31:00) ratcheted
up the conspiracy dial to max with a rant about how a "communist world government" is going
to be created imminently. And for good measure, he throws in mention of Churchill to
sledgehammer home the point to the audience that the environmental "communists" are as much
a threat to the freedom-loving Americans as the Nazis:
At Copenhagen this December, weeks away, a treaty will be signed. Your president will
sign it. Most of the third world countries will sign it, because they think they're going to
get money out of it. Most of the left-wing regimes from the European Union will rubber
stamp it. Virtually nobody won't sign it. I have read that treaty and what it says is this:
that a world government is going to be created. The word 'government' actually appears
as the first of three purposes of the new entity. The second purpose is the transfer of
wealth from the countries of the West to Third World countries, in satisfaction of what is
called, coyly, 'climate debt' – because we've been burning CO2 and they haven't. And
we've been screwing up the climate and they haven't. And the third purpose of this new
entity, this government, is enforcement.
How many of you think the world 'election', or 'democracy' or 'vote', or 'ballot' occurs
anywhere in the 200 pages of that treaty? Quite right, it doesn't appear once. So at last the
communists who piled out of the Berlin Wall and into the environmental movement and
took over Greenpeace so that my friends who founded it left within a year because they'd
78
captured it. Now the apotheosis is at hand. They are about to impose a communist world
government on the world. You have a president who has very strong sympathy with these
points of view and he'll sign. He'll sign anything. He's a Nobel peace laureate. Of course,
he will. And the trouble is this: if that treaty is signed your constitution says it takes
precedence over your constitution and you can't resile from that treaty unless you get the
agreement of all the other state parties. And because you'll be the biggest paying country
they'll not let you out.
So, thank you America. You were the beacon of freedom. It is a privilege to merely to
stand on this soil of freedom while it is still free. But, in the next few weeks, unless you
stop it, your president will sign your freedom, your democracy, and your prosperity away
forever. And neither you, nor any subsequent government you may elect, would have any
power whatsoever to take it back again. That is how serious it is. I have read the treaty. I
have the seen the stuff about government, climate debt and enforcement. They are going
to do this to you whether you like it or no.
But I think it is here - here in your great nation, which I so love and I so admire – it is
here that perhaps, at this eleventh hour, at the fifty-ninth minute and fifty-ninth second,
you will rise up and you will stop your president from signing that dreadful treaty, that
purposeless treaty, for there is no problem with the climate and, even if there were,
economically speaking, there's nothing we can do about it.
So I end by saying to you the words Winston Churchill addressed to your president in the
darkest hour before the dawn of freedom in the second world war. He quoted from your
great poet Longfellow: 'Sail on, O ship of state. Sail on, union, o strong and great.
Humanity with all it fears. With all the hopes of future years. Is hanging breathless on thy
fate.' Thank you.
Can anyone match Monckton for climate scepticism rhetoric?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/oct/20/climate-change-denial-monckton
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PlanetArk.org | Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent | October 21, 2009
Space Agencies, Google Seek Ways To Save Forests
An aerial view of a cattle farm is seen in an Amazonian deforested jungle close to Maraba, in
Brazil's central state of Para in this May 3, 2009 file photo.
Photo: Paulo Whitaker
OSLO, NORWAY - Space agencies and Google Inc are helping an international project to
monitor forests by satellite to fight global warming, the head of an international earth
observation group said on Tuesday.
Deforestation from Brazil to Indonesia is blamed for emitting about a fifth of all greenhouse
gases from human activities -- plants soak up carbon as they grow and release it when they burn
or rot.
"The only way to measure forests efficiently is from space," said Jose Achache, director of the
Group on Earth Observations (GEO), which is linking governments, space agencies such as
NASA and others in a new partnership to measure forests.
The system would aim to make annual assessments of forest carbon stocks, compared to a
current five-year cycle.
Google, which offers satellite images via its Google Earth site, would contribute with a related
project, Achache told Reuters in a phone interview from London. Details of the company's
involvement would be given in November.
A 190-nation U.N. climate pact due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December is likely to
approve a plan to slow deforestation in tropical nations. That may include putting a price on
carbon stored in trees as part of a new market.
"Investors will want some kind of guarantee that when they are putting money into forests that
the forests ... will remain there and remain in good condition," Achache said.
NASA, ESA
America's NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space agencies of Japan,
Germany, Italy, India and Brazil were among those taking part in the forest mapping.
80
Costs would be low, Achache said, since satellite data were already being collected for other
purposes. GEO's members include 80 governments as well as U.N. organizations.
Seven countries would act as pilot projects in 2009-10 -- Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Guyana,
Indonesia, Mexico and Tanzania -- based on satellite images taken in recent months.
Satellite images from the U.S. Landsat go back to 1972 -- enabling the world to work out
deforestation rates by comparing images with snapshots of current forests. A base year of 1990
might be used, in line with the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol for cutting industrial emissions.
Under the satellite project, a first phase was to show how much of a country was forested. A
second phase would be to work out how much carbon was locked up in each type of forest.
Stephen Briggs, head of ESA's Earth Observation Science, Applications and Future
Technologies unit, said radar images of forests can measure carbon above ground since the
microwaves are scattered by passing through vegetation.
"We need some form of validated, assured mechanism," he said. Assessments of carbon stocks
from space need to be calibrated against measurements taken on the ground.
David Singh, head of Conservation International in Guyana, said forest credits could help the
South American nation.
"So far we have low deforestation rates. But there is an upgraded road joining northern Brazil to
coastal Guyana. That has the possibility of opening the region," he said.
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55120
Telegraph-Journal | Andrea Harden-Donahuet and Julie Michaud | October 21, 2009
Toward a green economy
The world is at a crucial moment in the battle against runaway climate change. Entire
populations and ecosystems are threatened by climate change impacts including drought, heat
waves, fires, floods, storms and rising sea levels. World leaders will meet in Copenhagen,
Denmark this December to negotiate the next phase of a global climate agreement. This must be
a strong, equitable agreement based on recent science which indicates that deep emission
reductions are needed.
Germany launched a campaign in August to put one million electric cars on the road by 2020,
making battery research a priority as it tries to position the country as a market leader. The
Council of Canadians and Conservation Council of New Brunswick argue that this province
could have its own sustainable ‘green’ economy if it focused on local renewable energy.
Addressing the climate crisis requires a profound shift in how we produce and consume energy.
According to Environment Canada, 80 per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions are
predominantly associated with the production or consumption of fossil fuels for energy. In New
Brunswick, the production of electricity and refining of petroleum accounts for just over half of
all greenhouse gas emissions.
The conventional approach to job creation favours the development of polluting and exportoriented energy megaprojects, but these have significant environmental and social impacts. They
have also tied N.B. to foreign markets and locked the province into a fossil-fuel-dependent
economy that will be uncompetitive in the 21st century as carbon emissions come under
constraints.
In contrast, the creation of an energy system based on local renewable resources offers a wealth
of job creation possibilities without adding to the atmosphere's carbon burden. Luckily, there is
an abundance of renewable resources that can be put to good use reducing the province's
81
greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy security and creating decent green jobs. These
include wood, wind, biogas, solar and energy efficiency.
Energy conservation is by far the most cost-effective method of reducing our dependence on
polluting sources of energy. Measures to increase energy efficiency are also a greater source of
net job creation dollar for dollar than investments in traditional fossil fuel industries, tax cuts or
investments to boost consumer spending. Though New Brunswick is a leader in energy
efficiency, more can be done.
When it comes to green energy, so far, all major wind energy developments in the province have
been by large foreign multinationals. These public-private partnerships carry with them all the
usual risks of other P3s: over the lifespan of the project, they cost taxpayers many times more
than would publicly owned projects, and they keep essential pieces of infrastructure out of public
control.
At the recent Conference of the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers, the
premiers reiterated their desire to export green energy into the U.S. market. Will this mean that
New Brunswickers will continue to bear the impacts of polluting energy while the benefits of
new renewable energy projects get shipped across the border? New Brunswickers won't reap
maximum benefit from renewable energy unless the province turns away from this privatized
model of development and returns to the public model.
Already, New Brunswick sends around $500 million out of the province for purchases of
imported fuels each year. In return for this, it gets high levels of greenhouse gases, air pollution,
radioactive wastes and an increasing dependence on imported energy. Consider also that
NAFTA's proportional sharing rules oblige Canada to continue exporting energy to the U.S. in
the same proportion of total supply sold over the three previous years. Once energy exports start,
they are hard to stop.
The climate crisis demands that all levels of government take seriously the imperative to
transition away from fossil fuels. Not only is this feasible, it's preferable. An energy system
based on local renewable resources has enormous potential to ignite local economies. Public and
community ownership of green energy production provides the means to prioritize local green
job creation and provincial energy needs. It also offers opportunities for enhanced accountability
and retaining economic revenues for public purposes.
For these reasons, New Brunswick should establish a new renewable energy public utility or
create a renewable energy arm of NB Power. The utility could provide logistical support and
funding to renewable energy projects, making direct investments in publicly owned wind, solar,
biomass, and tidal developments. Community and cooperatively owned renewable energy
developments can also play an important role in ensuring an emphasis on local and democratic
governance of a renewable energy system. This, accompanied by plans for a transition to
sustainable transportation, vastly increased conservation as well as energy efficiency, will create
a low-carbon future.
Efforts to reach a strong climate deal in Copenhagen must be matched by solutions at the local
level with commitments for deep emission reductions.
82
Times and Transcript | Heather Ferguson | October 21, 2009
WASWC aims to keep our environment clean and
green
WASWC leads the way for southeastern N.B
The Westmorland-Albert Solid Waste Corporation (WASWC) is committed to enhancing the
quality of life and the standards of living throughout southeastern New Brunswick.
Through the implementation of programs designed to dispose of waste in an environmentally
responsible manner, WASWC has become a leader in waste management. Its landfill and
recycling facility located at No. 2024 on Route 128 (Berry Mills Road) on the northern outskirts
of Moncton has an extensive site consisting of several components.
Those include a transfer station for incoming waste, a construction and demolition area, a secure
landfill, the wet and dry separation plants and a household hazardous waste depot.
In 1995, WASWC opened a metal recycling plant to deal with metals recovered from such
household items as fridges, freezers, air conditioning units and even small vehicles, removing
toxic materials and readying the scrap metal for recycling. Tires of all sizes are also recycled,
with rims removed by an onsite rim remover and also recycled as scrap metal. Tires are then sent
to TRACC, a recycler located in Minto. At the wood recycling area, all untreated wood is
mulched and used onsite as cover for compost during wet seasons or to fuel the wood-burning
boiler used to heat the wet/dry separation plant.
WASWC introduced the wet/dry program in 1999, intent on keeping the program a simple one
for the homeowner's convenience.
After the waste is collected and brought on site, it is weighed at a scale house so that a tipping
fee can be charged to the hauler. WASWC has one of the lowest tipping fees in Canada.
