Global Warming

Climate Crisis Coalition Newsfeed
www.climatecrisiscoalition.org
March 2007

Transmission Line which Could Spur Wind Farms Faces Stiff Opposition in New York. By Devlin Barrett, The Associated Press, February 27, 2006. "A high-voltage transmission line running through Central New York could spur the creation of environmentally friendly wind farms across the state, according to an official with the company that hopes to build the line. Bill May, project manager for the Albany-based New York Regional Interconnect Inc. (NYRI), said Tuesday he has already spoken to would-be wind farm developers who would likely benefit from construction of the transmission line from Utica to the lower Hudson Valley. The $1.6 billion, roughly 200-mile project has run into stiff political opposition in New York, where many upstate residents fear it would spoil their surroundings and property values. Given that political climate, NYRI may find a more receptive audience in Washington. A federal agency could override local objections and allow it to proceed as a nationally important energy project. May insisted Tuesday the company can still win state approval and NYRI representatives are in Washington this week to make their case to elected officials... 'There's lot of wind sites that are currently being viewed for development, however they can't be economically developed. It's not a suitable investment until they know there's a path to the market. That's where our environmental message comes in,' May said... May declined to say which elected officials NYRI will meet with, but aides to Sen. Charles Schumer and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are scheduled to meet with them Thursday. Both senators have expressed doubts about the project, which has few proponents in the state outside of New York City and its immediate suburbs... Schumer has criticized NYRI for having what he calls a 'my way or the highway' approach, while Clinton has criticized the proposed route and said the issue should be decided by state officials, not a federal agency. Speaking later Tuesday, Clinton said she was still skeptical about the NYRI project, but was noncommittal on the prospect of more wind farms in upstate New York. 'I have a lot of questions, and I would like to see more answers,' she said in a conference call with reporters. 'I don't think making assertions about what might or might not occur is a good way to make policy.'"

British Columbia Plans New Metering System to Encourage Conservation. Jeff Rud, The Victoria Times, February 28, 2007. "New 'smart' meters could be installed in all homes within the next five years as part of the B.C. Energy Plan unveiled yesterday... Energy Minister Richard Neufeld's ambitious strategy calls for B.C. Hydro to meet 50 per cent of the province's new power needs over the next 13 years through conservation measures. Hydro president Bob Elton said this means using new meter technology now being piloted in 2,000 homes that tells consumers how they're using power and how much it costs. The meters will allow Hydro to reward customers for using electricity outside peak periods. Once the technology is finalized, Elton said installing meters will cost $400 million to $500 million and take between three and five years. Another key conservation tactic will be a new B.C. building code by 2010 to mandate energy efficient construction... The Hydro energy plan also calls for: - All coal-fired generation projects to have zero emissions. - 90 per cent of total hydro generation to remain clean or renewable. - Hydro to request proposals for using sawmill waste, forest wastewood and pine beetle wood for power generation. - A new standing-offer program to allow independent companies to sell up to 10 megawatts of power to Hydro. - Government to develop a B.C. biodiesel and ethanol industry by requiring five per cent minimum mix of both by 2010. - No nuclear power generation."

Moscow Urging Residents to Switch Light Bulbs. By James Kilner, Reuters, February 28, 2007. "Russia has begun its first major energy-awareness campaign since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, bringing an unfamiliar sight to Moscow streets: billboards urging people to switch to energy-saving light bulbs. But Muscovites are not being encouraged to go green to save the planet. The city government in Moscow has realized that the country's wasteful ways with energy could mean that before long there will not be enough fuel to go around. 'It's all about conserving energy supplies and nothing to do with the environment,' Igor Bashmakov, head of the independent Center for Energy Efficiency, said of the campaign, started at the beginning of the year. The dangers of global warming have grabbed headlines and attention around the world, prompting a planned ban on incandescent light bulbs in Australia. But in Russia — the world's third-largest polluter after the United States and China — climate change is generally greeted with a shrug of the shoulders. The program is aimed at conserving energy use rather than cleaning the environment. Persuading Russians to save energy is a difficult task. In a country with huge oil and natural gas reserves, many people see keeping lights on round the clock and driving gas-guzzling cars as their birthright. Russia has become rich over the past few years by pumping oil and gas to hungry markets in the West, and by energy-intensive mineral and metal mining. Consuming and selling energy is high on the agenda, but saving it or shifting toward such renewable sources as solar, wind or hydro power, have not been a priority... Andrei Turnitsa, development director at Kosmos — a Russian company that sells energy-saving light bulbs under its own brand — said it was the shock of the power cuts that motivated the Moscow city government to persuade Muscovites to cut power use. 'Moscow's government asked us to become partners in an information program,' Turnitsa said. 'The aim was to explain to consumers that by buying energy-saving bulbs you can contribute to the city and to its energy saving program.'"

British Retailers to Cut Down On Plastic Bags. By Jeremy Lovell, Reuters, March 1, 2007. "British retailers have agreed to clamp down on plastic bags as part of the battle against global warming, the Department of the Environment said on Wednesday. The agreement involving top retailers such as Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsburys and Wal-Mart's ASDA, should lead to a 25 percent cut in the environmental impact of the bags by the end of next year. "This is an ambitious, but very practical agreement and we are pleased that the retailers have agreed to work with us and UK consumers in such a positive way," Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw said. Under the agreement, retailers will encourage consumers to use fewer bags and re-use those that they already have. Retailers will also switch over to recyclable carrier bags where they can."

New Evidence Indicates that Global Warming Fuels Stronger Atlantic Hurricanes. Press Release, University of Wisconsin-Madison, February 28, 2006. "Atmospheric scientists have uncovered fresh evidence to support the hotly debated theory that global warming has contributed to the emergence of stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean. The unsettling trend is confined to the Atlantic, however, and does not hold up in any of the world's other oceans, researchers have also found... [James Kossin, a University of Wisconsin and NOAA scientist, was the lead author of the study reported on in the journal Geophysical Research Letters] 'The average conditions in the Atlantic at any given time are just on the cusp of what it takes for a hurricane to form,' says Kossin. ' So it might be that imposing only a small (man-made) change in conditions, creates a much better chance of having a hurricane.' The Atlantic is also unique in that all the physical variables that converge to form hurricanes — including wind speeds, wind directions and temperatures — mysteriously feed off each other in ways that only make conditions more ripe for a storm. But scientists don't really understand why, Kossin adds. 'While we can see a correlation between global warming and hurricane strength, we still need to understand exactly why the Atlantic is reacting to warmer temperatures in this way, and that is much more difficult to do,' says Kossin."

Dramatic Warming of Lake Superior Revealed. The Associated Press, February 26, 2006. "For Jay Austin, who has made a career of studying the Great Lakes, the warming climate around Lake Superior is no mystery. But he was surprised to find the waters of the lake itself warming even more rapidly. Austin, a Duluth professor and a researcher with the University of Minnesota-Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory, has studied decades of data. What he found was water temperatures rising almost twice as fast as air temperatures - more than 4 degrees for the average surface temperature. The increase is having dramatic effects. 'The date of what we call the spring overturn has been getting earlier in the year,' Austin said. 'It's basically the start of the summer season in the lake. It's when you start to develop strong positive stratification: warm water sitting on top of cool water.' In two decades, the spring turnover has moved up two weeks from early July to mid-June. Part of that likely is due to a loss of ice cover. Since ice is reflective, when it's not there it makes it easier for the lake to absorb heat. In another 35 to 40 years, Austin said, Lake Superior will have very little ice cover. While that may sound good to people who swim or sail on the lake, it's not so good for plants and animals, including the lake's native whitefish."

Tokyo Ends Winter Without Snow for the First Time. Agence France-Presse, March 1, 2007. "The Japanese capital Tokyo has ended winter without snow for the first time on record, the weather agency said Thursday, amid rising global concern about climate change. The Japan Meteorological Agency recorded no snow in central Tokyo by February 28, which it defines as the last day of winter, for the first time since records began in 1876."

E.U. Ambassador to the U.S.: Let's Work on This Together. Commentary by John Bruton, The San Francisco Chronicle, February 28, 2007. "As the European Union's ambassador to the United States, I have been very vocal in alerting this country to the looming disaster of global warming. With mounting, irrefutable evidence, Americans are finally coming to heed the danger signs and are beginning to listen. Europe has cheered as California and like-minded states have taken steps to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, but these efforts should really only be the beginning. We Europeans have seen and felt the changes caused by global warming for some time now in Europe. Glaciers in eight of our nine glacial regions are at their lowest levels in 5,000 years. A heat wave killed more than 25,000 people in 2003. And the number of floods has increased fourfold on our continent from 1950 to 2000. Americans, likewise, recently have suffered major droughts, devastating storms such as Hurricane Katrina and record-high temperatures... As the United States begins to wake up to the harsh realities of global warming, the European Union stands ready to assist with the knowledge and expertise European nations and industry have gained over the years... Since 2000, the European Union has launched more than 30 initiatives to address climate change, including research on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources such as wind, sun, water and waste... The European Union and the United States were at similar greenhouse-gas emission levels in 1990, but between 1990 and 2004, the EU economy grew by 32 percent and the greenhouse gas emissions went down by almost 1 percent compared to 1990 levels. By contrast, the U.S. economy grew by 52.6 percent between 1990 and 2004, but its emissions grew by 15.8 percent and are projected to increase to 32.4 percent above 1990 levels by 2010... The European Union continues to reach out beyond the European borders because it will take the cooperation of the entire world to make a difference. The EU is ready to discuss a new international agreement, which must include the United States, to cut 30 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions from developed countries by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. Developing countries such as China and India must also be helped to put in place energy efficient technologies to slow their growth in emissions... We are working against the clock here." John Bruton is the EU ambassador to the United States.

Seattle Mayor to the U.S. Senate: Cities Across the Nation are Laying the Groundwork for Strong Federal Policies. By Charles Pope, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 2, 2007. "Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels told a Senate committee Thursday that state and local governments are leading the fight against global warming, and he warned Congress against reining in local efforts that are under way across the nation. 'We are not just signing a piece of paper,' Nickels told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. 'We are making tough choices. We are investing our taxpayers' money. We are transforming our cities into laboratories for climate protection. In short, we are making a difference, and laying the groundwork for strong federal policies and programs.' Nickels, who testified along with New Jersey Gov. John Corzine, the Democratic leaders of the California Legislature and other mayors, said the federal government can help by providing money for research and broad guidelines for curbing pollution that causes climate change. But Nickels and other local officials warned Congress against passing legislation that would undercut aggressive programs in Seattle, New Jersey, California and other areas. Nickels said Congress should pass a plan 'that calls for a hard and declining cap on emissions and allows for carbon trading among entities'... States and cities, said the committee's chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., 'are leading the way for the rest of the nation. They understand what is at stake for our future, and they are sending us a signal that we should heed.' Twenty-nine states have already passed legislation limiting greenhouse gases, and on Monday the governors of Washington, California, Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico announced a regional agreement on climate change. Nickels told Boxer that 409 mayors have signed a climate-protection agreement that requires cities to reduce greenhouse emissions [in keeping with Kyoto guidelines]. Boxer is contemplating legislation based loosely on a law signed last year by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that imposes the United States' first state cap on greenhouse gas emissions and seeks to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020."

Coal-to-Liquids Draws Broad Support and Controversy. By Mark Clayton, The Christian Science Monitor, March 2, 2007. "Coal companies want to fuel your car and lately, they're getting a lot of political support for the idea. Turning coal into gasoline-like fuel has several advantages. It would use America's vast coal reserves. It would reduce the nation's thirst for foreign oil and help dampen spikes in energy prices. There's just one problem: It is not 'climate friendly' - at least, not yet. Coal-to-liquids (CTL) fuels could end up emitting nearly double the carbon dioxide that the equivalent amount of gasoline does, mostly because of the way it's manufactured. The CTL industry says new technology will fix the problem. But because such technology is not yet developed, it's unclear whether CTL fuels would be competitive without state and federal subsidies, even competing against high-priced diesel, jet fuel, or gasoline, analysts say. That's where politicians come in. The National Mining Association has ramped up Capitol Hill lobbying, creating a new coalition and website, futurecoalfuels.org. Many in Washington are warming to the idea. CTL bills in the House of Representatives and the Senate have received strong backing. 'We have a very good chance of getting legislation passed in this Congress because momentum continues to grow,' says Corey Henry, a spokesman for the Coal-to-Liquids Coalition, which includes coal producers and CTL developers. 'It's one energy solution that does enjoy broad bipartisan support.' Supporters of the bill range from Sen. Barack Obama (D) of Illinois to President Bush... In coal-rich Illinois, Senator Obama's support is more nuanced. Citing energy-security concerns, his bipartisan legislation would grant tax and other subsidies for development of CTL refineries. He also supports separate global-warming legislation that, if passed, would keep carbon emissions from CTL refineries under control, he says. But Obama's CTL bill does not mandate capture of carbon dioxide. That stance is likely to put him at odds with many environmentalists, who argue that a move to CTL will worsen global warming. Manufacturing and burning a gallon of CTL fuel creates nearly double the greenhouse-gas emissions that a gallon of gasoline does, they say. 'We want more energy security, too, but we're fighting this coal-to-liquids concept because it's just so bad for global warming,' says Elizabeth Martin-Perera, a climate policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)... 'It takes us from the frying pan into the fire,' she said."