The landfill component is comprised of six alternating layers of clay and plastic from which
leachate is collected in a treatment pond for regular testing.
One of WASWC's most innovative recycling programs features a Hazardous Waste Mobile Unit
which travels throughout southeastern NB in the spring and fall so people outside the Metro area
can get rid of their hazardous waste conveniently and free of charge. Residents can also bring
their hazardous waste to the site's Hazardous Waste Depot Fridays and Saturdays, also free of
charge.
WASWC has numerous programs that are 'firsts' in various categories of recycling; first in
Canada to recycle batteries in a battery rechargeable program, the first in Atlantic Canada with a
cellphone recycling program and first in Canada to render electronic waste 100 per cent
recyclable.
The corporation also initiated the first Nike Reuse-a-Shoe Program in Canada, with tremendous
results.
In October the corporation also stated drilling wells for their newest initiative, Landfill Gas to
Energy.
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WASWC employs 120 people, including an administrative staff involved in marketing, research
and management. Public Relations employees conduct off-site presentations, run kiosks and
attend special events.
Ongoing education is the hallmark of a company committed to a cleaner environment and a
quality lifestyle for the citizens of the communities they serve.
October 22, 2009
Globe and Mail | Shawn McCarthy | October 22, 2009
Ottawa dashes hope for climate treaty in Copenhagen
Best possible outcome of climate talks is smoother path to later deal, Prentice says
Hope is vanishing that a historic deal to address climate change can be concluded in
Copenhagen, and Environment Minister Jim Prentice says the best chance is for a political
agreement that would pave the way for a treaty to be signed later.
But Canada will continue to insist that it should have a less aggressive target for emission
reductions than Europe or Japan because of its faster-growing population and energy-intensive
industrial structure, Mr. Prentice said in an interview Thursday.
Canadians must also recognize that any national emissions cap has to reflect differing conditions
across the country so as not to punish high-growth provinces, he added. The minister has been
consulting with provinces on a plan that would impose a cap on industrial emissions, but allow
Alberta's energy-intensive, emissions-heavy oil sands to continue expanding.
“The Canadian approach has to reflect the diversity of the country and the sheer size of the
country, and the very different economic characteristics and industrial structure across the
country,” he said in a telephone interview.
However, Ottawa will not release its detailed climate-change plan, including its proposed
emissions caps on large emitters such as oil sands and power plants, until there is more clarity on
how the United States intends to proceed in global climate-change talks in Copenhagen in
December, and on what an international treaty would look like, the minister added.
“Copenhagen is a very significant factor in how matters will be approached continentally, and
how matters will be approached domestically,” he said.
The Harper government has been criticized for undermining the global talks by insisting on
smaller reductions for greenhouse gases than other developed countries, by demanding that
emerging economies such as China and India agree to binding caps on their emissions, and by
not tabling a plan for meeting Ottawa's own targets.
Mr. Prentice insisted Canada remains committed to reaching an agreement but was not hopeful it
could be concluded by December.
“I have to take a realistic view that, given the amount of work that remains to be done, we're
running out of time,” he said.
Top United Nations officials are expressing similar pessimism. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary
of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said Thursday it is
“unrealistic” to expect a treaty to be negotiated in the weeks before Copenhagen.
In New Delhi, Indian and Chinese environment ministers agreed to a common stand, rejecting
binding limits on emissions but pledging to reduce the rate of growth of emissions.
On Wednesday, John Podesta, a prominent Democratic adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama,
told an Ottawa audience that it is doubtful a treaty will be signed in Copenhagen, but that there
may be an overarching political accord that would pave the way for a treaty.
Mr. Obama is battling to get climate-change legislation through Congress before Copenhagen to
strengthen his negotiating hand, but that too appears unlikely. The President plans to travel to
China and host India's Prime Minister next month in hopes of finding common ground that
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would allow the two Asian giants to accept binding limits tied to their need for growth. Without
some commitment from the emerging economies, Mr. Obama will have a much tougher job
winning passage of the bill now before the Senate.
In Canada, environmentalists and federal opposition parties have slammed the Conservative
government for adopting an emission target that falls well short of the country's commitment
under the Kyoto Protocol, and far short of what many other developed countries are doing.
Ottawa proposes to reduce emissions by 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020. If achieved,
Canadian emissions would be 3 per cent below 1990 levels; under Kyoto, Canada committed to
cutting its greenhouse gases by 6 per cent from 1990 levels by 2012.
The European Union has said it would reduce emissions by 30 per cent from 1990 levels by
2020, if other developed countries would accept similar reductions. The U.S. climate legislation
sets a target of a 17-per-cent reduction from 2005 levels by 2020, but is more aggressive than
Canada's in subsequent years.
But Ottawa's chief climate negotiator, Michael Martin, said Canada's economic and population
growth over the last 20 years was much stronger than EU growth, meaning Canadians would pay
a higher cost to meet the same emissions targets.
The government's 2020 target represents a 26-per-cent reduction from 1990 emission levels on a
per-capita basis, after adjusting for population growth.
Mr. Martin addressed a parliamentary committee which is studying a New Democratic Party bill
that would commit Canada to reduce emissions by 25 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020, a target
that is consistent with both Kyoto and the EU's approach for the next round.
However, the climate ambassador said Canada's targets are “comparable” to more aggressive
ones because they will be just as costly to achieve.
Liberal environment critic David McGuinty said the Harper government is avoiding
responsibility for addressing climate change, both globally and domestically.
“We're negotiating without a plan” to achieve the reductions Ottawa has already committed to,
he said. “They're ragging the puck, killing time and hoping to avoid the issue until after the next
election.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-dashes-hope-for-climate-treaty-incopenhagen/article1334900/
Thegreenpages.ca | F. Los | October 22, 2009
NGO's and Industry offer statement on cap-and-trade
In a joint statement released yesterday, a unique partnership of industry and environmental
organizations have outlined the key elements for an effective Canadian cap-and-trade system for
greenhouse gas emissions.
The initiative, called the "Canadian NGO-Industry Cap-and-Trade Dialogue," brought together
nine companies and eight environmental groups to discuss the design of a cap-and-trade system
for Canada. The Pembina Institute assisted in facilitating the dialogue process. Over the past five
months, the group has found common ground on several key policy questions. The result is a
joint statement that the group has shared with government officials.
"We want to see regulation that will achieve the environmental results without distorting markets
or undercutting investments that have already been made," said Lyn Brown, Vice President
Corporate Relations & Social Responsibility for Catalyst Paper. "We're pleased to see those
principles reflected in the joint statement."
"Collaboration and engagement are the keys to developing an effective, equitable and transparent
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cap-and-trade system," said Chris Thrall from Direct Energy. "We hope that industry,
government and the non-governmental sector continue to work together as Canada's greenhouse
gas emissions policy is crafted."
According to the statement, an effective cap-and-trade system would place an absolute, national
cap on emissions and cover as much of Canada's emissions as practical from the outset. Over
time the cap-and-trade system should transition from providing some allowances free of charge
to requiring the auctioning of all allowances. The speed of the transition to full auctioning will
depend on many factors, and will require the balancing of economic, equity and environmental
considerations. Complementary policies, such as for energy efficiency, can work in conjunction
with cap and trade to produce cost effective greenhouse gas reductions.
"We agreed that putting an adequate price on greenhouse gas emissions is a critical part of
tackling global warming in Canada," said Matt Price from Environmental Defence. "The ball is
now in the court of our elected officials to take action on this urgent issue."
"As a market based approach, a cap-and-trade system encourages technological innovation while
ensuring that short- and long-term emissions targets are met," noted Jonathan Moser of Dow
Canada. "Cap and trade also provides the necessary flexibility for companies to determine how
to comply with the emissions cap at the most efficient cost."
Although any one entity may have a particular view on specific details, the following companies
and organizations participated in the dialogue and are supportive of the statement: Catalyst Paper
Corporation, David Suzuki Foundation, Direct Energy, Dow Canada, DuPont Canada, ENMAX,
Environmental Defence, ForestEthics, Pembina Institute, Royal Bank of Canada, Rio Tinto,
Sierra Club Canada, Spectra Energy, Sustainable Prosperity, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, and
WWF-Canada.
The statement has been shared with a range of additional companies from various sectors for
their review and input.
http://www.thegreenpages.ca/portal/ca/2009/10/ngos_and_industry_offer_statem.html\
CNSNews.com | Patrick Goodenough - International Editor | October 22, 2009
China Pledges Climate Cooperation with Obama, But
Also Agrees With India to Resist Legally Binding
Targets
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China's chief climate change official Xie Zhenhua attends an international conference on
technology and climate change in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009. (AP
Photo/Manish Swarup)
(CNSNews.com) – In another blow to those hoping a major conference in Copenhagen in
December will deliver a global deal, China and India agreed Wednesday to work in unison,
hardening their stance against accepting legally binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions.
Despite their rivalry in other areas, the giant neighbors -- which together produce around a
quarter of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases blamed for “global warming” -- pledged in a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) to coordinate their climate strategies over the next five
years.
Central to their joint approach is the position that “developed” countries should take the lead in
cutting emissions, and that “developing” countries – including big emitters such as themselves –
will not accept mandatory emission caps or reduction targets.
Led by China and India, developing countries have long rejected binding caps on the emissions
their industries produce. They argue that their economic growth should not be hindered by
constraints which industrialized nations did not face at similar stages in their development.
The MOU was signed on the same day that President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao
had a phone conversation in which, according to the White House, they agreed to work together
and with others “to achieve success at Copenhagen.”
A Chinese foreign ministry statement quoted Hu as telling Obama, “Even though there are still
many problems that need to be solved in the current negotiations, as long as all parties join hands
and strive hard, there is still hope that the Copenhagen meeting will achieve positive results.”
But with less than 50 days to go, and only five remaining days of negotiations scheduled – they
will take place in Barcelona early next month – the China-India MOU only adds to the
difficulties.
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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attends an international conference on technology and
climate change in New Delhi on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009. Singh says the world's poor nations
will not sacrifice their development to achieve a new climate change agreement. (AP
Photo/Manish Swarup)
Another complicating factor arose on Tuesday, when India and seven other regional partners
agreed on a coordinated stance at Copenhagen rejecting binding limits on their emissions. The
eight are members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) – India,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan.
Some environmental activists and others have been warning that Copenhagen represents the last
chance to avoid catastrophic climate change.
“We have just four months,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a speech in August.
“Four months to secure the future of our planet.”
With 190 countries attending, the U.N. conference in the Danish capital aims to produce a
climate deal to replace or extend the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement that set binding greenhouse
gas emission reduction targets for 37 developed countries but not for developing ones. That key
Kyoto principle – known in the treaty’s jargon as “common but differentiated responsibilities” –
and the exemption it gave to China and India was one of the main reasons for the Bush
administration’s rejection of the protocol.
The most recent round of pre-Copenhagen negotiations was roiled by differences between
developed and developing nations over whether Kyoto and its “differentiated responsibilities”
should be retained in the new deal.