Two Oil Giants Plunge into the Wind Business. By John Donnelly, The Boston Globe, March 2, 2007. "Two of the world's leading oil producers have almost overnight joined some of the biggest players in wind power in the United States, accelerating a trend of large corporations investing in the rapidly growing alternative-energy field. As global warming and clean fuels have gained more attention, Shell Oil Co. and BP have accumulated impressive credentials. Shell is one of the nation's top five generators of wind power, while BP's Alternative Energy group -- launched 16 months ago -- aims to develop projects that produce 550 megawatts of electricity this year, one-sixth of the projected US wind energy output in 2007. 'Shell and BP see wind as an increasingly important part of the energy industry. They are looking to continue to grow,' said Randall Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Association, a Washington-based industry group. 'They want to look for new opportunities, and wind is clearly in their sights.' The oil companies bring enormous cash reserves, years of experience in large projects, and a can-do spirit to an alternative-fuels industry that has largely been driven by speculators, small developers, and utilities. Though environmentalists largely praise the interests of the two oil giants, they harbor suspicions of whether the energy giants are adding renewable sources to their portfolios as a way to enhance their reputations with consumers rather than to combat global warming... Tom Natan, research director of the National Environmental Trust, a Washington-based advocacy group, said he believes that wind power's benefits outweigh the negatives and that the involvement of heavyweights such as BP and Shell -- regardless of their motives -- is necessary to accelerate development of wind power."

Australia's First Wave Power Plant Ready to Roll. Rob Taylor, Reuters, March 1, 2007. "Australia's cities are drought-parched and its desert outback drenched by floods, but climate change has not yet killed the country's famed surf beaches, or their promise of clean eco-power. Australia's first commercial wave-generated power station will in weeks begin supplying homes south of Sydney with electricity and fresh drinking water, courtesy of the sea. 'The energy in waves is the densest of any natural sources of energy. It's pretty much always there and it doesn't go away like sun and wind do,' John Bell, the Chief Finance Officer from station developer Energetech told Reuters. Lying anchored just 100 metres (yards) off a popular surf beach near Wollongong, a city of around 200,000 people just south of Sydney, the 485-tonne plant will power 500 homes along the local grid. Electricity is generated when waves wash into a funnel facing the ocean, driving air through a pipe and into a turbine capable of pumping 500kw of clean power each day into the local grid. The A$6 million ($4.7 million) floating plant, built to withstand a 1-in-100 year storm, can also desalinate 2,000 litres of drinking water each day for almost as many homes as it powers. The station is also popular with local surfers, having created a nearby sandbar with a small surf break, despite the difficulty of getting to it from Port Kembla's port. Bell said the plant was the prototype for a larger installation of 10 stations to be built on the wave-battered southern Australian coast near Portland, in Victoria. 'We'll have a queue to roll these things out, because the fact we can do both electrical energy and desalinated water is quite compelling,' he said."

Polar Year Starts with Worries of Rising Seas. By Alister Doyle, Reuters, March 1, 2007. "More than 60 nations started the biggest scientific investigation of the Arctic and Antarctic on Thursday amid new evidence that global warming is thawing polar ice and raising sea levels. About 3,000 children made slushy snowmen and waved banners saying 'give us back the winter' in Oslo, scientists met in Paris and other experts gathered on a research vessel in Cape Town to mark the start of International Polar Year (IPY). 'The polar year is important for everyone on the planet,' Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters when asked if people living in places such as Africa or Asia should be interested in science at the icy ends of the earth. "We are seeing climate change most clearly in the polar areas and research there can give us decisive knowledge in the fight against global warming," he said. During the U.N.-backed year, about 50,000 experts will be involved in 228 projects such as studying marine life in the Antarctic, mapping how winds carry pollutants to the Arctic, or examining the health of people, polar bears or penguins... The Norwegian Polar Institute said in a report that a melt of glaciers in Svalbard, an Arctic chain of islands about 1,000 km (620 miles) from the North Pole, was quickening. 'The melting has clearly accelerated in the past five years,' it said. 'Therefore Svalbard ice is contributing more than before to raising world sea levels.' Rising seas could end up threatening cities from Tokyo to New York."

Inuit Leaders Testify about Climate Change at Human Rights Commission. By George Gedda, The Associated Press, March 1, 2007. "Northern Canadians told an international commission Thursday that carbon emissions from the United States have contributed so much to global warming that they should be considered a human rights violation...The case was pressed by the Inuit community before the 34-nation Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In a petition, the group asked the commission's assistance 'in obtaining relief' from the impact of global warming, and makes specific reference to the United States as the country most responsible for the phenomenon. The commission, however, lacks the legal authority to compel the United States to take action... Sheila Watt-Cloutier, an Inuit activist, said the well-being of her people is under threat -- and that the need for air conditioning is just one example of the spread of global warming. Climate change, she said is 'destroying our right to life, health property and means of subsistence,' she said... 'Many hunters have been killed or seriously injured after falling through ice that was traditionally known to be safe,' she said... The United States did not respond to the Inuit claims before the commission, an arm of the Organization of American States."

Turkey Will Sign Kyoto Only if the E.U. Opens the Door. By Selcuk Gokoluk, Reuters, March 2, 2007. "Turkey is planning measures to curb its fast-rising greenhouse gas emissions as its economy booms, but cannot afford to sign the Kyoto protocol now, the minister of environment and forestry [Osman Pepe] said on Thursday. Turkey's gas emissions rose 75 percent between 1990 and 2004 due to population growth and fast industrialisation... Pepe said Turkey was exposed to the impact of global warming as a semi-arid country on the shores of the Mediterranean, where Turkish resorts attract nearly 20 million tourists every year... He said Turkey would spend US$60 billion to upgrade its environment standards as part of its harmonisation of legislation with European Union norms. But Turkey's industry is not prepared to shoulder the burden of emission cuts by signing the Kyoto Protocol, which sets binding targets to cut emissions, he said. 'An American produces 26 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year on average, and a European produces 11-12 tonnes. This is only 3.3 tonnes for a Turk,' he said. As a country still industrialising Turkey can only be expected to trim the rise in its emissions, Pepe said, adding that Turkey would continue to release more emissions. But he said Turkey would have to sign the Kyoto Protocol if its bid to join the European Union succeeds."

U.N. Secretary General Calls Global Warming a Danger at Least as Great as War to All Humanity. By Colum Lynch, The Washington Post, March 2, 2007. "U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon argued Thursday that global warming poses as great a threat to the world as modern warfare, and he vowed to make reduction of greenhouse gases one of his tenure's top priorities. Ban's remarks -- made in a speech in the U.N. General Assembly Hall addressing a high school conference on global warming -- were the most detailed public account of his views on climate change... In outlining his concerns, Ban described global warming as a 'grave and growing problem,' echoing language used by Bush to justify the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. 'For my generation, coming of age at the height of the Cold War, fear of nuclear winter seemed the leading existential threat on the horizon,' Ban said. 'But the danger posed by war to all humanity -- and to our planet -- is at least matched by climate change.' Ban said that global warming is 'an inescapable reality' and warned that the destruction it inflicts -- including the loss of arable land to droughts and coastal flooding -- is likely to be a 'major driver of war and conflict' in the coming decades."

The Climate-Change Precipice. Commentary by David Ignatius, The Washington Post, March 1, 2007. "[Now that] the scientific debate about whether there is a global warming problem is pretty much over... The question now is what to do about [it}. This is a political problem more than a scientific one. The solutions (if we can agree on any) will require political will and imagination -- and also pain... These issues come into focus in a startling new report by futurist Peter Schwartz. He turns the usual discussions upside down: Rather than starting with detailed estimates of climate change (how much temperatures will increase; how much sea levels will rise; what new diseases will be spawned), he looks instead at systems that already are vulnerable to such stresses... Climate scientists are uncertain how fast the icecaps will melt and the seas will rise. But in Bangladesh, where millions of people live at or near sea level, even a small increase could produce a catastrophe. In a severe monsoon, 60 million to 100 million people could be forced to flee inundated areas, Schwartz warns, producing 'the single greatest humanitarian crisis we have ever seen.' Lack of water may be as big a problem as flooding. Schwartz notes that more than 700 million people now live in arid or semi-arid areas. Climate change could tip this balance, too, producing severe water shortages and even 'water wars.' Tens of millions of people may become water migrants. The world's feeble political systems can't cope with existing migration patterns, let alone this human tide. And finally, there is the problem of maintaining social order in a stressed world. You don't have to go to Baghdad to see how quickly the social fabric can be shredded; just look at New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The stresses come in part from rapid urbanization. Schwartz notes that in 1900, one in 20 people lived in cities; today it's about half, and the percentage is rising fast. Without strong and supple governments, this could become a world of vigilantes and militias, desperate to control scarce resources. The big problems in life aren't the ones that hit you by surprise but the ones you can see coming. That's surely the case with climate change: We can measure it, we can imagine its catastrophic effects. But can we do anything to stop it?" See Schwartz's report, Impacts of Climate Change, PDF, 24 pages

Step it up 2007. By Steve Curwood, Living On Earth, National Public Radio, audio and transcript, March 2, 2007. "Author and environmentalist Bill McKibben and a small team of recent college graduates have launched a grassroots movement via cyberspace to combat climate change. They're organizing a nationwide day of rallies on April 14th to urge Congress to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. McKibben and his web director, Jon Warnow, [talk] about their call for climate action."

Who Needs Newspapers when the Web Can Do the Job?. By Bill McKibben, Grist Magazine, February 28, 2007. "By now, the six people doing most of the work of national organizing for stepitup07.org have introduced themselves on the website. Will Bates, Phil Aroneanu, Jeremy Osborn, May Boeve, Jon Warnow, and Jamie Henn are all recently minted college grads (well, one of them has a thesis still to complete)... We're building the biggest grassroots environmental protest in many years, and so far we've done it almost without a single story in the conventional press. It's been fascinating to sense the power of [the internet]. Grist, of course, has long been in the vanguard of electronic environmentalism. For most of us, though, the new mental models that go with web organizing are only now developing. To be honest, we hatched the idea of a widely distributed protest in part because we knew we lacked the financial and organizational muscle to stage a march on Washington. We worried about the carbon emissions, too. But we also sensed that such distributed action fit more easily with the ethos of the moment, a real internet ethos... I'd define that ethos this way: it's easy to both put in and take out. Instead of massive centralized systems (TV networks, agribusiness, huge coal-fired power plants, and indeed marches on Washington), there's now the possibility for widespread local systems of all kinds. The solar panels on my roof tie into the grid; when the sun shines, I'm a utility. Similarly, the April 14 demonstration in my small Vermont town will be a good thing in and of itself -- and it will tie into a vast network (nearing 750!) of such protests that we can link together electronically. In this way, we will make them more than the sum of their parts... We're about, I think, to get some more conventional publicity for Step It Up -- newspaper and TV attention, which is already starting to show up at the local level thanks to organizers in each community, will soon be coming from national outlets as well. That will help, because there are still all sorts of people who are still not fully immersed in the web. But it's been fascinating to see that conventional media attention is no longer the absolutely necessary oxygen of political organizing -- and that the alternative structures the web is building are suggesting a whole different way of thinking about doing politics."

International Team of Scientists Call for Action Plan. By Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters, February 28, 2007. "Declaring the global warming debate over, an international team of scientists urged the world's nations on Tuesday to act now to keep climate change from becoming a catastrophe. The international community needs to take stronger steps to cut the pace of global warming, adapt to the climate changes that have already taken place and ensure development can be sustained throughout the process, the scientists said in a report released at the United Nations. 'We make the argument that it is essential that we get started now: not next year, not next decade, but now,' said John Holdren, a professor of environmental policy at Harvard University and member of the scientific panel that crafted the report. This report is a logical next step after the February 2 release of a much-heralded document by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Paris, which stated that global warming is real and human activities caused much of it over the past half-century. The earlier report was prohibited from making policy recommendations; the current one, funded by the non-profit U.N. Foundation and Sigma Xi scientific society, centers on just such recommendations... For example, the scientists said no country should build any traditional coal-burning power plants... unless they are designed to be able to capture and bury the carbon dioxide they emit... In the tropics, the international community should aim to slow and eventually reverse deforestation, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, Holdren said. Global investment in advanced energy technology should be tripled or quadrupled, the report said. This and the other recommendations are aimed at cutting global warming but also providing economic opportunity and new jobs, he said... The scientists considered nuclear power as a carbon-free option, but said this energy source must address the problem of disposal of radioactive waste and break the link between nuclear technology and weapons proliferation."