Developed nations also want industrialized ones to put up generous financial assistance to help
poorer countries adapt to and combat climate change. Figures of several hundred billion dollars a
year and more have been suggested by the World Bank and others to cover the costs.
88
U.N. Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Sha Zukang, back to camera,
talks to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, right, as Maldives President Mohamed
Nasheed, left, and Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, second from left, look on at an
international conference on technology and climate change in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Oct.
22, 2009. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
In the MOU, China and India said they would adhere to the principle of “common but
differentiated responsibilities, in particular that developed countries should take the lead in and
continue to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and provide financial resources, technology
transfer and capacity building support to developing countries.”
They would also collaborate in the field of renewable energy and technologies aimed at helping
developing countries advance while controlling their CO2 output.
Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said the two nations were in complete agreement
over achieving an outcome in Copenhagen that was in keeping with Kyoto and “fully protects
and promotes interests of developing countries.”
Obama urged to attend, push for a deal
The two regional initiatives – the China-India MOU and the agreement among SAARC members
– come at a time when the U.N.’s top climate official, Yvo De Boer, has started to dampen
expectations that the Copenhagen will produce a strong agreement.
Last week De Boer, whose official position is executive secretary of the U.N. Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was quoted as saying that the Copenhagen
conference may end up being “half baked” unless wealthy nations are prepared to put forward
more ambitious emission reduction targets.
This week, in an interview with the Financial Times, he suggested that it was unrealistic to
expect that the conference would actually deliver a new international treaty, although he said it
might produce the structure of an agreement.
“If you look at the limited amount of time that remains to Copenhagen, we have to focus on what
89
can realistically be done and how that can realistically be framed,” he said on the sidelines of a
Major Economies Forum meeting in London.
De Boer also urged Obama and other world leaders to attend the conference, saying that it was
“abundantly clear that we need a push at the highest possible political level.”
A similar call came earlier from British Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, who told The
Times of London there would be a much better chance of a deal being struck if Obama led the
U.S. delegation to the conference.
The administration has not announced who will head the delegation in December, but U.S.
climate envoy Todd Stern, speaking at the Major Economies Forum gathering, said “we’re not
ruling out, in the right circumstances, some attendance by the president.”
Before the conference, Obama is due to visit China in November, and there has been speculation
the two governments will sign a bilateral climate change agreement when he does.
For any such agreement to be meaningful, one or both sides will have to shift positions by then.
U.S. officials have argued that the global deal needs to include clear undertakings from all
countries to reduce emissions in transparent and measurable ways. But when he attended a U.N.
climate summit in New York in September, Hu said China would reduce carbon intensity in the
coming years but set no target or goal.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/55912
Reuters | Peter Griffiths | October 22, 2009
UK warns of lack of urgency over Copenhagen talks
LONDON (Reuters) - The world lacks a sense of urgency over the importance of the U.N.
climate change talks in Copenhagen in preventing a "human emergency" affecting hundreds of
millions of people, the British government said on Thursday.
With United Nations talks on a new deal to combat global warming less than 50 days away,
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said too many people still failed to grasp the scale and
urgency of the problem.
Climate change will deepen Middle East tensions, trigger wars over water and food and lead to
unprecedented migration unless action is taken now to curb global warming, he said.
"For too many people, not just in our own country but around the world, the penny hasn't yet
dropped ... that this climate change challenge is real and is happening now," Miliband told a
news conference.
"The penny hasn't dropped too that Copenhagen is the chance to address on a global scale the
climate change challenge. There isn't yet that sense of urgency and drive and animation about the
Copenhagen conference."
Disagreement between rich and poor countries on levels of emissions cuts and aid for developing
nations to help make those reductions have hampered talks leading to Copenhagen.
BREAK THE IMPASSE
Miliband is the latest senior member of the British government to attempt this week to persuade
the 192 countries meeting in Copenhagen to "break the impasse" preventing a deal.
Finance Minister Alistair Darling told Reuters he feared the climate talks could drag on like the
world trade negotiations, while Prime Minister Gordon Brown said world leaders should
intervene to avoid a catastrophe.
90
Unchecked global warming will lead to a further 150 to 200 million people migrating, four
billion people facing water shortages and climate change dominating the U.N. Security Council,
Miliband said. Water shortages in the Middle East will exacerbate the region's problems, he said.
Miliband and his brother Ed Miliband, energy and climate change secretary, published a map
showing the possible effects of a global average temperature rise of 4 degrees Celsius (7.2
degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels.
It suggested northern areas, such as the Arctic and North America, will have larger temperature
rises than the rest of the world. Every continent will face a higher risk of forest fires, while yields
of maize and wheat in Africa could fall by 40 percent. Rice yields in Asia may drop by nearly a
third.
The hottest days of the year in cities like New York and Washington could be as much as 10-12C
(18-22F) warmer.
Sea levels could rise by 80cm by the end of the century, threatening low-lying islands in the
Pacific and Indian oceans.
The map was based on computer models run by the Hadley Center, Britain's climate research
center, and the data was peer-reviewed. It is online: www.actoncopenhagen.decc.gov.uk.
The 4C rise could be reached by 2060, although it could be as late as 2100, according to the
British government's Chief Scientific Advisor John Beddington. He said it was crucial that the
world agrees to limit the temperature rise to below 2C.
"There is going to be a danger of (reaching) a tipping point: a sudden, dramatic and unexpected
change," he said.
(Editing by Janet Lawrence)
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59L38620091022?pageNumber=2&
virtualBrandChannel=11621
PlanetArk.org | Richard Cowan | October 22, 2009
U.S. Climate Bill Prospects
Energy Secretary Steven Chu answers reporters' questions during the 2009 Reuters Washington
Summit in Washington, October 20, 2009.
Photo: Jonathan Ernst
91
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration will press ahead with climate control legislation,
despite difficult odds of passage before December's international summit on global warming.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the Reuters Washington Summit that he was putting in
long hours on climate issues and believes there was "a reasonably good possibility" that the U.S.
Congress could deliver legislation reducing carbon dioxide emissions in time for the Copenhagen
meeting.
"Look, I'm still going to be optimistic and say there is a chance that there will be a bill that the
Senate and House have agreed upon that goes before the president before Copenhagen," Chu
said.
But Senator John McCain, who wants to rejuvenate nuclear power in the United States to help
reduce carbon pollution, said there's been no progress and he accused Democrats of being
"beholden" to environmentalists who oppose an expansion of the industry.
"I'd like to see one concrete commitment on the part of the administration and Democrats,"
McCain told the Reuters Washington Summit on Wednesday.
Instead, the conservative Republican who unsuccessfully ran for president against Barack Obama
last year, complained that Nevada's Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository has been defunded
and no plans were in the works for recycling spent fuel, while loan guarantees to build new
plants were insufficient.
But Chu said an effort was being made to provide new government help for the nuclear industry,
including possibly expanding the $18.5 billion loan guarantee program for expanding nuclear
power generation.
Conservative Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close friend of McCain's, announced this
month that he would work with leading Democrats to fashion a climate change bill he could vote
for. Since then, Chu has followed up with him.
Scientists blame carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels for global warming and
more severe storms and droughts. December's meeting in Copenhagen is an attempt to bring
deep reductions in the world's carbon emissions, building on the Kyoto Protocol that expires in
2012.
CAP AND TRADE
While enactment of a U.S. climate bill would boost the trust of developing nations in
Washington's intentions in Copenhagen, it wasn't just McCain challenging Chu's optimism.
"I don't think we're going to have cap and trade" enacted this year, Senator Charles Grassley told
the Reuters Washington Summit. He was referring to the mechanism Obama and his fellow
Democrats in Congress want to create to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Under cap and trade, a huge new system for trading an ever-declining number of carbon
pollution permits would be created. Many Republicans and moderate Democrats in Congress
fear the regime would result in higher energy prices. And some lawmakers fear the creation of a
new Wall Street casino at a time when Americans are still angry over investor excesses that
touched off the deep recession.
Instead of a domestic climate change bill, Grassley said there should be an international deal that
would force developing countries like China and India to take carbon-reduction steps along with
developed countries such as the United States.
"People of good faith say the U.S. ought to pass a bill to set a standard for the rest of the world
and the rest of the world will follow along. But if the rest of the world doesn't follow Uncle Sam,
we soon become Uncle Sucker," Grassley said, citing job-loss fears if manufacturers move
factories abroad to get unrestricted amounts of cheaper fossil fuels.
Ethan Siegal of The Washington Exchange, a private firm that tracks Congress and the White
House for institutional investors, saw Congress eventually taking a less ambitious course -- one
that many experts say will not come close to effectively addressing climate change problems.
92
He predicted a "down-sized energy bill next year" that could be a combination of tax credits for
alternative energy sources, more offshore oil drilling and steps to promote nuclear energy.
If Congress fails to enact a climate change bill by December, as is widely expected, Chu said the
United States can still show up in Copenhagen and point to climate control progress made this
year.
Besides passage of a climate bill by the House of Representatives, Chu mentioned the $80 billion
included in an economic stimulus law for investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy,
along with new rules forcing car companies to build more fuel-efficient autos.
"It's quite clear the United States is very serious about decreasing its carbon footprint," Chu said.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro, editing by Anthony Boadle)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55140
PlanetArk.org | Bernie Woodall | October 22, 2009
Utilities Pledge To Be Ready For Plug-In Autos
DETROIT, US - If electric cars plug in at rates hoped for by automakers in the coming years,
there will be enough power to serve them, the biggest U.S. electric utilities industry group vowed
on Wednesday.
The utilities have pledged to make sure the electricity is there on demand, to work with policy
makers on tax rebates and customer financial incentives and to make it easy for consumers to
charge up car batteries, according to the Edison Electric Institute.
Convincing Americans of the benefits of plugging in will be a big part of the utilities-automakers
efforts, announced at a plug-in conference in Detroit. They will also try to convince consumers
to charge up an electric vehicle's batteries at night when power is cheaper and easily available.
"Our industry acutely recognizes that now is the time to redouble our ongoing efforts to lay the
groundwork for making plug-in electric transportation in this country a reality, not just a vision,"
said Anthony F. Earley, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Detroit-based DTE Energy, who is this year's
chairman of the Edison Electric Institute.
One of the biggest hurdles in electrifying the U.S. vehicle fleet is the need for standardization in
plugging in.
Ted Craver, chief executive of Edison International and its electric utility Southern California
Edison, said utilities must work closely with public policy makers, private organizations, and
automakers to make sure a charging infrastructure is in place as sales of plug-ins rise
Craver said in an interview with Reuters that utilities and suppliers of electrical equipment, along
with automakers and their suppliers, must make components that are standard regardless of the
type of battery is used in vehicles.
As electric vehicles (EVs) develop, they are expected to improve batteries, but keeping
components standard from the start will help keeps costs down and facilitate EVs expansion,
Craver said.
A report this week by PriceWaterhouseCoopers noted that the promise of electric vehicles
depends on infrastructure development, environmental impact and government support.