Evangelical's Focus on Climate Draws Fire of Christian Right. By Laurie Goodstein, The New York Times, March 3, 2007. "Leaders of several conservative Christian groups have sent a letter urging the National Association of Evangelicals to force its policy director in Washington to stop speaking out on global warming. The conservative leaders say they are not convinced that global warming is human-induced or that human intervention can prevent it. And they accuse the director, the Rev. Richard Cizik, the association's vice president for government affairs, of diverting the evangelical movement from what they deem more important issues, like abortion and homosexuality... The letter, dated Thursday, is signed by leaders like James C. Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family; Gary L. Bauer, once a Republican presidential candidate and now president of Coalitions for America; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; and Paul Weyrich, a longtime political strategist who is chairman of American Values.

Emission on the Rise

U.S. Projects 19 Percent Emissions Rise in First 20 Years of 21st Century. By John Heilperin, The Associated Press, March 3, 2007. "By 2020, the United States will emit almost one-fifth more gases that lead to global warming than it did in 2000, increasing the risks of drought and scarce water supplies. That projection comes from an internal draft report from the Bush administration that is more than a year overdue at the United Nations. The Associated Press obtained a copy Saturday. The United States already is responsible for roughly one-quarter of the world's carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that scientists blame for global warming. The draft report, which is still being completed, projects that the current administration's climate policy would result in the emission of 9.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases in 2020, a 19 percent increase from 7.7 billion tons in 2000. Doing more than slowing the growth rate of greenhouse gas emissions, which remains the administration's stated goal, will be decided "as the science justifies," according to the draft report... The White House Council on Environmental Quality has been coordinating the draft report. A spokeswoman, Kristen Hellmer, said it 'will show that the president's portfolio of actions and his financial commitment to addressing climate change are working. And the president is always looking at ways to address our energy security and environmental needs.' Hellmer blamed the delay in completing the fourth U.S. Climate Action Report on the 'extensive interagency review process' the draft must go through. The report, which was due no later than Jan. 1, 2006, is required under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change... Rick Piltz, a former senior associate with the federal Climate Change Science Program, said Saturday he expects the final report will evade a full discussion of how global warming might affect the nation. 'I think it is very likely that the main reason the report has been held up for more than a year beyond the deadline is because the administration is reluctant to make an honest statement about likely climate change impacts on this country,' he said."

More CO2 is Emitted from World's Ships than from All of Africa. By John Vidal, The Guardian Unlimited, March 3, 2007. "Carbon dioxide emissions from shipping are double those of aviation and increasing at an alarming rate which will have a serious impact on global warming, according to research by the industry and European academics. Separate studies suggest that maritime carbon dioxide emissions are not only higher than previously thought, but could rise by as much as 75% in the next 15 to 20 years if world trade continues to grow and no action is taken. The figures... reveal that annual emissions from shipping range between 600 and 800m tonnes of carbon dioxide, or up to 5% of the global total. This is nearly double Britain's total emissions and more than all African countries combined. Carbon dioxide emissions from ships do not come under the Kyoto agreement or any proposed European legislation and few studies have been made of them, even though they are set to increase. Aviation carbon dioxide emissions, estimated to be about 2% of the global total, have been at the forefront of the climate change debate because of the sharp increase in cheap flights, whereas shipping emissions have risen nearly as fast in the past 20 years but have been ignored by governments and environmental groups. Shipping is responsible for transporting 90% of world trade which has doubled in 25 years."

Diesel Soot a Major Health Hazard for Commuters. Grist Magazine, March 2, 2007. "Here's one more reason to hate your commute: it could be making you sick. Commuters -- on car, train, bus, bike, or foot -- breathe in up to eight times more diesel soot particles than they would just being in a downtown area, according to a new study by the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force. Based on air-quality monitoring on routes through New York City, Boston, Columbus, Ohio, and Austin, Texas, the task force estimates that during the 6 percent of the day spent commuting, the average person breathes in up to 60 percent of their daily total of lung-attacking particles. It's just like driving in a closed car every day with a smoker!"

Climate Leadership

Five Western Governors Agree to Cooperate on Regional Greenhouse Gas Target. By Robert Tanner, The Washington Post, February 26, 2007. "Governors from five Western states agreed Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases, saying their region has suffered some of the worst of global warming with recent droughts and bad fire seasons. The governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington state agreed that they would develop a regional target to lower greenhouse gases and create a program aimed at helping businesses reach the still-undecided goals… The agreement - called the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative - builds on earlier efforts by several states: Last year Schwarzenegger signed California legislation imposing a first-in-the-nation emissions cap on utilities, refineries and manufacturing plants, with a goal of cutting greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020… New Mexico and Arizona last year agreed to work to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions. A similar joint effort on climate change was agreed upon in 2003 by California, Oregon and Washington."

Yale Seeks to Set an Example. By Richard Levin, YaleGlobal Online, February 26, 2007. "Universities are a natural place to demonstrate that global warming can be resisted and its adverse long-term consequences avoided. It is, after all, our scientists who identified the causes and effects of climate change and who research ways to address it. And it is our students who, in the coming decades, will have the responsibility for ensuring that the opportunities for the health and prosperity of future generations will be no less abundant than they have been for the generations that preceded them. Here's why universities must act today. Collectively and decisively, we can set a powerful example for the next generation of leaders who will increasingly interact with one another on global issues. We can demonstrate that it is possible to reduce emissions dramatically, even while accommodating the continuing growth and development of our campuses. If we succeed, so can others. At Yale, we committed in 2005 to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to 10 percent below the 1990 level by the year 2020. This represents a 43 percent reduction from our 2004 level, even while our plans call for 15 percent growth in our physical plant. We intend to reach this ambitious goal by a combination of strategies, including: 1) Conservation within existing buildings. 2) Sustainable construction of new buildings. 3) More efficient production and distribution of energy on campus - Yale produces its own steam, chilled water and two-thirds of its electricity by co-generation. 4) Use of energy from renewable sources on campus. 5) Direct participation in off-campus production of renewable energy... Universities are the natural leaders of such an effort, but other non-profit organizations, municipal governments and for-profit businesses should heed the call as well. Our future depends on it." Richard Levin is president of Yale University.

Gore's Inconvenient Truth Wins Oscar. By Steve Gorman, Reuters, February 26, 2007. "An Inconvenient Truth... won Academy Awards last Sunday for documentary feature and best song. The award for best documentary went to director Davis Guggenheim and producers Lawrence Bender and Laurie David... But the film marked a personal triumph for Gore... who said after taking the stage' 'It's not a political issue, it's a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started with the possible exception of the will to act. That's a renewable resource. Let's renew it' ... Director Guggenheim handed Gore the Oscar and told the audience the movie was made 'because we were moved to act by this man... Rock star Melissa Etheridge won the Oscar for original song for the film's musical theme, I Need to Wake Up, which she composed and performed for the movie... 'I have to thank Al Gore for inspiring us, inspiring me, showing that caring about the earth is not Democratic or Republican, it is not red or blue, we are all green,' Etheridge said."

Livingstone Unveils Climate Change Plans. 999Today.com, February 27, 2007. "London Mayor Ken Livingstone today called on all Londoners and businesses to join forces in the battle against climate change. Mr Livingstone wants to reduce London's carbon emissions by 60 per cent within the next 20 years. He appealed to people to stop wasting energy and has called on businesses to invest in green technology to heat and light workplaces. The mayor's Climate Change Action Plan claims that Londoners don't have to reduce their quality of life to fight global warming, but do need to change the way they live. The plan states that, without action, London's carbon emissions will grow from 44 million tonnes to 52 million by 2025. Mr Livingstone wants to move a quarter of London's energy supply off the National Grid and on to local combined heat-and-power systems by 2025. He has also promised to slash the prices of loft and cavity wall insulation. According to the plan, the average London household could reduce their annual fuel bill by around £300 if they made their home more energy efficient." Mayor Unveils Climate Change Action Plan, London website, February 27, 2007. Copies of plan can be found at here.

TXU and Coal

Environmental Groups Differ over Terms of TXU Buyout. By Rebecca Smith and Jim Carlton, The Wall Street Journal (subscription), March 3, 2007. "Just days after two of the nation's leading environmental groups blessed an investor plan to buy TXU Corp. and take the controversial Texas utility in a new and 'greener' direction, a battle has broken out in the environmental community over the terms of the deal. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Environmental Defense claimed victory Monday when a holding company formed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Texas Pacific Group and other investors announced the biggest buyout in history, a plan to take over TXU for $32 billion plus the assumption of around $12 billion in debt. The environmental groups, two of the most powerful and best-funded in the U.S., said they had extracted a pledge from the investors to cancel a slew of coal-fired power plants, cut emissions and back federal global-warming legislation. But now, opponents of the deal, in a blizzard of emails and Internet posts, have put the two organizations on the defensive by accusing them of settling for too little. The critics, who encompass a broad range of smaller environmental groups and individuals, say TXU should have been forced to give up all, not just some, of its future plans involving coal-fired power plants. The plants release substantial amounts of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas blamed in part for climate change. Even worse, some believe that the environmental interests were snookered. Since the buyout was announced, it has become apparent that some of the concessions involve projects that TXU was already planning to shelve for a variety of reasons. And TXU has fueled the skepticism further in recent days by outlining new loopholes in the pledge."

TXU Accepts $45 Billion 'Green' Takeover. By Steve Mufson and David Cho, The Washington Post, February 26, 2007. "TXU, the largest energy provider in Texas, agreed last night to a $45 billion buyout that would not only be the largest private-equity deal in history but would also feature an unusual twist: The buyers [the private-equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts] have promised environmental groups they would cancel a slew of coal-fired power plants on the firm's drawing boards. The buyout firms' deal with environmental groups, which could become a landmark in the battle over climate-change policy, would force an abrupt turnaround in the strategy of TXU, which has defied environmentalists' and congressional criticism of its plans to expand coal use and carbon dioxide emissions... Texas Pacific's head, David Bonderman, is no stranger to creative deals in the energy sector or in the cause of environmentalism. Bonderman sits on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund and the Grand Canyon Trust. He was a key figure in negotiating with power plants in Arizona to reduce air pollution over the Grand Canyon. In the TXU case, he tasked William K. Reilly, who had led the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H.W. Bush, to reach out and negotiate with environmental groups. If shareholders approve the acquisition, TXU would back federal legislation that would require reductions in carbon dioxide emissions through a cap-and-trade system. It would shelve plans for eight of 11 coal-fired plants that current TXU executives had proposed for Texas and would drop plans to build new coal plants in Pennsylvania and Virginia. The company would also double its spending to promote energy efficiency, to $80 million a year, for five years... The buyout firms also promised to cut TXU's emissions of carbon dioxide... to 1990 levels by 2020... In return, Environmental Defense, which has been leading the fight against TXU's coal expansion plans, would drop its objections to the three large new units, including two 800-megawatt units at Oak Grove, Tex., and a 600-megawatt plant at Sandow, Tex."

A Buyout Deal That Has Many Shades of Green. By Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times, February 26, 2007. "About two weeks ago, Fred Krupp, the president of... Environmental Defense, received an unusual phone call. William K. Reilly, the former administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H. W. Bush, was on the other end. But before Mr. Reilly would explain the reason for his call, he said he needed an assurance from Mr. Krupp that he would keep the conversation confidential. After receiving such a pledge, Mr. Reilly dropped a bombshell: the TXU Corporation, the Texas energy giant that had become the whipping boy of the nation's largest environmental groups, was in talks to be sold to a group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company and Texas Pacific Group, two large private equity firms. Mr. Reilly, who works for Texas Pacific, said he wanted to negotiate a cease-fire. If the investors succeeded in taking over TXU, Mr. Reilly said, they would commit themselves to scale back significantly on TXU's plan to build 11 new coal plants and adhere to a strict set of environmental rules. In return, he wanted the support of Mr. Krupp and his peers, who had spent the past several months waging a bitter and public war against TXU."