It cited the need for more government assistance to make EVs more affordable, particularly in
the next few years.
While U.S. President Barack Obama wants a million plug-in vehicles by 2015 in the United
States alone, PriceWaterhouseCoopers estimated that to be near 600,000 to 700,000 vehicles by
2015.
Craver said he considers public education the most important step in the early day electric
vehicle expansion.
93
If the extra load by consumers driving plug-in hybrid and purely electric vehicles increases
afternoon peak demand, then more power plants and powerlines will need to be constructed.
Charging batteries at night will keep cut those capital costs.
Dallas-based Oncor, the biggest power delivery company in Texas, said on Wednesday its
investment in wind energy will help power plug-in vehicles. Oncor and SCE each are installing
"smart" meters that will give customers real-time pricing of power, proving to them that off-peak
power demand cuts costs.
The EEI, Craver said, has gotten pledges of readiness from 20 CEOs in "early adopter" areas for
plug-in vehicles.
Oncor is majority owned by Energy Future Holdings Corp, which is owned by Kohlberg Kravis
Roberts, TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs.
(Editing by Marguerita Choy)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55141
PlanetArk.org | Timothy Gardner | October 22, 2009
Enterprise To Raise $4 Billion For Green Housing
WASHINGTON - Enterprise, a U.S. nonprofit group, said on Wednesday it hopes to raise $4
billion over the next five years to make housing for low-income people more energy efficient.
The effort, which builds on the group's previous commitments, will result in the creation,
preservation or retrofit of 75,000 green homes and community and commercial buildings, it said.
Enterprise, which also has a private branch that provides capital for housing, will lend to existing
multifamily building owners for energy and water reduction capital purchases and healthy living
environment improvements. Money will also be dedicated to design new affordable housing.
Doris Koo, Enterprise's chief executive, said green investments in affordable housing can yield
big returns.
"For a small premium on the construction side, about 2 percent on the front end, you are seeing
20 to 30 percent savings on the energy," she said in an interview.
Affordable apartment buildings are often older and have more leaks, so energy is often wasted
more in that type of housing than in homes for people with more money.
In addition problems with the buildings can often make asthma and other diseases worse for
residents.
Enterprise takes steps to reduce asthma in low-income housing, such as removing carpets and
other materials that emit chemicals and improving pest management. Koo said these steps have
greatly reduced reported asthma attacks in children.
Enterprise announced the commitment at the Newseum in Washington. Shaun Donovan, the
secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing, said in a release ahead of the meeting that
President Barack Obama "joins me in thanking Enterprise for its leadership in showing that all
American families can and must have the opportunity to live in healthy homes that reduce longterm medical costs and help curb the devastating effects of climate change."
Groups and companies that have pledged to help in the fund raising include the Kresge
Foundation, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, the Surdna Foundation, The Home Depot
Foundation, The Kendeda Fund, The Oak Hill Fund and Wells Fargo.
(Editing by John Picinich)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55142
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PlanetArk.org | Marc Gunther - Greener World Media | October 22, 2009
Why A Coal Guy is Going Green
US - Of all the companies in the U.S., Duke Energy is the 3rd largest emitter of CO2. Of all the
companies in the world, Duke is the 12th biggest emitter. And if North Carolina-based Duke
were a country, it would rank No. 41 in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, ahead of entire
nations in Europe, Africa and Asia.
And yet...Jim Rogers, Duke's longtime president, CEO and chairman, is pushing as hard as
anyone in corporate America to get a climate-change bill passed by Congress. His company
helped the U.S. Climate Action Partnership get going, and he was key in getting some (but not
all) utility-company CEOs to support carbon regulation.
"We're very focused on legislation getting done in the U.S. this year," Rogers says.
Indeed, Duke is "operating today as if climate legislation has already passed," Rogers says. The
company is investing in nuclear power, cleaner coal, wind, smart grid technology, efficiency and
solar energy. Rogers says:
"We're in the most transformative period in the history of the power industry, Our mission is to
decarbonize our entire fleet."
I sat down with Rogers recently after he spoke at the Society of Environmental Journalists
conference in Madison, Wisconsin. He's a pleasure to interview -- he answers questions, he's
direct and he's charming. (He used to be a newspaper reporter so he knows how to tell a story,
too. You can listen to excerpts of our talk in a podcast at The Energy Collective, where I'm a lead
blogger. ) By the end of our conversation, I had a better understanding of why Rogers and Duke
have become advocates of a cap-and-trade scheme to regulate global warming pollution.
Rogers, who is 62, has been a utility-company CEO since 1988. He's also been a consumer
advocate (as an assistant attorney general in Kentucky) and a federal regulator (at the FERC) so
he sees issues from different perspectives. More important, Duke Energy is, for the most part, a
regulated utility -- meaning that its major investments and electricity rates must be approved by
state public utility regulators. So if Rogers can convince those regulators that his investments in
low-carbon power generation make sense, he should be able to make a good return.
"Moving to a low carbon world is an earnings opportunity for me," Rogers said. "If I have to
retrofit my fleet, that's earnings growth." That's assuming, of course, that state regulators will
permit him to raise rates for customers to cover the costs of renewable power, cleaner coal or
new nuclear plants.
This helps explain why Rogers doesn't try to pretend that the transition to a low-carbon world
will be easy or cost-free. He needs to set the stage for future price increases that he knows are an
inevitable. He says:
"As we transform, as we invest in renewables, as we invest in smart grid, as we invest in retiring
existing plants and building new plants, the price of electricity is going to go up."
Certainly Duke's plans are ambitious. The company wants to spend about $20 billion to build
two nuclear plants, whose ownership would be shared with other utilities and major customers.
"Nuclear is key to our ability to produce baseload electricity with zero greenhouse gas
emissions," Rogers says.
Duke also plans to build two coal plants, at a cost of $5 billion, one in Indiana that would be
designed so that it could capture and store carbon, the other a conventional but highly-efficient
plant in North Carolina. The North Carolina plant, called Cliffside, has generated lots of
opposition, but Rogers says it's needed to enable him to shut older plants that generate more local
pollutants.
"I have to balance affordability, reliability and clean," he says.
Duke also would like to invest about $1.5 billion in gas combined-cycle plants, which have
lower emissions than coal plants, another $1 billion on wind farms spread across 14 states,
another $1 billion on so-called smart grid technology and smaller amounts on rooftop solar,
95
biomass and landfill gas. The company is also aggressively promoting energy efficiency to
homeowners and businesses.
Interestingly, Rogers confounds critics at both extremes of the energy and climate debate. Some
other utility company CEOs think he has been too quick to embrace carbon regulation, while
environmentalists fault him not only for wanting to build new coal plants but for his blunt talk
about costs and skepticism about the claim that carbon regulation will create green jobs.
"I think it's a mistake for us to talk about the green jobs that will be created from renewables," he
says. "We run the risk of misleading the America people."
Rogers can't afford to promise more than Duke can deliver, if only because he needs to prepare
his regulators and customers for the shocks ahead. Indeed it's striking the degree to which Duke's
business depends on elected officials and regulators in Washington and the state capitals who
make energy and climate policy, set utility rates and determine his rate of return.
"I say to people that I'm in the power business," Rogers observes.
"Electricity is only a byproduct."
GreenBiz.com Senior Writer Marc Gunther maintains a blog at MarcGunther.com.
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55146
PlanetArk.org | Peter Murphy | October 22, 2009
Brazil Drivers Ditch Biofuel Over High Sugar Costs
A gas station worker fills a car's tank with ethanol in Rio de Janeiro April 30, 2008.
Photo: Sergio Moraes
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - Some Brazilian motorists who fuel their cars solely on cane-based
ethanol are switching back to gasoline as high sugar prices now make the biofuel more costly in
some states.
Brazil is a pioneer in biofuel with its millions of flex-fuel cars that can run solely on ethanol or
gasoline, or any mixture of both. Usually cheaper than gasoline, drivers needed no persuasion to
switch when flex-fuel arrived in 2003.
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But as mills use cane to produce more sugar in response to a world deficit that pushed prices to
near their highest in three decades, prices for ethanol, made using the same cane, have leapt up to
50 percent in places in just a few months.
"(Drivers) have gone back to gasoline," said Paulo Mizutani, head of the sugar and ethanol
division at Cosan, Brazil's top producer of the products. He said demand for ethanol in the
center-south region fell to about 1.6 billion liters a month from 2 billion liters earlier this year.
"It could be like this until March when a new (cane) harvest starts," he said, speaking to reporters
at Brazil's Sugar Dinner Week, an industry event held every other year in the world's top sugar
grower.
Only in states with higher levels of sales tax, has ethanol become comparatively more expensive.
Price data from National Petroleum Agency (ANP) showed that ethanol in southern states Minas
Gerais and Santa Catarina were at or above the threshold of 70 percent of gasoline prices above
which it is effectively more costly than gasoline.
In Sao Paulo, it was around 60 percent and about 67 percent in neighboring Rio de Janeiro,
meaning it still offered better value for the money. A liter of ethanol in Sao Paulo city costs
about 1.50 in Brazilian reais, equivalent to US$3.26 per gallon.
Ethanol's lower energy concentration means a tank of the biofuel will do around 70 percent of
the miles a tank of gasoline would permit, though it gives engines added zip.
Brazil began mass producing ethanol-only cars in the 1970s in response to the oil crisis, but
when sugar prices later spiked, motorists were lumbered with higher fuel costs. Flex-fuel gets
around this by allowing the driver to choose.
"Ecologically sound is a nice idea but no one will pay for it," Mizutani said.
He held out little hope that Brazilians, who already pay comparatively high taxes on goods and
services, would shell out more for ethanol despite its environmental selling points.
"Your car goes quicker. It is clean and renewable energy and it is Brazilian. I think the
consumers should not only look at the economic side but at these aspects too."
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55144
The Associated Press | Christopher Bodeen | October 22, 2009
China-U.S. co-operation vital in tackling climate, says
Gore
BEIJING - Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said Wednesday that co-operation between
China and the U.S., the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, is crucial to tackling
the climate change crisis. "The strategic partnership between the United States and China, as it is
beginning to emerge, is a fateful one, an important one, a crucial one, if the world is going to be
successful in addressing this crisis," Gore said in a speech to a clean energy forum in Beijing.
His remarks come less than two months before December's global climate conference in
Copenhagen that aims to replace the U.N.'s 1997 Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas
emissions.
Gore said a clear understanding of the global warming threat and a full commitment to
renewable energy were key.
"There is no more worthy goal for our two great nations," said Gore, who shared the Nobel Peace
Price in 2007 for his efforts to combat global warming.
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Pressure has been mounting for the U.S. to put together its position before the U.N. conference.
Gore said he was confident the U.S. Senate would pass a climate change bill before the
conference and said a watered-down House bill could be amended later to strengthen its
provisions.
He said that while any global pact reached in Copenhagen was bound to disappoint many, it
would likely be replaced by something stronger once the business community got on board.
"I choose to be optimistic," he said.
Wealthy nations are seeking broad controls on emissions from all countries in the new pact,
while developing countries say tough emissions limits would likely hamper their economic
growth and that industrialized nations should carry most of the burden. As a compromise,
developing countries say they would be willing to accept compensation for the economic costs of
reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The environmental group Greenpeace said Monday at least
$140 billion a year will be needed.
Gore also called for U.S.-China co-operation on wind, solar, and geothermal power generation
and said charging companies for the heat-trapping carbon dioxide they produce would spur
innovation and bring down the cost of future technologies. But he questioned the viability of
current biofuel and nuclear technologies as a substitute for oil and coal.
Earlier Wednesday, Chinese President Hu Jintao said Beijing was hopeful that the Copenhagen
talks would be fruitful, in a phone conversation with President Barack Obama ahead of the
American leader's visit to China next month, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
"Even though there are still many problems that need to be solved in the current negotiations, as
long as all parties join hands and strive hard, there is still hope that the Copenhagen meeting will
achieve positive results," Hu said.
PlanetArk.org| Richard Cowan | October 22, 2009
U.S. Climate Bill Prospects
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration will press ahead with climate control legislation,
despite difficult odds of passage before December's international summit on global warming.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the Reuters Washington Summit that he was putting in
long hours on climate issues and believes there was "a reasonably good possibility" that the U.S.
Congress could deliver legislation reducing carbon dioxide emissions in time for the Copenhagen
meeting.
"Look, I'm still going to be optimistic and say there is a chance that there will be a bill that the
Senate and House have agreed upon that goes before the president before Copenhagen," Chu
said.
But Senator John McCain, who wants to rejuvenate nuclear power in the United States to help
reduce carbon pollution, said there's been no progress and he accused Democrats of being
"beholden" to environmentalists who oppose an expansion of the industry.
98
"I'd like to see one concrete commitment on the part of the administration and Democrats,"
McCain told the Reuters Washington Summit on Wednesday.
Instead, the conservative Republican who unsuccessfully ran for president against Barack Obama
last year, complained that Nevada's Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository has been defunded
and no plans were in the works for recycling spent fuel, while loan guarantees to build new
plants were insufficient.
But Chu said an effort was being made to provide new government help for the nuclear industry,
including possibly expanding the $18.5 billion loan guarantee program for expanding nuclear
power generation.
Conservative Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close friend of McCain's, announced this
month that he would work with leading Democrats to fashion a climate change bill he could vote
for. Since then, Chu has followed up with him.
Scientists blame carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels for global warming and
more severe storms and droughts. December's meeting in Copenhagen is an attempt to bring
deep reductions in the world's carbon emissions, building on the Kyoto Protocol that expires in
2012.
CAP AND TRADE
While enactment of a U.S. climate bill would boost the trust of developing nations in
Washington's intentions in Copenhagen, it wasn't just McCain challenging Chu's optimism.
"I don't think we're going to have cap and trade" enacted this year, Senator Charles Grassley told
the Reuters Washington Summit. He was referring to the mechanism Obama and his fellow
Democrats in Congress want to create to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Under cap and trade, a huge new system for trading an ever-declining number of carbon
pollution permits would be created. Many Republicans and moderate Democrats in Congress
fear the regime would result in higher energy prices. And some lawmakers fear the creation of a
new Wall Street casino at a time when Americans are still angry over investor excesses that
touched off the deep recession.
Instead of a domestic climate change bill, Grassley said there should be an international deal that
would force developing countries like China and India to take carbon-reduction steps along with
developed countries such as the United States.
"People of good faith say the U.S. ought to pass a bill to set a standard for the rest of the world
and the rest of the world will follow along. But if the rest of the world doesn't follow Uncle Sam,
we soon become Uncle Sucker," Grassley said, citing job-loss fears if manufacturers move
factories abroad to get unrestricted amounts of cheaper fossil fuels.
Ethan Siegal of The Washington Exchange, a private firm that tracks Congress and the White
House for institutional investors, saw Congress eventually taking a less ambitious course -- one
that many experts say will not come close to effectively addressing climate change problems.
He predicted a "down-sized energy bill next year" that could be a combination of tax credits for
alternative energy sources, more offshore oil drilling and steps to promote nuclear energy.
99
If Congress fails to enact a climate change bill by December, as is widely expected, Chu said the
United States can still show up in Copenhagen and point to climate control progress made this
year.
Besides passage of a climate bill by the House of Representatives, Chu mentioned the $80 billion
included in an economic stimulus law for investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy,
along with new rules forcing car companies to build more fuel-efficient autos.
"It's quite clear the United States is very serious about decreasing its carbon footprint," Chu said.
PlanetArk.org | Timothy Gardner | October 22, 2009
Enterprise To Raise $4 Billion For Green Housing
WASHINGTON - Enterprise, a U.S. nonprofit group, said on Wednesday it hopes to raise $4
billion over the next five years to make housing for low-income people more energy efficient.
The effort, which builds on the group's previous commitments, will result in the creation,
preservation or retrofit of 75,000 green homes and community and commercial buildings, it said.
Enterprise, which also has a private branch that provides capital for housing, will lend to existing
multifamily building owners for energy and water reduction capital purchases and healthy living
environment improvements. Money will also be dedicated to design new affordable housing.
Doris Koo, Enterprise's chief executive, said green investments in affordable housing can yield
big returns.
"For a small premium on the construction side, about 2 percent on the front end, you are seeing
20 to 30 percent savings on the energy," she said in an interview.
Affordable apartment buildings are often older and have more leaks, so energy is often wasted
more in that type of housing than in homes for people with more money.
In addition problems with the buildings can often make asthma and other diseases worse for
residents.
Enterprise takes steps to reduce asthma in low-income housing, such as removing carpets and
other materials that emit chemicals and improving pest management. Koo said these steps have
greatly reduced reported asthma attacks in children.
Enterprise announced the commitment at the Newseum in Washington. Shaun Donovan, the
secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing, said in a release ahead of the meeting that
President Barack Obama "joins me in thanking Enterprise for its leadership in showing that all
American families can and must have the opportunity to live in healthy homes that reduce longterm medical costs and help curb the devastating effects of climate change."
Groups and companies that have pledged to help in the fund raising include the Kresge
Foundation, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, the Surdna Foundation, The Home Depot
Foundation, The Kendeda Fund, The Oak Hill Fund and Wells Fargo.
100
PRNewswire-USNewswire | October 22, 2009
New Survey Finds US and 37 Other Countries Demand
More Aggressive Climate Change Action than
Congress or Copenhagen Envision
BOSTON, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The first-ever deliberative global survey of
citizen opinion, World Wide Views on Global Warming (WWViews) has found that people from
diverse backgrounds in the US and worldwide overwhelmingly want faster action, deeper GHG
emissions cuts and stronger enforcement than either US climate legislation proposals or
Copenhagen treaty conference preparations are currently contemplating. Among the survey's
findings:
-- 90% of U. S. participants say it is urgent to reach a tough, new agreement at the UN
Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in
December and not punt to subsequent meetings;
-- 89% said by 2020 emissions should be cut 25-40% below 1990 levels (the Kerry Boxer
Senate bill would cut US emissions 20% below 2005 levels);
-- 71% want nations that fail to meet their obligations under a new agreement to be penalized
severely or significantly;
-- 69% believe the price of fossil fuels should be increased.
These views were echoed across 37 other countries on six continents. Global results showed
participants wanted more aggressive action than their delegates to Copenhagen envision,
including:
-- strict targets for keeping global warming within 2 degrees Celsius (half of participants,
especially in countries hardest hit by climate change, want measures to hold temperatures at the
current level or even bring them down to pre-industrial levels);
-- fairer and more proportionate burden sharing, including 2020 emissions reduction targets
for fast- growing economies like India, China and Brazil, and low-income developing countries;
-- sanctions against countries that do not live up to their emission reduction commitments;
-- strong new international financial mechanisms and institutions to support these goals.
By contrast, in current policy negotiations these goals are either much less ambitious or absent
altogether. Preparations for Copenhagen and Congressional debate on climate change legislation
are both following a similar pattern of lowering ambitions and expectations, focusing on limited
areas of current agreement and incremental steps, and deferring more contentious issues of
targets, timetables, funding and enforcement until later.
"We are hearing from climate policymakers that it will take more time to do things right, that we
have to meet people where they are instead of imposing radical reforms from above," said Dr.
Richard Sclove, the US advisor to WWViews. "But these results show the people are way ahead
of the policymakers. If Congress and Copenhagen delegates want to act in accordance with
citizen views, they have to do far more and go far faster, not scale back and slow down."
WWViews gathered its data from daylong citizen deliberations in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Los
Angeles, and Phoenix, as well as in cities throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin
America. It showed citizens of all 38 countries, even low-income ones, are willing to take
responsibility for lowering emissions, and to pay to do so. Of the 38 countries, China's citizens
were least inclined to introduce 2020 targets for fast-growing economies, yet even so, 45%
support it and 52% support limiting emissions growth.
101
"Our deliberative method yielded very different results from polls, which purport to show much
more diffident attitudes to climate change, and even some skepticism about it. But I'd argue our
data is much more accurate " said Dr. Richard Worthington, WWViews U.S. coordinator. "For
one thing, for a dozen countries [the Maldives, Saint Lucia, Uruguay, Norway, Switzerland,
Cameroon, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Uganda and Vietnam], our data is the only
data, because we worked in places so far excluded from international polling on climate change.
For another, we elicited citizen opinion through informed, daylong deliberations, not through
knee-jerk answers to carefully
circumscribed questions."
WWViews is the first ever-global "citizen consultation," using a citizen deliberation
methodology distinct from ordinary quantitative surveying or polling. Polls on climate change
ask a random sampling of respondents one or two general questions about one's prior opinion on
climate change and what one's national government should do. WWViews gathered people with
diverse backgrounds and views, excluding climate change experts and those representing
institutions with vested interests in climate policy. It gave participants balanced expert
information in advance, based on the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth
Assessment Report, then allowed them a day of deliberation together, after which they voted on
what delegates assembling from around the world in Copenhagen should do.
WWViews was initiated and coordinated by the Danish Board of Technology, the Danish
Parliament's office of technology assessment (www.tekno.dk), working with partners worldwide.
US partners included Arizona State University's Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes;
Colorado School of Mines; the Boston Museum of Science; Boston University; the Brookfield
Institute; Georgia Institute of Technology; the Loka Institute; and Pomona College.
www.wwviews.org
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS223047+22-Oct-2009+PRN20091022
arstechnica.com | John Timmer | October 22, 2009
Scientific societies warn Senate: climate change is
real
A collection of scientific societies has sent an open letter to all US Senators, reiterating their
individual statements on climate change, and offering to provide more information as legislation
to limit carbon emissions moves forward.