Deal's Broader Effect on Coal Plants Is Uncertain. By Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times, February 26, 2007. "The deal between environmental groups and the investors seeking to buy the TXU Corporation may stop that company's construction of eight new coal-fired power plants in Texas, but... Stopping a new generation of coal plants will have to wait for government action on carbon dioxide... Around the country, power companies are planning more than 150 coal plants, although the stage of work varies wildly. TXU had contracts with equipment suppliers and an architectural and engineering firm; other companies' plans are more tentative as they wait and see how demand develops. A decision by one company does not sway all the others, experts noted... In Dallas, Laura Miller, the mayor and leader of a coalition of municipal officials that has spent $600,000 fighting the TXU plants, said that the agreement with the national environmental groups might not get TXU as much help as it wanted. She pointed out that one of the three surviving projects, a two-unit coal plant near Waco, had drawn a negative recommendation from a panel of Texas administrative law judges because it would add to air pollution of the type already regulated. It is still opposed by local officials."

Energy Conservation

Bye-Bye, Incandescent Bulb? By Mark Clayton, The Christian Science Monitor, February 28, 2007. "Thanks to global warming, the ban-the-bulb movement is gaining strength. Australian officials and European lighting manufacturers have announced phaseouts of the energy-draining bulb. A California legislator has proposed a ban. Now, in a move that could speed the move away from the 128-year-old invention, some of the world's largest bulbmakers have joined environmental groups and the California Energy Commission in talks that could lead to a phaseout in the US within a decade, sources say. The scope of the move - and manufacturers' support of it - is still undecided, they add...The incandescent bulb is an energy hog. Just 5 percent of the electricity it uses goes to light the bulb; the other 95 percent is heat... Incandescent bulbs are burning in most of the 3 billion to 4 billion screw-in sockets in US homes and businesses - swallowing about 10 percent of all US electricity use, the US Department of Energy reports. Retail giant Wal-Mart has said it wants to sell 100 million compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) by 2008... But the venerable incandescent may have life in it yet. General Electric Co. said Friday that by 2010 it would make an incandescent bulb twice as efficient as today's - and by 2012 produce one that is four times more efficient, on par with CFLs."

British Retailers to Cut Down On Plastic Bags. By Jeremy Lovell, Reuters, March 1, 2007. "British retailers have agreed to clamp down on plastic bags as part of the battle against global warming, the Department of the Environment said on Wednesday. The agreement involving top retailers such as Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsburys and Wal-Mart's ASDA, should lead to a 25 percent cut in the environmental impact of the bags by the end of next year. 'This is an ambitious, but very practical agreement and we are pleased that the retailers have agreed to work with us and UK consumers in such a positive way,' Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw said. Under the agreement, retailers will encourage consumers to use fewer bags and re-use those that they already have. Retailers will also switch over to recyclable carrier bags where they can."

Biofuels Initiatives

U.S. to Seek Biofuel Alliance with Brazil. Humberto Márquez, Inter Press Service, March 2, 2007. "U.S. President George W. Bush will visit Latin America next week seeking a strategic alliance with Brazil to develop biofuels -- and Venezuela, the region's main oil exporter, is taking this as a warning sign. Bush will visit Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico between Mar. 8 and Mar. 14, and his talks with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be 'an enormous opportunity' to create new incentives for the production and sale of ethanol, or fuel alcohol, as a substitute for petrol, according to Gregory Manuel, special adviser and international energy coordinator for the U.S. State Department. The Brazilian daily O Estado de Sao Paulo, based in the city of Sao Paulo where the meeting will be held, said that the presidents would promote 'a kind of OPEC for ethanol, with an inter-American market to guarantee a stable supply of biofuels, with diversified production throughout the region.' Brazil is the world's top producer of ethanol, which it makes from sugarcane. It has also developed biodiesel production from oil-bearing plant crops, to mix with or substitute for fossil fuels in diesel engines... The United States consumes one-quarter of global production of crude and half the world's petrol. Its main foreign suppliers are Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, which exports nearly 1.4 million bpd to the United States, equivalent to about six percent of total U.S. consumption... 'What the United States is attempting is impossible,' Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said on one of his radio and television programmes. 'To use ethanol to maintain their lifestyle, with 70 people out of 100 owning cars, would mean planting maize on an area of five or six times the Earth's surface,' he said."

U.S. Department of Energy Helps Underwrite Cellulosic Ethanol Refineries. By Charlotte Schubert, Nature.com, March 2, 2007. "The next generation of biofuel facilities will break ground this year. On 28 February the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it would provide up to $385 million to help underwrite six biorefineries that will extract fuel from materials such as wheat straw, wood chips, grass clippings and even orange peels... The DOE aims to make the cost of cellulosic ethanol competitive with corn ethanol — which today costs about $1.40 per gallon to produce."

Alternative Energy Initiatives

Turning Sweat into Light. By Michael Hopkin, Nature.com, March 2, 2007. "The California Fitness club in Hong Kong is among the first to jump on the green energy treadmill — stairmaster and cross-training machines at the gym have been wired up to the building's lighting system. If other gyms follow suit, it could kick off a new motivational craze, in which sweat equals glow... When all 13 machines at the Hong Kong gym are being furiously pedalled, the energy output is only enough to power five 60-watt bulbs. And even if they were used for 10 hours a day, it would take the club 82 years to pay off its US$15,000 investment. But members clearly find it a good source of motivation — the gym is emblazoned with signs saying 'Powered by YOU.'"

Dung Power at U.S. Ethanol Plant. By Carey Gillam, Reuters, February 26, 2007. "The frosty-breathed cattle jostling for position at a feeding trough in rural Nebraska are not quite as typical as they appear: their manure is being captured in a new bid to quench America's thirst for ethanol... 27,000 cattle stand on slatted floors to deposit an estimated 1.6 million pounds (726,000 kg) of dung daily into deep pits, which are located adjacent to a new ethanol plant. The pungent waste is then processed into methane gas, which powers the ethanol plant. Other byproducts of the manure include fertilizer for the surrounding corn fields. Corn is then fed back to the cattle or distilled into ethanol. The operations all are contained in one 2,000-acre complex which produces about 24 million gallons of ethanol a year. 'This is the first of its kind to use this kind of closed loop system,' said Ron Lamberty, a spokesman for the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), an industry lobbying organization. 'Most ethanol plants are powered with natural gas'... The closed-loop system includes two four-million-gallon anaerobic digesters -- special sealed containers -- that let bacteria break down the manure along with thin stillage, a by-product of the ethanol production process. The biogas produced by the digesters powers the boilers in the ethanol plant instead of natural gas. The ethanol production process also yields another by-product: wet distiller's grain, which is fed to the cattle as part of their ration. The cattle in turn produce manure which again begins the closed-loop cycle."

Climate Trends

Warm Winters Upset Rhythms of Maple Sugar. By Pam Belluck, The New York Times, March 3, 2007. "Warmer-than-usual winters are throwing things out of kilter, causing confusion among maple syrup producers, called sugar makers, and stoking fears for the survival of New England's maple forests... Experts say gradual warming has already contributed to a shift of syrup production to Canada, although other factors may be more responsible, including Canadian subsidies, improved technology, and a decline in New England family farms. 'In the '50s and '60s, 80 percent of world's maple syrup came from the U.S., and 20 percent came from Canada,' said Barrett N. Rock, a professor of natural resources at the University of New Hampshire. 'Today it's exactly the opposite. The climate that we used to have here in New England has moved north to the point where it's now in Quebec.'"

Ticks Move North. By Jia-Rui Chong, The Los Angeles Times, February 25, 2007. "The spread of human disease has become one of the most worrisome subplots in the story of global warming. Incremental temperature changes have begun to redraw the distribution of bacteria, insects and plants, exposing new populations to diseases that they have never seen before. A report from the World Health Organization estimated that in 2000 about 154,000 deaths around the world could be attributed to disease outbreaks and other conditions sparked by climate change. The temperature change has been small, about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 150 years, but it has been enough to alter disease patterns across the globe. In Sweden, fewer winter days below 10 degrees and more summer days above 50 degrees have encouraged the northward movement of ticks, which has coincided with an increase in cases of tick-borne encephalitis since the 1980s. Researchers have found that poison ivy has grown more potent and lush because of increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In Africa, mosquitoes have been slowly inching up the slopes around Mt. Kenya, bringing malaria to high villages that had never been exposed before... In 1996, health authorities reported a human case of tick-borne encephalitis in the Czech village of Borova Lada, elevation 3,000 feet. Until then, the Ixodes rinicus tick, which carries the disease, had never been seen above 2,600 feet. The case caught the attention of Milan Daniel, a parasitologist the Institute for Postgraduate Medical Education in Prague who has been studying the movement of ticks in the Czech Republic for half a century. He scoured the Sumava and Krkonose mountains and found that the ticks had migrated as high as 4,100 feet largely because of milder autumns over the last two decades, according to a series of studies published over the last four years. From 1961 to 2005, the mean temperature in the Krkonose Mountains had increased about 2 1/2 degrees. 'This shift of the ticks,' Daniel said, 'is clearly connected with climate changes.'"

Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers and Crops in Peril. By Alexei Barrionuevo, The New York Times, February 27, 2007. "Bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening... the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation's most profitable... Beekeepers are the nomads of the agriculture world, working in obscurity in their white protective suits and frequently trekking around the country with their insects packed into 18-wheelers, looking for pollination work. Once the domain of hobbyists with a handful of backyard hives, beekeeping has become increasingly commercial and consolidated. Over the last two decades, the number of beehives, now estimated by the Agriculture Department to be 2.4 million, has dropped by a quarter and the number of beekeepers by half. Pressure has been building on the bee industry. The costs to maintain hives, also known as colonies, are rising along with the strain on bees of being bred to pollinate rather than just make honey. And beekeepers are losing out to suburban sprawl in their quest for spots where bees can forage for nectar to stay healthy and strong during the pollination season... Mites have also damaged bee colonies, and the insecticides used to try to kill mites are harming the ability of queen bees to spawn as many worker bees. The queens are living half as long as they did just a few years ago. Researchers are also concerned that the willingness of beekeepers to truck their colonies from coast to coast could be adding to bees' stress, helping to spread viruses and mites and otherwise accelerating whatever is afflicting them... To cope with the losses, beekeepers have been scouring elsewhere for bees to fulfill their contracts with growers. Lance Sundberg, a beekeeper from Columbus, Mont., said he spent $150,000 in the last two weeks buying 1,000 packages of bees — amounting to 14 million bees — from Australia." Bees on Their Knees. , Living On Earth, National Public Radio, audio and transcript, March 2, 2007. Interview with Jerry Hayes is Chief of the Apiary Section at Florida's Department of Agriculture.

Melting Ice Gives Birth to a Strange New World. By Steve Connor, The London Independent, February 26, 2007. "Marine biologists made a unique inventory of lifeforms on a part of the seabed that had been sealed off for thousands of years by massive ice shelves before they suddenly broke up... 'This is virgin geography,' said Gauthier Chapelle of the International Polar Foundation in Brussels. 'If we don't find out what this area is like now after the collapse of the shelf, and what species are there, we won't know in 20 years' what has changed, and how global warming has altered the marine ecosystem'... More than 50 scientists from 14 countries spent 10 weeks making the first comprehensive biological survey of the seabed underneath the Larsen A and Larsen B ice shelves, which disintegrated in 1995 and 2002 respectively. They collected specimens of an estimated 1,000 species, including 15 shrimp-like amphipods that are probably new to science, including one 4-inch specimen that is the biggest of its kind. They also found four species of coral-like organisms called cnidarians, one of which was a new type of sea anemone, found living on the back of a sea snail's shell. A remotely controlled submersible took pictures of animals called glass sponges, growing in dense patches in the Larsen A area. By the Larsen B ice shelf, fast-growing gelatinous sea squirts moved in. 'These ice shelves collapsed due to regional warming,' said Dr Julian Gutt, who led the expedition from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremen, Germany. 'For the first time, we have the opportunity to study life in such an area. The break-up of these ice shelves opened up huge, near-pristine portions of the ocean floor, sealed off from above for at least 5,000 years and possibly up to 12,000 years in the case of Larsen B.'"

The International Climate

E.U. Summit Set to Agree to Carbon Capture Projects. By Jeremy Lovell, Reuters, March 2, 2007. "European Union leaders will approve a series of carbon capture and storage projects at a summit next week in the search for quick solutions to the global warming crisis, an official said on Friday. With fossil fuels like coal expected to continue to play a major role in power generation, world leaders and scientists are seeking ways to cut the resulting greenhouse gas emissions -- including capturing the carbon before it enters the atmosphere. 'We will announce a major programme of commercial scale demonstrations of the technology that allows you to bury the carbon emissions from burning coal in the ground for millions of years,' said a senior British Foreign Office official who asked not to be named. 'The challenge is to demonstrate the technologies at scale so we can reduce the cost of them and bring them rapidly into widespread use,' he said, noting a European Commission proposal for 12 such projects expected to be approved by the summit."