Next week, the Environment and Public Works committee is scheduled to begin debate on the
Senate's version of a bill intended to begin limiting US greenhouse gas emissions, with a vote
scheduled for early November. In advance of that hearing, a collection of 18 US scientific
organizations has sent an open letter to members of the Senate, reminding them that climate
change is a real phenomenon, and the best available evidence indicates it's being driven by
human activities. The unusually blunt language is coupled with an offer: the US scientific
community stands ready to provide assistance to anyone who is looking for further information
in advance of taking legislative action.
The organizations that have signed the letter cover a wide range of interests and expertise, from
the Crop Science Society of America to the American Statistical Society and the American
Geophysical Union. The letter starts by saying that the group hopes to remind the Senators of the
current consensus of the scientific community, then gets right down to business. "Observations
throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific
102
research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary
driver," the letter reads. "These conclusions are based on multiple independent lines of evidence,
and contrary assertions are inconsistent with an objective assessment of the vast body of peerreviewed science."
It goes on to briefly describe some of the consequences expected from the increased
temperatures, specifically focusing on those relevant to the US, before ending with an offer of
assistance: "We in the scientific community offer our assistance to inform your deliberations as
you seek to address the impacts of climate change." In all, it takes 10 sentences to make its
points in language that, in political terms, is unusually frank.
Ars talked with Kasey White, Senior Program Associate at the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, and Glenn Ruskin, the Director of the Office of Public Affairs for the
American Chemical Society; both of these organizations signed the letter. White said that in
addition to the upcoming Senate hearing, the AAAS has noticed that the public's acceptance of
the conclusions highlighted by the letter have been dropping as more time passes since the last
release of an IPCC report, which occurred in 2007.
She also highlighted the increased lobbying against controlling greenhouse gasses, mentioning
the US Chamber of Commerce's call for a new Scopes Trial on climatology, a stand that caused
Apple and some major utilities to quit the group. She went on to point to a new nonprofit group
dedicated to arguing that CO2 is good for us. Members of the group of signatories had been
meeting monthly, and simply decided that the time had come to reiterate what the majority of
scientists have accepted.
As for the frank language, White said, "We kept it to what was very well understood without
going into the technical details." Ruskin pointed out that most the organizations that signed on
had already issued statements on climate change (including the ACS and the AAAS). The goal
for the new letter was to identify the common features of those statements. "Each of us in the
science community had statements that were quite similar, but there was no coordination among
us," Ruskin told Ars. "By working together, we could act as a single voice for the science
community."
Although the organizations may be speaking with a single voice, it's clear that (as in other areas
of science), there are a number of individuals that remain skeptical of the consensus reached by
the scientific community. We asked Ruskin about this, but he said that the ACS already has ways
for any members that wish to dissent to make their opinions known. The ACS has a standing
committee for environmental issues that meets virtually and at the organization's annual
meetings, and they take feedback from the membership. If anyone objects to ACS' statements on
climate change (or any other matter), they have had many opportunities to make their opinions
known, since the current statement is in its fourth revision; the first was issued over a decade
ago.
Given that many members of the Environment and Public Works Committee, most notably
James Inhofe, have already clearly staked out positions on the science, we asked whether they
expected anyone to take them up on their offer to help with the science. "There's always the
chance," White said. "Even if we're not asked to provide testimony, we could still brief any
Senator or their staff." For his part, Ruskin felt it was a reminder that there's been an ongoing
effort to reach out by the ACS and others; the ACS has been conducting panels for the
Congressional leadership, having held one on regional climate models just last month.
But, even if the offer isn't accepted, both White and Ruskin felt that the key message of the letter
is that the scientific consensus hasn't shifted in the years since the last IPCC report. "I think it's
really notable that you had such a broad array of societies come together to make a strong
statement on climate change," White said. Ruskin had a similar sentiment, saying, "Those who
are skeptics will remain skeptics, but those who are committed to doing something can see a
greater unity from the science community."
103
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/scientific-societies-warn-senate-climatechange-is-real.ars
Open Letter: http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2009/media/1021climate_letter.pdf
Reuters | Richard Cowan | October 22, 2009
Report urges coordinated federal, state, local planning
* Fewer Americans see global warming as big problem -poll
WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - As Congress considers curbs on carbon dioxide pollution, a
U.S. report on Thursday urged the White House to prepare now for flooding and other natural
disasters brought by global warming.
Federal agencies, working with Congress, state and local governments, should "develop a
national strategic plan that will guide the nation's efforts to adapt to a changing climate," said a
report by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress.
John Stephenson, director of GAO's natural resources and environment office, told a
congressional panel that higher concentrations of greenhouse gases may have significant effects,
including threats to coastal areas from rising seas.
The GAO found there was no coordinated national approach for dealing with such problems.
While government has been slow to get ready, Stephenson said, "Natural disasters such as
floods, heat waves, droughts or hurricanes raised public awareness of the costs of potential
climate change impacts."
A survey of government officials, GAO said, found there was limited money for climate change
planning, as agencies put higher priority on other concerns.
The GAO report came amid signs that more of the U.S. public is dismissing scientists' warnings
of calamity.
According to a Pew Research Center poll released on Thursday, 35 percent of Americans say
global warming is a very serious problem, down from 44 percent in April 2008.
Over the past year, the United States has been preoccupied with the severe economic downturn,
which has put other concerns on a back burner. However, the Pew poll found that half of those
surveyed favor setting limits on carbon emissions, even if they lead to higher prices.
REMEMBERING KATRINA
Representative Edward Markey, chairman of a House of Representatives global warming panel,
recalled the government failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans four years
ago.
"Katrina foreshadows the consequences of climate change if we do not make the necessary
preparations," he said.
Markey, a Democrat, was a leading force behind House legislation passed in June that would cut
U.S. smokestack emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases by 17 percent by 2020, from 2005
levels.
104
A similar effort is facing tough opposition in the Senate and might not be voted on this year.
Representative James Sensenbrenner, the senior Republican on Markey's committee, said recent
weather patterns show a global cooling, not warming.
He said Congress shouldn't waste its time with the "cap and trade" approach Democrats want to
implement to lower emissions by allowing companies to trade a dwindling number of pollution
permits.
Instead, Sensenbrenner said Congress should focus on "adaptation" steps.
Eric Schwaab, deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said his state
has taken such steps, including restoring natural shoreline buffers and limiting growth in new
areas.
With an extensive coastline, Maryland could see a 2.7-foot to 3.4-foot rise in sea level by 2100,
Schwaab said, causing a range of problems.
(Editing by David Alexander)
http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSN22142154
October 23, 2009
PlanetArk.org | Jonathan Lynn | October 23, 2009
GE Calls For Trade Deal In Environmental Goods
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - A deal freeing up trade in environmental goods and services is
urgently needed to help global efforts to tackle climate change, General Electric Co said on
Thursday.
GE's senior counsel for intellectual property and trade, Thaddeus Burns, said the deal should be
negotiated separately from the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of talks to open up world
trade. The Doha talks are in their eighth year with no sign of a breakthrough.
The call by the world's biggest maker of electric turbines and jet engines focused attention on the
difficulties of reconciling environment and energy policy with trade rules.
"We believe that some kind of multilateral agreement... could be something that would be very
useful for spurring the diffusion of green technology, both in the form of goods and services,"
Burns told an energy conference at the WTO.
One model could be the agreement on information technology, negotiated by a group of WTO
members to eliminate duties on a range of high-tech products to foster technological
development.
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy says international agreements to curb greenhouse
emissions, say at December's Copenhagen climate summit, need not conflict with trade rules.
But trade experts say there is still plenty of scope for trade disputes arising from the application
of emission curbs and many legal grey areas would need to be clarified.
TARIFF BARRIERS
Burns cited the example of wind turbines, in which GE -- a multinational manufacturing and
selling around the globe -- is encountering high tariffs.
Five countries -- Denmark, Germany, India, Japan and Spain -- account for 93 percent of world
production of wind turbines, helped by a favorable regulatory regime in the European Union.
105
The biggest producers are Denmark's Vestas, GE, Spain's Gamesa, Germany's Enercon and
Siemens, and India's Suzion.
But the product, a key source of renewable energy, is subject to an average tariff of 7.5 percent
around the world, ranging from 14 percent in Brazil, 8 percent in China to 2.7 percent in the EU
and 1.3 percent in the United States.
An agreement that cuts and rationalizes these tariffs -- imposed on global trade in wind turbines
and parts of nearly $6.6 billion in 2008 -- would promote green technology, he said.
Green technology producers also face non-tariff barriers -- regulatory red-tape and standards -that block their sales.
Because much energy infrastructure is bought by governments, state procurement policies such
as "Buy America" in the United States and similar measures in China and Canada are disrupting
trade in green goods.
Burns cited the example of GE's hydro technology, produced in Canada, a center for advanced
water energy. U.S. "Buy America" policies mean this cannot be sold in the United States.
BIOFUEL BLOCK
Similar barriers are faced by Brazil, the world's biggest exporter of ethanol, said a senior
Brazilian diplomat.
Flavio Damico, Brazil's deputy ambassador to the WTO, told the conference ethanol faced tariffs
of 42.9 percent and 46.0 percent it the European Union and United States respectively, against
zero on oil.
Measures to promote sustainable development could also turn out to be discriminatory, targeting
other countries' production.
"If people are serious about emissions, why tax clean, renewable fuels while dirty, nonrenewable and price-volatile oil is admitted duty-free?" he asked.
The result was that ethanol was treated like an agricultural product, with only 10 percent of
world production -- which hit 79 billion liters in 2008 -- traded globally.
(Editing by Janet Lawrence)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55163
PlanetArk.org | Nopporn Wong-Anan | October 23, 2009
ASEAN Gearing Up To Be Global Green Auto Hub
HUA HIN, Thailand - Southeast Asia is gearing up to become a global hub for the production
and sale of environmentally friendly cars, a Thai deputy cabinet minister said on Thursday.
Trade ministry officials from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
assigned regional industry bodies on Thursday to draft common guidelines for green cars, hoping
to leverage Thailand's role as an auto manufacturing hub and large car markets in Indonesia and
Malaysia.
"ASEAN's aim is to be a global auto production base," Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn
Polabutr told a news conference.
"As Thailand is already the Detroit of Asia and Malaysia and Indonesia are huge auto markets,
we should all cooperate to develop the auto industry."
The officials assigned automotive industry groups in ASEAN, such as the ASEAN Automobile
Federation, "to come up with the future guidelines for green and clean vehicles," Alongkorn said.
Thailand was already pursuing this route by promoting a policy for a flexible fuel vehicle, which
can use a mixed fuel with up to 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, he said.
"We want our cars to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas," he said.
Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai said ASEAN trade ministry officials, at a meeting with
auto industry representatives, urged governments to help offset falling sales by speeding up tariff
106
cut commitments under AFTA, the region's free trade area agreement, providing loans to SMEs
and speeding up electronic customs.
Southeast Asia has long struggled with air pollution stemming from weak or unenforced controls
on vehicle emissions.
(Editing by John Ruwitch and Ron Popeski)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
http://planetark.org/wen/55164
PlanetArk.org | Gerard Wynn | October 23, 2009
Advanced Biofuels Will Stoke Global Warming: Study
Biomass, the unused portions of logged trees such a branches and the tree tops, sit at the Old
Town Fuel and Fiber mill to be burned to generate electricity in Old Town, Maine in this June 2,
2009 file photo. A new generation of biofuels, meant to be a lo
Photo: Brian Snyder
LONDON/WASHINGTON - A new generation of biofuels, meant to be a low-carbon
alternative, will on average emit more carbon dioxide than burning gasoline over the next few
decades, a study published in Science found on Thursday.
Governments and companies are pouring billions of research dollars into advanced fuels made
from wood and grass, meant to cut carbon emissions compared with gasoline, and not compete
with food as corn-based biofuels do now.
But such advanced, "cellulosic" biofuels will actually lead to higher carbon emissions than
gasoline per unit of energy, averaged over the 2000-2030 time period, the study found.
That is because the land required to plant fast-growing poplar trees and tropical grasses would
displace food crops, and so drive deforestation to create more farmland, a powerful source of
carbon emissions.
Biofuel crops also require nitrogen fertilizers, a source of two greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide
(CO2) and the more powerful nitrous oxide.
"In the near-term I think, irrespective of how you go about the cellulosic biofuels program,
you're going to have greenhouse gas emissions exacerbating the climate change problem," said
lead author, Jerry Melillo, from the U.S. Marine Biological Laboratory.
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U.S. ethanol industry group the Renewable Fuels Association said biofuels are by definition
emissions neutral because their tailpipe carbon output is absorbed by growing plants.
Without steps to protect forests and cut fertilizer use, gasoline out-performs biofuels from 20002050 as well.
The paper did not mean cellulosic biofuels had no place.
"It is not an obvious and easy win without thinking very carefully about the problem," said
Melillo. "We have to think very carefully about both short and long-term consequences."
A related study, also published in the journal Science on Thursday, said the United Nations had
exaggerated carbon savings from biofuels and biomass, in a mistake copied by the European
Union in its cap and trade law, by ignoring deforestation and other land use changes.
The mistake was carried into U.S. climate legislation as well, and would worsen as governments
put a price on carbon, driving more biofuel use, it said.
FOOD
"There will be increasing pressure to convert the biomass of the world into an energy source,"
said Steve Hamburg, chief scientist at green group the Environmental Defense Fund and coauthor of the second Science paper.
"Then it competes with agriculture, water protection, biodiversity, a whole host of things, and
that doesn't provide benefits to the atmosphere," he told Reuters.
It was also important to take account of how the land had been managed before it was grown
with biofuels, said Hamburg. A previous farming practice may have been better for the planet, he
said, underlining the complexity of calculating benefits.
Advocates hope that forthcoming talks to agree a new global climate deal in Copenhagen in
December will protect forests, by rewarding land owners to store carbon in their trees.
The first paper did not explicitly consider the food production impact of ramping up advanced
biofuels. The U.N.'s food agency says that global food output will have to increase 70 percent by
2050 to feed a growing, more affluent population.
The world's forests, rather than farmland, would have to make way for biofuels which would
consume by 2100 more land than all food crops now, the first study found.
"We think there is space on earth for both food crops and the biofuels but there are consequences
of using that space," in lost forest, Melillo said. "You've got to lose something."
(Editing by Anthony Barker)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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PlanetArk.org | Jeff Mason | October 23, 2009
White House Encouraged By Climate Bill Progress
WASHINGTON - The White House is encouraged by progress on a climate change bill going
through the Senate and is working to advance it even if it is not completed by a December
deadline, a key aide to President Barack Obama said on Thursday.
Carol Browner, Obama's top adviser on climate and energy issues, told Reuters that White House
officials were reaching out to Democratic and Republican senators in an aggressive push to move
the bill forward.
"There have been some bipartisan conversations that we find very encouraging," Browner said in
an interview.
"We are going to continue to do everything in our power to keep this moving."
Browner said if a law is not passed by the time U.N. talks on a global warming pact begin in
December in Copenhagen, the United States would still have a strong position on the issue in the
negotiations.
"Wherever we are in the process, we will be able to manage in Copenhagen," she said.
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Browner assuaged concerns from some critics that the president did not support a role for nuclear
energy in the bill. Republicans such as John McCain have pushed for nuclear to have a more
prominent place in the legislation.
"It's something that we believe should be in a comprehensive energy package," Browner said.
(Editing by David Alexander)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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PlanetArk.org | Joan Gralla | October 23, 2009
NYC Sees Economic Gold In Green Jobs
Photo Go to Article Rain pours as the largest privately owned solar roof in Manhattan was
unveiled, atop 45 Rockefeller Plaza in New York, November 20, 2007.
Photo: Chip East
NEW YORK - Recession-stricken New York City plans to double its current green work force
by creating over 13,000 new jobs in the next decade, partly by competing with London to
become the new center for carbon trading, a city official said on Wednesday.
London, whose prominence as a financial capital rivals New York City and Tokyo, got an early
lock in trading pollution credits by training lawyers, accountants and other experts "before the
market even existed," Seth Pinsky, president of the Economic Development Corporation, told
Reuters.
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New York City's new boot camp in green finance will be run by the State University of New
York's Levin Institute. It will be open to laid-off workers or future entrepreneurs, much like an
already "booming" incubator for financial start-ups, Pinsky said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who made his first fortune as a Wall Street bond trader before
getting into politics, is expected to announce on Thursday this green job branch to his two-yearold PlaNYC program, which set ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gases, planting 1
million trees and crowning skyscrapers with wind turbines.
The mayor's $7.5 million green jobs plan will call on Columbia University to help offer public
school pupils "hands-on" learning in energy efficiency, according to Bloomberg, who is running
as an independent candidate for a third term. His plan also will create an Urban Technology
Innovation Center to tap academic research. Existing city and state funds and federal stimulus
dollars will pay for it.
HARNESSING THE WIND AND RAYS
New York City residents and businesses spend about $15 billion a year on energy -- one of the
biggest U.S. markets. The city will capitalize on its breezy coastlines by installing wind turbines
at Hunts Point in The Bronx, for example, instead of beginning with the rooftop windmills critics
said might prove unsafe. Solar projects are planned for the Brooklyn Army Terminal, which
would produce enough power for 100 households for a year. More solar projects are planned in
Long Island City.
The city is already testing turbines in the Hudson River off Roosevelt Island to take advantage of
strong local tides.
New York City has 5 billion square feet of building stock -- more than any peer -- and building
codes will be overhauled to encourage owners to add energy saving and other green
technologies. Developers and building owners will be able to share their experiences at the new
technology center.
Many U.S. cities and states also have green agendas and some seem to be following in
Bloomberg's footsteps. New York City was the first large city to use energy-saving traffic lights,
Pinsky's spokesman said.
Houston's Mayor Bill White, a Democrat, said on Wednesday that over half of his city's 2,425
traffic signals now have LED lights, which will save $190,626 a year.
Bloomberg has already launched an incubator for media entrepreneurs.
Fashion, bioscience and higher education are next.
"We've got great schools, but they tended in the past to be Ivory Tower places, which don't really
connect with the real economy," Pinsky said. "We're trying to make that connection."
Europe's cap-and-trade program to cut greenhouse-gas emissions is more advanced than anything
in this country. New York and nine of its Northeast neighbors already have a cap-and-trade
market, but President Barack Obama's plan is still winding through Congress.
(Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Jan Paschal)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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PlanetArk.org | Ana Isabel Martinez | October 23, 2009
Three-Minute Showers To Conserve Water?
CARACAS, VENEZUELA - Leftist President Hugo Chavez called on Venezuelans on
Wednesday to stop singing in the shower and to wash in three minutes because the oil-exporting
nation is having problems supplying water and electricity.
Venezuela has suffered several serious blackouts in the past year because of rapidly growing
demand and under-investment, which has been aggravated by a drop in water levels in
hydroelectric dams that provide most of its energy.
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Chavez announced energy-saving measures and said he would create a ministry to deal with the
electricity shortages, which have affected the image of his socialist revolution before legislative
elections due in 2010.
Calling for water conservation, he said low rainfall caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon
meant water levels were critically low in the El Guri reservoir, one of the world's largest dams.
"Some people sing in the shower, in the shower half an hour. No kids, three minutes is more than
enough. I've counted, three minutes, and I don't stink," he said during a televised Cabinet
meeting.
"If you are going to lie back, in the bath, with the soap and you turn on the what's it called, the
Jacuzzi ... imagine that, what kind of communism is that? We're not in times of Jacuzzi," he said,
to laughter from his ministers.
He mentioned using airplanes to try to force rain from clouds and said the government would
soon publish a decree prohibiting imports of low-efficiency electrical appliances. He called on
ministries and state-run companies to cut energy consumption by 20 percent immediately.
(Editing by Peter Cooney)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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NPR | Richard Harris | October 23, 2009
Scientists: Biofuel Laws May Harm Environment
Carolyn Kaster/AP
A farmer harvests corn on a farm near Spring Mills, Pa. According to current biofuel laws, if you
burn ethanol from corn in your car, the government doesn't count the carbon dioxide that comes
out of the tailpipe as an actual carbon emission.
On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to give a price tag for the Senate's
global warming bill. That will frame next week's scheduled debate on the legislation.
One key part of the climate bill has to do with fuels made from green plants. These can reduce
the use of fossil fuels, and they also are a big draw for farm-state votes.
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But scientists writing in the current issue of Science magazine point out a huge error in existing
biofuel laws that could actually make climate change worse. They say these rules inadvertently
encourage deforestation, which in turn contributes to global warming.
Something Doesn't Add Up
If you burn ethanol from corn in your car, the government doesn't count the carbon dioxide that
comes out of the tailpipe as an actual carbon emission. That's because they figure the corn plant
originally took that carbon dioxide out of the air, so you're just putting it back.
But 13 prominent scientists writing in Science says that's bad logic when it comes to many
types of biofuels. Author Tim Searchinger of Princeton University offers an extreme example to
make the point.
"Even if you were to cut down the world's forests and turn them into a parking lot, and take the
wood and put it in a boiler — which obviously releases enormous amounts of carbon from the
trees — that is treated as a pure way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions," Searchinger says.
"And that's obviously an error."
And that error isn't trivial. It's now enshrined in European law as well as the Kyoto climate
treaty.
"The problem is that when the world agreed to a treaty that limited the amount of carbon that
goes up the smokestack, they didn't agree to limit the amount of carbon released by cutting down
trees," he says.
Forests Worth More Dead Than Alive
Searchinger explains that in an effort to avoid double-counting carbon emissions, the treaty
negotiators ended up with a system that never counts them at all.
And he says the climate bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year
makes basically the same error, though at the moment, the Senate bill does have forest
safeguards in place.