2-Year Study of Polar Changes Set to Begin. By Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times, February 26, 2007."Scientists from more than 60 countries are preparing to fan out around the North and South Poles in an ambitious two-year effort to understand the vital, shifting dynamics of ice, oceans and life at the ends of the earth. With a budget of about $350 million spread over more than 120 projects, researchers will camp on drifting Arctic Ocean sea ice and trek to largely uncharted Antarctic mountains. They will use gliding underwater robots, giant icebreaking ships, satellites and other technologies to explore polar climate, biology, geology and ocean chemistry, and they will undertake physics and astronomy studies that can be done only at the poles. A central goal of the effort — called the International Polar Year despite its two-year timetable — is to clarify the role of greenhouse gases and global warming in the rapid changes that are already occurring at both poles." The First International Polar Year. A look back by the same author.

U.N. Launches the International Biofuels Forum. Giles Clark, Biofuel Review, March 5, 2007. "In launching its International Biofuels Forum, Friday (2nd March), the United Nations said that the forum will contribute to creating a world market for alternative fuels, resulting in economic, social and environmental benefits for developed and developing countries alike. The forum, a joint project of Brazil, China, India, South Africa, the United States and the European Commission, will initially be established for one year and meet regularly to discuss ways to promote the sustained use and production of biofuels around the globe... Antonio Patriota, Ambassador of Brazil to the United States... [said] that the introduction of biofuels would benefit developed countries through increasing energy security by reducing the dependence on fossil fuels and contributing to lower greenhouse gas emissions. For developing countries, greater use of biofuels would significantly reduce dependence on imported oil, redressing trade imbalances and freeing up income for investments in health, education and social programmes. 'Access to affordable energy is fundamental to economic and social development,' said Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., United States Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. He noted that the initiative would help countries with the agricultural productive potential to become major suppliers of alternative fuels. 'This a huge step forward in the development of a new international understanding of energy'... Asked whether the Forum would only be able to make recommendations or if it would have enforcement power, Mr. Patriota said he wished to clarify that the Forum was not a new international organization, but rather a mechanism for closer coordination among the field's major players to establish common standards and work towards the commoditization of biofuels, so that they might eventually be traded like oil. The forum would continue to work in the six-party format for the time being, but, in the future, would bring in other players, he said."

The Big Green Fuel Lie. By Daniel Howden, The London Independent, March 5, 2007. "The ethanol boom is coming. The twin threats of climate change and energy security are creating an unprecedented thirst for alternative energy with ethanol leading the way. That process is set to reach a landmark on Thursday when the US President, George Bush, arrives in Brazil to kick-start the creation of an international market for ethanol that could one day rival oil as a global commodity. The expected creation of an 'Opec for ethanol' replicating the cartel of major oil producers has spurred frenzied investment in biofuels across the Americas. But a growing number of economists, scientists and environmentalists are calling for a "time out" and warning that the headlong rush into massive ethanol production is creating more problems than it is solving... The prospect of a sudden surge in demand for ethanol is causing serious concerns even in Brazil. The ethanol industry has been linked with air and water pollution on an epic scale, along with deforestation in both the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests, as well as the wholesale destruction of Brazil's unique savannah land. Fabio Feldman, a leading Brazilian environmentalist and former member of Congress who helped to pass the law mandating a 23 per cent mix of ethanol to be added to all petroleum supplies in the country, believes that Brazil's trailblazing switch has had serious side effects. 'Some of the cane plantations are the size of European states, these vast monocultures have replaced important eco-systems,' he said. 'If you see the size of the plantations in the state of Sao Paolo they are oceans of sugar cane. In order to harvest you must burn the plantations which creates a serious air pollution problem in the city.' Despite its leading role in biofuels, Brazil remains the fourth largest producer of carbon emissions in the world due to deforestation."

The Carbon Folly. By Emily Flynn Vencat, Newsweek Magazine, March 12, 2007 issue. "Policymakers have settled on 'emissions trading' as their favorite global-warming fix. But it isn't working... Emissions trading, also called carbon trading, is being expanded in the European Union and Japan. And in many places where it's yet to take hold, like Sacramento, Sydney and Beijing, politicians are embracing it. Nicholas Stern, former chief economist of the World Bank and Europe's foremost political expert on global warming, predicts that the value of carbon credits in circulation, now about $28 billion, will climb to $40 billion by 2010... This should be great news for the environment, but many experts have their doubts. The notion that emissions trading is going to make a significant dent in global warming is deeply flawed, they say. Current emissions-trading schemes have proved to be little more than a shell game, allowing polluters in the developed world to shift the burden of making cuts onto factories in the developing world. Too often factory owners use the additional profits banked from carbon credits to expand their dirty factories. Even more worrying, emissions trading may have set back the battle against climate change by diverting investment from renewable-energy technology, which arguably is essential to any long-term solution. So far, the real winners in emissions trading have been polluting factory owners who can sell menial cuts for massive profits, and the brokers who pocket fees each time a company buys or sells the right to pollute... One reason emissions trading is so politically popular is that it's vulnerable to lobbying... Many experts think a carbon tax would be the better alternative. It's more straightforward and jargon-free, and would prevent much of the 'gaming of the system' that's plaguing carbon trading. The problem, of course, is that new taxes are unpopular with voters."

Oil Innovations Pump New Life Into Old Wells. By Jad Mouawad, The New York Times, March 5, 2007. "The Kern River oil field, discovered in 1899, was revived when Chevron engineers here started injecting high-pressured steam to pump out more oil. The field, whose production had slumped to 10,000 barrels a day in the 1960s, now has a daily output of 85,000 barrels... Within the last decade, technology advances have made it possible to unlock more oil from old fields, and, at the same time, higher oil prices have made it economical for companies to go after reserves that are harder to reach. With plenty of oil still left in familiar locations, forecasts that the world's reserves are drying out have given way to predictions that more oil can be found than ever before. In a wide-ranging study published in 2000, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that ultimately recoverable resources of conventional oil totaled about 3.3 trillion barrels, of which a third has already been produced. More recently, Cambridge Energy Research Associates, an energy consultant, estimated that the total base of recoverable oil was 4.8 trillion barrels. That higher estimate — which Cambridge Energy says is likely to grow — reflects how new technology can tap into more resources... As the industry improves its ability to draw new life from old wells and expands its forays into ever-deeper corners of the globe, it is providing a strong rebuttal in the long-running debate over when the world might run out of oil... The world consumed about 31 billion barrels of oil last year. Because of population and economic growth, especially in Asian and developing countries, oil demand is forecast to rise 40 percent by 2030 to 43 billion barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration."

Snug and Warm Thanks To Hemp and Corn. Science Daily, March 5, 2007. "More and more home owners are insulating the walls and ceilings of their houses to save on heating costs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. However, their commitment to environmental friendliness usually stops short at the choice of insulating materials. Fiberglass and rock wool along with plastic foams made from polystyrene or polyurethane are still the first choice for many. Only around 5 percent of insulating materials are produced from renewable raw materials such as reed, flax, hemp, straw or wool. However, insulating blankets made from natural materials have definite advantages: their production requires relatively little energy, they are not harmful to health and, when they are no longer needed, they can be disposed of by composting or carbon-neutral incineration." Natural products are being developed with comparable insulating properties, but at present they are two or three times more costly. Ss demand and production increase, it is hope that they will become more competitive."

Energy-Saving Standards and Rules in Limbo. By H. Josef Hebert, The Associated Press, March 2, 2007. "The government has missed all 34 deadlines set by Congress for requiring energy-efficiency standards on everything from home appliances to power transformers, government auditors said Thursday. Two-thirds of the deadlines have yet to be met, although many are more than a decade old. Because of the failures, consumers and corporations stand to pay tens of billions of dollars more for energy than they would have if the deadlines had been met, the Government Accountability Office said. It's 'a blistering indictment of a culture of incompetence and delay,' said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who had a hand in crafting many of the efficiency requirements Congress has enacted over the years. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mass., who made the report public at a news conference, said the delays covered many years and that he did not mean to single out the Bush administration. Some of the deadlines date to the 1990s. Still, many of the appliance and other equipment standards have been in limbo since 2001 after a rush of regulations in the closing weeks of the Clinton administration, energy-efficiency advocates said... Lowell Ungar, a policy analyst for the Alliance to Save Energy, a private advocacy group, said Congress needs to clarify the DOE's authority to set standards so the rules don't get caught in a legal morass, and provide more money to run the programs. He said the department also needs to improve its management of the programs."

Hugo Chávez's Oil Largesse Winning Fans Around Globe. By Sara Miller Llana and Mark Rice-Oxley. "London's fuel deal is the latest part of the Venezuelan leader's '21st century socialism. The London bus has come to symbolize many things over the years. It's a national icon, a picture postcard paragon of public transport, a byword for frustration and irregularity. But a harbinger of international socialism? Far-fetched perhaps, but less so after the latest move by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez to offer cut-rate fuel so that 250,000 Londoners on welfare can travel half-price throughout one of the world's most expensive cities. The double-decker trademark isn't the only trace of Mr. Chávez's so-called '21st century socialism:' For the past year residents in New York, Boston, and other major US cities have scored cheaper heating bills, thanks to Venezuela. Chávez has also sent cheap oil to Cuba, Nicaragua, and more than a dozen other countries. His offerings go beyond oil and have been announced with particular frenzy since he won a third term in December, promising $500 million in financing for Ecuador, $135 million for a dairy cooperative in Argentina, and a development plan in Nicaragua that includes generators to ease blackouts as well as a new development bank. Analysts say his projects both in Latin America and beyond are singular among leaders sitting on vast energy reserves, as Chávez sets out to create a counterbalance to US dominance with a flurry of deals, measures, gifts, and grandiose schemes. To his harshest critics he's an egomaniac using an 'energy bribe' to inflate his reputation. To fans he's the consummate humanitarian. Both agree that his moves have amounted to a PR coup, and some analysts even say the fallout could lead to a shift in social, economic, and political balances across the region."

All New E.U. Coal Plants Could Face Carbon Capture by 2020. By Ed Crooks in London and George Parker, The Financial Times of London, March, 4, 2007. "All coal-fired power stations built in the European Union after 2020 could be forced to capture their carbon dioxide emissions under proposals that EU leaders are likely to adopt at this week's summit in Brussels. A senior British official, speaking anonymously, said the wording of the commitment to be made on March 8-9 had not been agreed but he was "confident" that European leaders would move towards a 2020 target for carbon capture and storage for all new plants. The commitment is likely to be extended to gas-fired power plants, to avoid distorting fuel choice. That would mean the entire EU electricity industry would switch to low-carbon generation. But the technology to separate CO2 and store it beneath the sea bed or in underground caverns has not yet been shown to work on a commercial scale and is expensive. The summit is expected to commit members to about 12 large-scale pilot projects across the EU, to be operational by 2015."

Global Warming Threatens Scottish Puffin Paradise. By Paul Kelbie, The London Independent, March 3, 2007. "One of Britain's largest puffin colonies is being wiped out by an invasive plant that is thriving in warmer temperatures brought about by climate change. In just seven years a colony of 29,000 breeding pairs of puffins on the island of Craigleith, just a mile from the coast of North Berwick, has been reduced to fewer than 3,000. They have been driven to the edge of extinction by a dusky-pink, 8ft flowering plant called tree mallow. Introduced by 18th-century lighthouse keepers and sheep farmers on nearby Bass Rock the woolly-leafed plant is renowned for its medicinal properties and was used as natural bandage. Over the years the plant, lavatera arborea, spread to other islands in the Firth of Forth but for centuries the Mediterranean plant was kept at bay by harsh Scottish winters and the appetites of wild rabbits. However, since 1999 the rise of myxomatosis along with a series of mild winters has left the plants to spread rapidly across more than 85 per cent of the island... Puffins can live for up to 20 years but, as they tend to return to the same burrow year after year, the spreading plant means their nests are often choked and impenetrable, leaving them vulnerable to predators such as peregrines and great black-backed gulls which will kill puffins to steal their sand-eel catch."

Montreal Protocol Slowing Warming. By Martin Mittelstaedt, The Toronto Globe and Mail, March 6, 2007. "The Montreal Protocol was negotiated in 1987 to save the ozone layer, but the treaty has yielded a second environmental benefit: It has dramatically slowed down the rate of global warming. Just how much it has helped has been calculated by a team of scientists in the Netherlands and the United States. For the world's climate, they found, the benefits of phasing out the use of ozone-depleting chemicals have already been larger than the projected greenhouse-gas reductions called for under the more conspicuous Kyoto Protocol. It has long been known that ozone-depleting chemicals, primarily chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs -- once widely used as coolants in refrigerators and aerosol propellants in spray cans -- also were potent greenhouse gases. But the sheer magnitude of their contribution to global warming wasn't well understood. The researchers believe the positive impact for the world's climate from the phase-out of ozone-destroying chemicals has offset about 10 years of the growth in carbon-dioxide emissions. 'The Montreal Protocol for the ozone layer is clearly a success story,' says Dr. Guus Velders, a senior scientist specializing in climate change and ozone depletion at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and lead author of a research paper that calculated the benefits. The paper, being published this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that international treaties to deal with environmental problems can be successful and that the implementation of the Montreal Protocol has bought more time for dealing with climate change."

China Set to Pass U.S. This Year or in 2008 as World's Top Generator of Greenhouse Gases. By Robert Collier, The San Francisco Chronicle, March 5, 2007. "Far more than previously acknowledged, the battle against global warming will be won or lost in China, even more so than in the West, new data show. A report released last week by Beijing authorities indicated that as its economy continues to expand at a red-hot pace, China is highly likely to overtake the United States this year or in 2008 as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. This information, along with data from the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based alliance of oil importing nations, also revealed that China's greenhouse gas emissions have recently been growing by a total amount much greater than that of all industrialized nations put together... New statistics released in Beijing on Wednesday by China's National Bureau of Statistics show that China's consumption of fossil fuels rose in 2006 by 9.3 percent, about the same rate as in previous years -- and about eight times higher than the U.S. increase of 1.2 percent. While China's total greenhouse gas emissions were only 42 percent of the U.S. level in 2001, they had soared to an estimated 97 percent of the American level by 2006."

E.U. Fails to Agree on Binding Targets for Renewables. By Mark John and Ingrid Melander, Reuters, March 6, 2007. "European Union foreign ministers failed to agree on Monday whether to set binding targets for the use of green renewable energy sources, setting up a potential clash when the bloc's leaders meet this week. Diplomats said almost half the 27 member states opposed a drive by the EU's president Germany to fix a mandatory goal for renewables such as solar, wind and hydro-electric power to back Europe's ambition to lead the world in fighting climate change. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said ministers had narrowed differences on other points but 'the central point of difference is on the binding nature of the target for renewables. This point remained open and will be decided at the summit on (Thursday and) Friday.' Only Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Britain, Spain and Italy voiced strong support for a binding target of 20 percent of energy consumption from renewables by 2020, diplomats said."

The Battle for Blue Skies Pays Off in Bangkok. By Thomas Fuller, The New York Times, March 6, 2007. "Black smoke billowing from tailpipes into the humid, tropical air was once a Bangkok trademark. But a decade and a half after Thailand began a battle for better air quality, this erstwhile icon of smog has emerged as a role model for pollution-choked capitals in Asia, with considerably cleaner air than Beijing, Jakarta, New Delhi and Shanghai. Some buses here still belch toxic vapor. Yet the skies in Bangkok on most days are blue, thanks to the work of a small, dedicated group of people. They have pressed the case for cleaner air despite a history of weak, short-lived governments and the country's current efforts to extricate itself from the tangled results of the military coup last September... Greater Bangkok, with a population of about 10 million, has not yet achieved the air quality of Singapore or Tokyo. Those cities have on average the cleanest air of any major Asian capital, roughly equivalent to that of New York City. But what Bangkok has shown is that it is not necessary to have Singapore's authoritarian legacy or Tokyo's riches to make radical improvements... Part of Bangkok's success in cleaning its air is a result of luck and geography. Unlike Los Angeles, Bangkok has no surrounding mountains to trap smog. Unlike Beijing, which has some of the worst air in East Asia, power plants around Bangkok do not use coal. Thailand gets natural gas from neighboring Myanmar and its own platforms in the Gulf of Thailand; 70 percent of the country's power production is from natural gas... Most of the credit for the cleaner air, however, goes to a group of strong-willed environmental pioneers, said Nuntavarn Vichit-Vadakan, dean of the faculty of public health at Thammasat University. The group, many of them trained in the United States, convinced politicians of the need for action, Mr. Nuntavarn said... Bhichit Rattakul, an American-trained microbiologist, created the Anti-Air Pollution & Environmental Protection Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group, in 1986, before going green was trendy. Elected Bangkok's governor in 1996, he planted 400,000 trees, cracked down on polluting trucks and established stricter rules for dusty construction sites... In 1991, Piyasvasti Amranand, a former secretary general of the National Energy Policy Office, established Thailand's first comprehensive plan to remove lead, sulfur and other harmful chemicals from fuel. Mr. Piyasvasti, who is now energy minister, said he encountered strong resistance from Western oil companies and Japanese car manufacturers."

Canadian Mayors Seeking Federal Assistance with Public Transportation. CBC News, March 5, 2007. "The mayors of Canada's largest cities are asking the federal government for $2 billion a year to upgrade and expand their transit systems as part of a national transit strategy. Toronto Mayor David Miller joined his Montreal counterpart, Gérald Tremblay, and Edmonton counterpart, Karen Liebovici, on Monday in Montreal to announce the proposal, which calls for long-term sustainable funding from Ottawa for repairing existing services and expanding transit networks as cities grow... The mayors' proposal also calls for integrating land use with transit planning, research and incentives to encourage more people to use public transit and government accountability measures. 'Public transit plays an important social role and for many households it represents an affordable and accessible means to get around the city,' Tremblay said.Liebovici cited the Canadian Urban Transit Association, saying transit systems across the country need $20.7 billion for infrastructure from now to 2010. 'Mass public transit is the lifeblood of our cities,' she said. Canada is the only country in the G8 without a national transit strategy, the mayors said."

Advancing Tree Line Overtaking Arctic Tundra at an Accelerating Rate. Science Daily, March 5, 2007. "Forests of spruce trees and shrubs in parts of northern Canada are taking over what were once tundra landscapes--forcing out the species that lived there. This shift can happen at a much faster speed than scientists originally thought, according to a new University of Alberta study that adds to the growing body of evidence on the effects of climate change. The boundary, or treeline, between forest and tundra ecosystems is a prominent landscape feature in both Arctic and mountain environments. As global temperatures continue to increase, the treeline is expected to advance but the new research shows that this shift will not always occur gradually but can surge ahead. 'The conventional thinking on treeline dynamics has been that advances are very slow because conditions are so harsh at these high latitudes and altitudes,' said Dr. Ryan Danby, from the Department of Biological Sciences. 'But what our data indicates is that there was an upslope surge of trees in response to warmer temperatures. It's like it waited until conditions were just right and then it decided to get up and run, not just walk.'"

Tech Companies Try Eco-Friendly Recycling. The Associated Press, March 5, 2007. "The computer industry is ramping up its campaign against electronic waste, a dangerous byproduct of technology's relentless expansion. HP and Dell Inc., which together sell more than half the country's PCs, are earning praise from environmentalists for using more eco-friendly components and recycling their products when consumers discard them. 'The computer companies are definitely embracing the idea that they need to deal with their products at the end of their useful life,' said Barbara Kyle, who coordinates the San Francisco-based nonprofit Computer TakeBack Campaign. 'There's been a complete turnaround.' But activists say far too much of the nation's electronic garbage — not only PCs but also TVs, radios, batteries and other materials — still ends up in landfills or gets shipped overseas to poor countries, where it pollutes the environment and exposes workers to dangerous chemicals."

Cargill Joins Chicago Climate Exchange. By Tom Webb, Twin Cities Pioneer Press, March 6, 2007. "Cargill Inc., is warming to the issue of global warming. The Minnetonka-based agribusiness giant has registered with the Chicago Climate Exchange as part of an array of carbon-reduction related initiatives it has launched. What's driving the interest is Cargill's sense that an era of emissions-reduction is coming, that the company can apply some of the experience it's gained with carbon trading overseas, and that what's good for the planet also can present a business opportunity. The company also hopes to give a boost to free-market solutions to the greenhouse-gas problem, as opposed to regulatory mandates, officials say. 'We recognize (carbon emissions) as an issue, we recognize it as a potential area of regulation, and we'd like to get a little ahead of the issue,' LaRaye Osborne, Cargill vice president and manager of Environment, Health and Safety, said Monday."

Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is Pushing Climate Change Agenda. By Rick DelVecchio, The San Francisco Chronicle, March 6, 2007. "Steve Chu keeps up with all the latest news on climate change, and he knows it's bad. The Nobel-winning physicist can tell you the projected meltdown rates for the snowpacks of Tibet and the Sierra Nevada. Rivers drying up and millions of people on the move looking for a drink of water? That future, a fantasy just a few years ago, has entered the realm of the possible. But Chu isn't just talking. As head of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he is focusing all divisions of the most intellectually diverse of the U.S. Energy Department's national labs on a campaign to stand and fight. 'These are serious predictions,' Chu, 59, said in a recent interview. 'It's prudent risk management. It's like saying: your house will burn down in the next 10 years -- 50 percent probability. By the way, do you want fire insurance?' Chu, who combines a scientific mind thirsting for challenges with an enthusiasm that people find catching, has emerged internationally to champion science as society's best defense against climate catastrophe… Chief in Chu's campaign is an unprecedented research pact reached recently between UC Berkeley, oil industry giant BP, the Lawrence Berkeley lab and the University of Illinois. Chu's role in promoting the clout of the closely aligned research programs at the lab and UC Berkeley helped persuade BP to pick the campus for its $500 million biofuels institute… Racing against time, Chu is particularly interested in solar technology. His colleagues at the lab are thinking of farms of photovoltaic cells concentrating sunlight with a coating of nanoparticles, called 'solar paint.' And they're working on converting solar to liquid fuel by mimicking plant photosynthesis. Chu started the Helios Project as a framework for his total energy campaign and, not incidentally, a way to market the Lawrence Berkeley lab to private and government funders and to inform outsiders about the lab's work… The second challenge is consumption. The Lawrence Berkeley lab has been a world innovator on energy efficiency -- work leading to the invention of the compact fluorescent light bulb was done there. Chu wants more inventions like that. He's thinking about things like super-efficient commercial buildings and new designs for green cities. Many nations have ambitious conservation goals but some of the largest, such as China, lack the means to reach them. 'In order to get close, they really need our help.' Chu said. 'They're not going to do much til the U.S. leads the way.'"

How Green Is Nuclear Power? By Mark Clayton, The Christian Science Monitor, March 7, 2007. "As part of a 'carbon-free' solution to climate change... at least 11 new nuclear plants are in the design stage in nine states, including Virginia, Texas, Kansas and Florida, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute website.... But that carbon-free pitch has researchers asking anew: How carbon-free is nuclear power? And how cost-effective is it in the fight to slow global warming? 'Saying nuclear is carbon-free is not true,' says Uwe Fritsche, a researcher at the Öko Institut in Darmstadt, Germany, who has conducted a life-cycle analysis of the plants. 'It's less carbon-intensive than fossil fuel. But if you are honest, scientifically speaking, the truth is: There is no carbon-free energy. There's no free lunch'... Nuclear power has more than just a little greenhouse gas attached to it, when mining uranium ore, refining and enriching fuel, building the plant, and operating it are included. A big 1,250 megawatt plant produces the equivalent of 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year during its life, Dr. Fritsche says... Nuclear power may not fare as well when its life-cycle cost of reducing CO2 emissions is compared with other energy alternatives. An Öko Institut study last year found that countries would get more bang for their buck by moving to other forms of energy - such as biomass and even some natural-gas power plants - rather than nuclear power. Wind surprisingly has about the same carbon footprint as nuclear when manufacturing and load factors are included. But wind power also doesn't produce long-lived nuclear waste - storage of which includes an energy cost that's unknown and is not factored into the Öko or most other analyses - yet... For those energy experts who have done life-cycle analysis of nuclear power, the big concern is that policymakers may be misled into believing that just because nuclear CO2 emissions are low, the cost of nuclear as an option to address climate change would be a bargain. Better, they say, to take the huge amounts of money needed for nuclear plants and use it to build lower-cost solutions that will displace more coal. 'It's easy to show that building more reactors makes climate change worse than it should have been,' says Amory Lovins, chairman of the Rocky Mountain Institute, an energy think tank in Snowmass, Colo. 'That's because a dollar put into new reactors gives two to 10 times less climate solution for the amount of coal-power displaced than if you had bought cheaper solutions with the same dollars.' Environmental groups, too, are well aware of the conundrum surrounding the claim of carbon-free energy. Most of them maintain that nuclear is not the answer to climate change. But their antinuclear arguments have centered on environmental damage from nuclear waste, potential accidents, and terror threats. 'First, nuclear was supposed to be too cheap to meter; now, they're framing it as a solution to climate change,' says Erich Pica, director of economic policy for Friends of the Earth.... 'We hope this Democratic Congress will be skeptical of that claim.'"