As a result of this accounting error, countries trying to reduce their carbon emissions actually
have an incentive to cut down forests and burn them up or replant the area with biofuel crops. In
fact, Searchinger says power plants in Northern Europe are starting to chip up wood and burn it
for energy in the name of reducing emissions.
"The fundamental effect of this flaw is to make forests worth more dead than alive," he says.
This spring, another report in Science pondered what would happen in the coming decades if
biofuel carbon was never counted as an emission. Jae Edmonds of the Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory says they calculated that almost all the world's forests would be chopped
down by the middle of this century.
"You can't actually imagine this going on like this with no one noticing and nobody stepping in
to intervene," Edmonds says. "But the numerical experiment is instructive in that it takes the
phenomenon into sharp relief."
An Easy Fix
Searchinger says the good news is that it's easy to fix the problem. Nations simply need to count
all carbon dioxide coming out of tailpipes and smokestacks, regardless of the source. Then, if the
source of the biofuel is a destructive source, like deforestation, there would be no carbon
emissions credit. But if it is from a good source, like plants grown on previously barren land, that
would earn a carbon credit.
"There are substantial amounts of bio-energy we can make, that do give us greenhouse gas
benefits," Searchinger says. "What we don't want to do is create a false and perverse incentive
simply to clear the world's forests."
Whether this new accounting scheme would affect the domestic biofuels industry is debatable.
Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, says it shouldn't matter.
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"Some of the points that have been made in the [research] paper today, we agree with," Dinneen
says. "You should never, under any circumstance, tear down a forest for the growing of a
biofuel."
But some scientists argue that the domestic biofuels industry does, indirectly, lead to
deforestation in the tropics, by raising the global price of corn and encouraging farmers in South
America to clear land to plant grain.
Edmonds, of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, says that if we could place a cash value
on preserving forests, that ends up being good for the atmosphere.
"You don't end up not producing quite as much biofuels," he says, "but you don't need as much
because you don't have to make up for the deforestation."
The real challenge now, Edmonds says, is figuring out how to put a new carbon accounting
scheme into practice.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114055974&ft=1&f=1025
Daily Gleaner | DAVID SUZUKI with FAISAL MOOLA | October 23, 2009
Forests count in climate change
.
AP- Greenpeace activists deploy a 30 x 7 metre floating banner reading "Dying for Climate
Leadership" on the Athabasca River last month in the heart of the Canadian tar sands. While
much climate change debate has focused on the burning of fossil fuels, columnist David Suzuki
believes the destruction of forests, wetlands and grasslands does far more harm.
In 1992, I attended an event that filled me with hope.
Canada and the rest of the world had just signed a climate change treaty at the United Nations
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
I remember being optimistic that the world could come together to fight the greatest threat to our
planet and our own survival. We had done it before in overcoming other threats, like defeating
Nazism in Europe and beating back horrific diseases like polio.
When Canada signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) treaty, we
had not yet begun to experience the full consequences of climate change. There were no news
reports of starving polar bears in the Arctic, the mountain pine beetle had not yet turned British
Columbia's forests crimson, and we weren't facing a rapid increase in infectious diseases, like
Lyme disease, that are exacerbated by warming temperatures.
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But climate change is now affecting people and places all over the planet, from the most remote
tropical rainforest to the urban parks where many of our kids play.
And scientists tell us that some changes, like melting sea ice in the Arctic, are happening much
faster than any computer model had predicted.
Though the 1992 UNFCCC treaty set no mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions and
contained no enforcement provisions (these would come later in the Kyoto Protocol and, we
hope, in a forthcoming climate treaty that will replace it), it did set an ambitious science-based
goal: to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent the effects of
dangerous climate change.
Scientists say we can only achieve this goal if we radically reduce all major sources of heattrapping greenhouse gas emissions.
While much of the debate and action has focused on curbing emissions from burning fossil fuels
such as oil, coal and gas, the destruction of our forests, wetlands, grasslands and peatlands is
responsible for about one quarter of all other emissions into the atmosphere. That's higher than
emissions from cars, trucks, boats and planes together.
In Canada and throughout the world, forests are being rapidly cleared for agriculture and oil and
gas development and are being destructively mined and logged.
When forest soils are disturbed and trees are burned or cut down for wood and paper products,
much of the carbon stored in their biomass is released back into the atmosphere as heat-trapping
carbon dioxide, although some carbon can remain stored in longer-lived forest products, like
wood used to make furniture or homes.
Thus the destruction of forests and other ecosystems is not only a driver of extinction of species,
such as boreal caribou, but is a driver of global warming as well.
We need to adopt a carbon stewardship approach to how we use our forests and the goods and
services we take from them.
For some scientists, carbon stewardship means setting aside at least half of all remaining intact
forests as protected areas, particularly carbon-rich forests like old-growth temperate rainforests
in B.C. and the boreal in Canada's north, where wildlife like caribou feed, breed and roam.
Protecting intact forests also promotes ecological resiliency so that species and ecosystems can
cope with and adapt to the effects of climate change.
That doesn't mean the logging companies should be allowed to trash the other 50 per cent.
Forests that we do manage for wood and paper production should be logged according to the
highest standards of ecosystem-based management, without clear cutting, and with adequate
protection for wildlife habitat like caribou, as well as sensitive areas like wetlands.
In December, the world's nations will meet at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen to
negotiate a new strong and fair climate change agreement that will continue and strengthen the
Kyoto Protocol.
Scientists tell us that to avoid dangerous climate change, governments must agree to deep
reductions in greenhouse gases, including carbon emissions from the destruction of our forests,
wetlands, and other ecosystems.
We can achieve this by agreeing to protect our intact forests, taking full responsibility for
emissions from logging and other land-use activities and helping developing nations reduce
deforestation.
Let's use our forests in a truly sustainable way that is better for nature, better for the climate and
ultimately better for our own health and well-being.
David Suzuki's column appears Fridays. Send comments to [email protected].
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/search/article/833488
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PlanetArk.org | Gillian Murdoch | October 23, 2009
Time To Trim Fido's "Eco Pawprint", Authors Say
SINGAPORE - They're faithful, friendly and furry -- but under their harmless, fluffy exteriors,
dogs and cats, the world's most popular house pets, use up more energy resources in a year than
driving a car, a new book says.
In their book "Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living," New Zealand-based
architects Robert and Brenda Vale say keeping a medium-sized dog has the same ecological
impact as driving 10,000 km (6,213 miles) a year in a 4.6 liter Land Cruiser.
Calculating that the modern Fido chows through about 164 kg of meat and 95 kg of cereals a
year, the Vales estimated the ecological footprint of cats and dogs, based on the amount of land
needed to grow common brands of pet food.
"There are no recipes in the book," Robert Vale told Reuters, laughingly, in a telephone
interview.
"We're not actually saying it is time to eat the dog. We're just saying that we need to think about
and know the (ecological) impact of some of the things we do and that we take for granted."
Constructing and driving the jeep for a year requires 0.41 hectares of land, while growing and
manufacturing a dog's food takes about 0.84 ha -- or 1.1 ha in the case of a large dog such as a
German shepherd.
Meat-eating swells the eco-footprint of canines, and felines are not that much better, the Vales
found.
The average cat's eco-footprint, 0.15 ha, weighs in at slightly less than a Volkswagen Golf, but
still 10 times a hamster's 0.014 ha -- which is itself half the eco cost of running a plasma
television.
By comparison, the ecological footprint of an average human in the developing world is 1.8 ha,
while people in the developed world take 6 ha.
With pets' diets under the control of owners, how can their unsustainable appetites be trimmed?
Convincing carnivorous cats and dogs to go vegetarian for the sake of the planet is a non-starter,
the Vales say.
Instead they recommend keeping "greener," smaller, and more sustainable pets, such as goldfish,
hamsters, chickens or rabbits.
The book's playful title, and serious suggestion that pet animals may be usefully "recycled," by
being eaten by their owners or turned into petfood when they die, may not appeal to animal fans.
Offputting as the idea may be, the question is valid given the planet's growing population and
finite resources, Robert Vale said.
"Issues about sustainability are increasingly becoming things that are going to require us to make
choices which are as difficult as eating your dog. It's not just about changing your lightbulbs or
taking a cloth bag to the supermarket," he said.
"It's about much more challenging and difficult issues," he added. "Once you see where (cats and
dogs) fit in your overall balance of things -- you might decide to have the cat but not also to have
the two cars and the three bathrooms and be a meat eater yourself.
(Editing by Sugita Katyal)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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PlanetArk.org | Yereth Rosen | October 23, 2009
U.S. Maps Protected Alaska Habitat For Polar Bears
A polar bear sow and two cubs are seen on the Beaufort Sea coast within the 1002 Area of the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in this undated handout photograph provided by the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service.
Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A vast swath of icy sea, barrier islands and coastal land on Alaska's
oil-rich North Slope will be granted special protection because of its importance to the threatened
polar bear, under a proposal released Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The agency proposes that 200,000 square miles (518,000 sq km) of coastline and shallow Arctic
Ocean waters be designated as critical habitat, a status of heightened protection afforded under
the Endangered Species Act.
The area, which would be the largest ever designated for an Endangered Species Act-listed
population, overlaps the territory with the largest existing oil fields in the United States where
companies operate and plan to explore more.
Tom Strickland, assistant Interior Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said in a telephone
news conference that the critical-habitat designation should not hinder further development as
long as operations are responsible and careful.
Oil companies are already subject to rules for protecting polar bears imposed by the Marine
Mammal Protection Act and under other aspects of the Endangered Species Act.
"The activities going on in the energy community, both onshore and offshore, were already
subject to significant regulatory review and consideration as they might affect the bear prior to
this step that we're taking today," Strickland said.
"We believe that it will not be a significant additional burden on the industry for that reason, but
it does further highlight the importance of trying to minimize any kind of activity in these critical
areas that might adversely impact the bear."
ENVIRONMENTALISTS PLEASED
Included in the designation are areas where polar bears establish their dens, give birth and nurse
their cubs and forage for food, officials said. Over 90 percent of the habitat is water that is often
covered by sea ice.
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Environmentalists said they were pleased with the plan, which is subject to a 60-day public
review before it becomes final.
"The maps all are what scientists say polar bear critical habitat in the U.S. should be," said
Brendan Cummings, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the
environmental groups that sued to gain Endangered Species Act protections for polar bears.
But Cummings and other environmentalists said the Department of Interior must stop the spread
of oil development in new Arctic territory to make the critical-habitat designation meaningful.
Alaska state officials, however, are fighting the listing itself and the regulations it entails.
"Some are attempting to use the Endangered Species Act as a way to shut down resource
development. I'm not going to let that happen on my watch," Governor Sean Parnell told a news
conference late Wednesday.
The state has sued to overturn the listing and filed a brief earlier this week in U.S. District Court
in Washington that argues that polar bear populations are robust and unaffected by sea-ice
changes, the Republican governor said.
(Editing by Mary Milliken)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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