Canadian Oil Sands Nuclear Plant Seen for 2016. By David Ljunggren, Reuters, March 5, 2007. "The first in a series of nuclear power plants planned for the oil-rich tar sands of Western Canada should be operating by 2016, the head of the project said [last] Thursday. The Energy Alberta Corporation says it wants to place a C$5.5 billion (US$4.3 billion) Canadian-built Candu twin reactor plant in northern Alberta to provide the massive amounts of power needed to extract oil from the sticky sands. 'One reactor (would be) in 2016 and the second one would be in 2017... We're taking it to where we feel there's less resistance (from the public),' corporation director Wayne Henuset told Reuters. 'We hope to site it and talk to the communities in the next two months,' he said in an interview on the sidelines of a nuclear industry seminar. Two further reactors are planned for a later unspecified date. Henuset said the potential customers for the power were all major oil companies, but he declined to give details. Most of the power used by firms in the oil sands is generated by burning natural gas, which Henuset said was a waste of a valuable fuel and also generated greenhouse gases blamed for global warming... Canada's Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn told Reuters in January that, in theory, he liked the idea of nuclear power for the oil sands."

Alberta Wants $1.5B Pipeline to Capture C02. CBC News, March 7, 2007. "Alberta wants Ottawa to help build a $1.5-billion pipeline that would put carbon dioxide emissions from the northern oilsands industry to work in oil wells hundreds of kilometres away. Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Guy Boutilier is pushing Premier Ed Stelmach's plan to capture C02 and send it through a $1.5-billion, 400-kilometre pipeline that would allow it to be used to help get more oil out of low-producing wells. Boutilier wants Ottawa to pony up with $500 million for the pipeline, which would start in northeastern Alberta. Another $500 million each would come from the province and industry, he said. 'I do not believe for a moment that the prime minister of Canada would not accept the premier's invitation to join us on this important C02 initiative,' he said. 'This initiative is real in getting C02 out of the atmosphere, which is certainly a threat to climate change.' Total greenhouse gas emissions in Alberta have increased by 39.4 per cent, from 168.17 megatons in 1990 to 234.51 megatons in 2004, according to Environment Canada... The willingness of Ottawa and the resource sector to help build the pipeline remains to be seen, but environmental groups are already weighing in on the idea. 'Carbon capture and storage is not a silver bullet,' said Mary Griffiths, a senior policy analyst with the Pembina Institute. 'Capturing carbon dioxide and storing it underground may be a useful transition to help us get more rapid greenhouse gas reductions than would otherwise be possible, but we see it only as an interim measure.' Production and refining in Alberta's north demands enough natural gas to heat 3.2 million Canadian homes per day, as well as generating three times more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional light or medium crude oil, according to the institute. Griffiths said she wants the Alberta government to focus more on renewable energy, which she believes can do more in the long term."

Brazil Signs Pact to Send Japan 800 Million Gallons of Ethanol a Year. Brazil Magazine, March 6, 2007. "Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petrobras and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation signed Monday, March 5, in Rio do Janeiro a memorandum of understanding on biofuels... JBIC CEO Hiroshi Saito said the agreement signed in Rio do Janeiro is targeted to 'build a wide relation having in mind the export, marketing and sale of biofuels to the Japanese market' and Petrobras 'is the best and largest associate for biofuel projects since they dominate the technology and have a huge transport structure'. According to the contract by 2011 Petrobras should be exporting to Japan 3 billion liters of ethanol annually to be used as transport fuel in Japan in a 3% proportion. In Brazil the current percentage is 23%. Petrobras' ethanol strategic long term project contemplates investments of US$ 2.4 billion until 2012, which will be mainly destined to the construction of an ethanol pipeline linking different southeast, center-west and Southern states with the main terminal in Paulínia, São Paulo. The plan also includes having Petrobras acquire a participation in 40 new ethanol plants and deposits for the shipping of the biofuel to Japan. Petrobras estimates that if ethanol exports by 2011 reach eight billion liters per year, double the current data, the company would consider constructing a second pipeline."

U.N. Environment Program Urges Caution on Ethanol. By Andrea Welsh, Reuters, March 7, 2007. "It's too soon to say whether ethanol will help slow global warming, the head of the United Nations Environment Program said Monday, ahead of a meeting by the world's two biggest ethanol producers to discuss building a world market in the biofuel. 'We're (seeing) the expansion of ethanol production in many parts of the world, and we're in the early stages of understanding the implications of that development,' said UNEP director Achim Steiner after meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. 'Nobody should take any conclusion as given,' Steiner said. Lula is eager to boost global trade in Brazilian sugar-cane ethanol, which is cheaper and eight times more energy efficient than the corn ethanol made in the United States. Lula will meet Friday with President Bush, who wants to replace a percentage of U.S. gasoline with corn ethanol to help farmers and to reduce dependence on oil, especially since U.S. antagonists like Venezuela and Iran depend on oil revenue... Steiner said building a global ethanol market won't necessarily lower the amount of carbon gas released into the air unless there are proper norms for biofuel production and innovations in making ethanol from tough cellulosic materials like grasses and corn husks."

Senate Panel: White House 'Foot-Dragging' on Fuel Economy. By Ken Thomas, Associated Press, March 6, 2007. "Senators criticized the Bush administration's proposal to upgrade fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles today, contending the plan lacks the necessary urgency. 'I sense a great deal of foot-dragging, reluctance and frankly ... bureaucratic obstacles in this whole process,' said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine... Several senators said the White House plan fails to aggressively push automakers to improve the number of miles a car can get on a single gallon of gasoline. They noted that standards for passenger cars have remained stagnant for the past 20 years and many cited the need to demand swift numerical increases in the requirements. 'We've been talking now for the last four to five years and as we've talked, nothing has changed,' said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. The Bush administration's proposal targets a 4 percent annual increase in fuel economy requirements, under a larger plan to boost alternative fuels. Automakers must currently meet a fleetwide average of 27.5 miles per gallon for passenger cars, but officials said upgraded standards could go into effect by the 2010 model year. The proposal would also try to move to a system based on the vehicle's dimensions, similar to reforms instituted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for light trucks. By 2011, sport utility vehicles, pickups and vans must average 24.1 mpg. But some senators panned the plan for not putting the 4 percent targeted increase in the legislation and worried that it would provide too much flexibility for lowered standards. Others were dismayed it does not take into account the potential benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 'For those who want to do nothing about fuel economy, you're the perfect spokesman,' Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told NHTSA administrator Nicole Nason."

Pelosi and Boxer Aim to Green Capitol Hill. Grist Magazine, March 7, 2007. "Tired of talking the energy-efficiency talk in an eco-unfriendly setting, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer (both D-Calif.) are aiming to green Capitol Hill. On Friday, Pelosi wrote a letter directing the House chief administrative officer to look into implementing 'the most up-to-date industry and government standards for green building and green operating procedures'... Preliminary recommendations are due by the end of April, and may include thoughts on parking-lot materials, public transportation, and recycling. Boxer has set up a pilot program encouraging energy-efficient lighting in Senate offices, and is pushing legislation to similarly retrofit lighting in federal buildings nationwide. The 200-year-old Hill facilities are already heading in a sustainable direction -- energy consumption is down 6 percent since 2003. 'The Capitol complex should lead the nation in preserving our planet for future generations,' said Pelosi's letter."

Florida Governor Emphasizes Climate Change and Energy in State of the State Address. The Associated Press, March 7, 2007. "Gov. Charlie Crist became the first Florida governor to talk extensively about global climate change in a State of the State address, telling lawmakers Tuesday it is 'one of the most important issues we will face this century.' Crist said he would form a special summit of experts after the legislative session to study how Florida can respond to "this monumental challenge," earning a standing ovation from many lawmakers. He also greatly expanded the call to make climate change and alternative energy a priority, asking the Legislature for $68 million in funding incentives for ethanol and biodiesel projects. Crist said the state is particularly vulnerable to sea level rises and violent weather patterns. 'Yet, we have done little to understand and address the root causes of this problem, or frankly, even acknowledge that the problem exists,' he said. 'No longer.' Previous Florida governors have spoken only of the business climate, not the environmental concerns now on the agendas of some former skeptics. Former-Gov. Jeb Bush last year spoke of the need to develop alternative sources of energy, but did not speak about climate change."

GM Targets 2010 Production for Electric Car. By Kevin Krolicki, Reuters, March 7, 2007. "General Motors Corp has set a target for production of an all-electric car in 2010, GM's product chief and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said on Tuesday. Lutz said the major uncertainty facing the Chevrolet Volt, a concept vehicle GM unveiled in January, was whether lithium-ion batteries can be developed to power it economically and safely. A running Volt prototype is expected by the end of 2007, he said, adding that GM would take the unusual step of opening much of its development process to the media. We have set an internal target of production in 2010. 'Whether we can make that or not, this is still kind of an unpredictable program for us,' Lutz told reporters on the sidelines of the Geneva auto show."

NASA Detects Trends In Rainfall Traits From Drizzles To Downpours. Science Daily, March 6, 2007. "Detection of long-term global rainfall has been considered a 'mission impossible,' yet the need to know whether trends in rainfall exist is urgent because of how enormously it affects people everywhere. A recent NASA study published in the International Journal of Climatology last September resolves this problem by using a new technique to confirm that extremely heavy rainfall in the tropics is indeed on the rise as suspected."

Ocean Fisheries Maxed Out. By Stephen Leahy, Inter Press Service, March 7, 2007. "Two-thirds of fish stocks in the world's high seas are overfished, while most of those closer to shore are failing or fished to the maximum, a new U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA) report said Monday. More and stronger regional fisheries management organisations are needed to rebuild depleted stocks and prevent the collapse of other stocks, warned the FAO's latest 'State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture' (SOFIA) report. Ocean fisheries have 'most likely' reached their zenith, said FAO Assistant Director-General for Fisheries Ichiro Nomura. In fact, that peak may have been reached some time ago. The annual world fish catch since the late 1980s has been stalled at between 85 million and 95 million tonnes. The SOFIA 2006 report records marine fisheries catch at 85.8 millions tonnes and notes that 25 percent of marine stocks are overexploited or depleted while 52 percent are 'fully exploited'. In the open ocean, where the deep-sea trawlers roam unrestricted, stocks of hakes, Atlantic cod, halibut, orange roughy, bluefin tuna and sharks are all in deep trouble. 'They (open ocean species) are key indicators of the state of a massive piece of the ocean ecosystem,' said Nomura in a statement. In recent years, numerous scientific studies of the oceans have clearly indicated they are in trouble. A major study published last fall in Science magazine projected that every commercial fishery in the world will be wiped out before 2050 and that the oceans may never recover without significant reform of the fisheries industry. A month later, U.N. talks failed to establish a moratorium on deep-sea bottom trawling, widely acknowledged as wasteful and damaging to ocean bottom ecosystems. In February, researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada calculated that these trawlers receive 152 million dollars a year in fuel and other subsidies. Without these subsidies, the few hundred ships that make up the global deep-sea trawler fleet would actually lose millions of dollars a year, said Rashid Sumaila, a researcher at the University of British Columbia." Link to FAO's SOFIA full report and summary; FAO information on global fish stocks (PDF 6 pages).

World Conservation Union Recognizes Women Fighting Climate Change. By Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN.org, March 8, 2007. "Today is International Women's Day, an opportunity every year to celebrate women's significant contributions to environmental protection, poverty reduction, and community well being. It is also a day to recognize what still remains to be done to achieve gender equality and ensure women's rights in society... While climate change may thwart global and IUCN's efforts to protect the environment and reduce poverty, gender inequality is an equally detrimental obstacle to these goals. We know that gender equality will be impossible to achieve while women have access to only 5% of the concessions granted worldwide for natural resource use and management. Nor can we aspire for justice without addressing the fact that women bear the majority of responsibility for food production worldwide while holding ownership of less than 1% of that land... The World Conservation Union (IUCN) recognizes the work of women from all over the world working on climate change issues." Read about the women being honored. Women Fighting Climate Change. Julia Marton-Lefèvre is IUCN Director General.

E.U. Leaders Decide Today on Energy Strategy. By Constant Brand, The Associated Press, March 8, 2007. "German Chancellor Angela Merkel will push her European Union counterparts to go green on energy at summit talks Thursday, urging them to adopt tough measures needed to fight global warming and reduce Europe's dependence on oil imports. Merkel, who is leading the two-day meeting, is keen to get the 27-nation EU to adopt new rules to boost the use of less-polluting, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydro power. She wants the EU to set a global standard, to pressure the United States, Russia and others to follow Europe's new pro-environment agenda. 'Europe has set its own important step, and now others like the USA, China, India and the large developing countries must follow,' Merkel said late Wednesday. 'Europe has 15 percent of worldwide emissions, and the trend is to reduce it, so we also need other countries.' The EU leaders are set to agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020 from 1990 levels, a first step in Europe's ambitious strategy to fight global warming. They are also set to develop energy ties with central Asian countries to reduce their dependency on Russian oil and gas."

Memos Tell U.S. Officials How to Discuss Climate . By Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times, March 8, 2007. "Internal memorandums in the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service appear to require government employees traveling in Arctic countries not to discuss climate change, polar bears or sea ice if they are not designated to do so. In December, the Bush administration, facing a deadline under a suit by environmental groups, proposed listing polar bears throughout their range as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because the warming climate is causing a summertime retreat of sea ice that the bears use for seal hunting. Environmentalists are trying to use such a listing to force the United States to restrict heat-trapping gases that scientists have linked to global warming as a way of limiting risks to the 22,000 or so bears in the far north. Over the past week, biologists and wildlife officials received a cover note and two sample memorandums to be used as a guide in preparing travel requests. Under the heading 'Foreign Travel — New Requirement — Please Review and Comply, Importance: High,' the cover note said: 'Please be advised that all foreign travel requests... and any future travel requests involving or potentially involving climate change, sea ice and/or polar bears will also require a memorandum from the regional director to the director indicating who'll be the official spokesman on the trip and the one responding to questions on these issues, particularly polar bears.'"

Kerry Has Big Ideas for Small Business. By Robert Weisman, The Boston Globe, March 8, 2007. "When the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship convenes a public hearing this morning, it will address an issue its new chairman, Senator John F. Kerry, acknowledges is 'a little off the beaten track.' The topic: climate change. The Massachusetts Democrat wants to gauge its impact on small businesses and explore how they can help prevent it. Spurring emerging companies to develop alternative energy technologies is only one of the senator's priorities for the panel. Other priorities he cited during an interview in his Boston office this week include reducing the cost of healthcare and boosting research and development funding for small businesses... At today's hearing, officials from alternative energy start-ups, including Jim Barber, chief executive of Metabolix Inc. in Cambridge, will talk about technologies in their labs that could help reduce carbon emissions. 'There are a lot of companies that have the ability to be able to push the technology curve and help us find solutions,' Kerry said. Kerry said the panel will work to increase research funding for alternative energy companies. 'We should be pushing that like a Manhattan project or an Apollo project,' he said."

With Coal Plans Cut Back, Texas Faces Energy Gap. By Clifford Krauss, The New York Times, March 8, 2007. "TXU Corporation's decision to scrap plans for eight new coal-fired plants could leave Texas with a shortfall in energy... Texas officials must figure out how to replace the 6,000 megawatts that TXU's former plan would have added to the grid, equivalent to about 10 percent of the state's current installed capacity. This comes as the state's population is expected to grow by 20 percent, to nearly 30 million people, over the next decade. The decisions Texas makes are likely to have national repercussions given that the state's economy is the second largest, after California. Texas is a national trendsetter, and the choices it makes on how to use its natural gas and coal are likely to have an impact on electricity rates far beyond its borders... Environmentalists and some state officials see an opening for renewable energy in a state that is already the national pacesetter in wind energy production. About 4 percent of the state's power is now produced by wind and other renewable sources, and state officials say they expect a quadrupling of wind power generation in the next 20 years... Still, few experts think enough renewable power can be developed quickly enough, given the lack of transmission capacity and high costs. Natural gas, which provides nearly half the state's electricity, is set for another surge because gas plants can generally be built faster than nuclear or coal facilities. In the 1990s, cheap natural gas replaced coal as the favorite choice of Texas utilities. But as natural gas prices rose in recent years, utilities turned to coal, which now provides about 37 percent of the state's power."

What's So Bad About Big? By Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times, March 7, 2007. "Small is beautiful," wrote the economist E. F. Schumacher almost 35 years ago. In most areas of the economy, he reasoned, production had become too big and too centralized. But he might have been wrong about the subject he knew most about: energy. When it comes to alternative ways of generating power, big may be better. Wind, solar and other renewable-energy technologies that were once considered more appropriate for single homes or small communities are reaching levels of scale and centralizing that were formerly the province of coal- and gas-fired plants and nuclear reactors. In other words, green is going giant. The companies that are building or dreaming up large projects argue that there are economies of scale to be gained. In the desert north of Tucson, Arizona Public Service, an electric utility, is using an array of mirrors to concentrate sunlight and heat mineral oil up to 550 degrees; the heat vaporizes a liquid hydrocarbon, which runs a generator to make electricity. But this is no rooftop operation. There are six rows of mirrors, each nearly a quarter-mile long, totaling nearly 100,000 square feet. The project produces one megawatt of power — enough to run a hospital or a large shopping center — but the company that installed it, now called Acciona Solar Power (formerly Solargenix), expects to open a 350-acre plant in Boulder City, Nev., soon, producing 64 megawatts with similar technology. And Arizona Public Service is one of about a half-dozen utilities that is considering a joint project to build a 250-megawatt plant based on the same technology. Such projects run counter to some ideas of how alternative energy should be developed."

The Green Gang of Newton, Massachusetts. By Connie Paige, The Boston Globe, March 8, 2007. "Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it -- except in places like Newton. Here, climate change has sparked a political movement, an eco-army of residents for whom the fight against global warming is not simply a matter of slogans or cocktail-party chatter but a passion, a way of life. 'I was really in despair at the thought of what was happening,' said Louise Bruyn, 76, a pioneer in the local movement. 'I felt, personally, if people worked together, they wouldn't feel so despondent'... This is the story of five people who have taken Bruyn's creed to heart. Their names keep coming up as the go-to people in campaigns to prod City Hall, the business community, and residents to combat global warming. They have inspired residents in other cities and towns to take up the clean-energy challenge. They will be the first to tell you that many others in the city have made huge contributions to the cause. But focusing on this informal network shows how a few people have mobilized many to wage the battle from the bottom up."

Climate Activists (Like CCC) Should Check the Numbers on Carbon Emissions in the News Stories They Cite. By Charles Komanoff, Gristmill, Grist Magazine, March 7, 2007. "What's a percent or two? Or three? Not much, sometimes. But a lot when we're talking about carbon dioxide emissions that are throwing earth's climate out of whack. And quite a lot when effort is going into ranking emission sources to help prioritize our responses to the climate crisis. These thoughts are occasioned by a scoop in the Guardian (U.K.) reporting that world shipping -- essentially, freighters and tankers moving goods and raw materials -- accounts for 'up to 5% of the global total' of carbon emissions. 'CO2 output from shipping [is] twice as much as airlines,' shouts the Guardian headline, in light of the 2-3 percent share of emissions associated with air travel... A more thorough calculation, shown in this spreadsheet, yields 2.4 percent for shipping's share of world CO2." (CCC ran the Guardian story in question on March 4th.)... Yesterday CCC ran this story: How Green Is Nuclear Power?, By Mark Clayton in The Christian Science Monitor. Clayton writes; "Nuclear power has more than just a little greenhouse gas attached to it, when mining uranium ore, refining and enriching fuel, building the plant, and operating it are included. A big 1,250 megawatt plant produces the equivalent of 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year during its life, Dr. Fritsche says... Nuclear power may not fare as well when its life-cycle cost of reducing CO2 emissions is compared with other energy alternatives. An Öko Institut study last year found that countries would get more bang for their buck by moving to other forms of energy - such as biomass and even some natural-gas power plants - rather than nuclear power"... Charles Komanoff wrote CCC to say: "Before anyone gets too excited over the Oko Institut report, consider that a 1,250-MW coal-fired plant emits around 8.2 million tons of CO2 a year (not counting energy to mine and ship the coal). That's 33 times the CO2 for the nuke."

Breakthrough Agreement Adopted by the E.U. By Ingrid Melander and Jeff Mason, Reuters, March 9, 2007. "European Union leaders clinched agreement on Friday on a bold long-term strategy for energy policy and climate change aimed at leading the world in the fight against global warming, diplomats said. The deal setting binding targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions, developing renewable energy sources, promoting energy efficiency and using biofuels laid down a challenge to the United States and other industrialized powers to follow suit. 'There's a deal on the whole package,' one diplomat said. He explained that while the 27 leaders had set binding Europe-wide objectives, 'setting national targets will be done with the consent of the member states.' German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who chaired a two-day summit, put forward the key compromise to secure agreement to set a legally binding target for renewable fuels such as solar, wind and hydro-electric power -- the most contentious issue. Leaders accepted the target of 20 percent of renewable sources in EU energy consumption by 2020 in exchange for flexibility on each country's contribution to the common goal. 'This text is indeed a breakthrough as regards the environment and climate change policy of the European Union,' Merkel said."

EU Leaders Back Green Energy but Tussle over Role of Nuclear Power. By Jan Sliva, Aoife White and Raf Casert, The Associated Press, March 9, 2007 . "European Union leaders reached agreement on a plan for pollution-cutting measures, a 'massive' step in the fight against global warming, but argued over the role of nuclear energy and details of the planned switch to green sources like wind and solar power... At French insistence, the deal noted the role atomic energy could play in replacing coal- or oil-fired power plants blamed for pumping out greenhouse gases. That caused unease for non-nuclear states such as Austria and Ireland and triggered complaints from environmental groups... The French, Czechs, Slovaks and others argued that nuclear power could play a crucial part in helping Europe move away from carbon fuels. The agreement says each EU nation should decide whether to use nuclear power, but takes note of a Commission report that says nuclear energy could contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and help alleviate worries about security of energy supply. It also stresses the need to improve nuclear safety."

Simpler, Safer Nuclear Arms? By Peter Grier, The Christian Science Monitor, March 9, 2007. "US nuclear weapons are among the most sophisticated scientific devices on the planet. Through the years of the cold war, US designers labored to make warheads that were frighteningly powerful, yet so small that as many as 10 could fit on top of a single missile. Now the nation's nuclear bureaucracy believes the time has come to start replacing these complex weapons with simpler ones. Last week the Department of Energy announced the selection of a design for a new Reliable Replacement Warhead, meant to be safer, easier to manufacture, and more robust than current models. If approved by Congress, development of this warhead could set the course for the US nuclear arsenal for decades to come. But when it comes to nuclear weapons, does the US really need to swap Cadillacs for Fords? Critics say the current arsenal is reliable enough - and that any new US bomb would send the wrong message to potential nuclear proliferators such as Iran and North Korea. 'Other countries are going to look at this, and they are going to keep their warhead development and production options open,' says Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association."

House Creates New Committee to Study Global Warming. By Jim Abrams, The Associated Press, March 9, 2007. "House Democrats, intent on making climate change a marquee issue, created a special panel Thursday to study and offer recommendations on how to deal with global warming. The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, advanced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was approved on a vote of 269-150. A majority of Republicans voted against it, arguing the committee was unnecessary or that its budget could better be used by the ethics committee. 'Global warming may be the greatest challenge of our time, setting at risk our economy, environment and national security,' Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement, With the new committee, 'the House is giving these issues the high visibility they deserve.' The committee, consisting of nine Democrats and six Republicans, will be chaired by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass. It will hold hearings and recommend legislation, but, in a concession to existing committees, will not write legislation and will exist for only two years."

U.S. Hunters and Anglers Increasingly Concerned about Climate Change. By Ed Stoddard, Reuters, March 8, 2007. "The early run-offs are one of many signs of warming temperatures that have caught the attention of hunters and anglers around the United States -- an influential group that has its pulse on the outdoors. 'If you have early runoffs then you have less water in the summer and autumn,' said Oregon-based Jack Williams, a senior scientist with conservation group Trout Unlimited. Trout like cold water and become stressed on hot summer days, because water levels are lower and temperatures are higher than would have been the case if the run-off came at more traditional times from April to June... An early grain harvest last season also meant there was less in the fields to attract the birds when the hunting season began in October. Hunters and anglers notice such things and are behind many conservation measures in the United States, not least because they could not shoot game or catch fish without protected habitat. 'We have a lot of support from duck hunters who know our work in protecting wetlands is vital,' said Ben McNitt, communications director for the National Wildlife Federation. Outdoorsmen were seen as instrumental in getting congressional protection from oil and gas drilling last year for two wild areas: the Valle Vidal in New Mexico and the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana... A nationwide survey of licensed hunters and anglers last year commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation found that 76 percent of those polled agreed that global warming was occurring and the same percentage said they had observed climatic changes in the areas where they lived. Eighty percent of the outdoors-types surveyed said they believed the United States should be a world leader in addressing global warming."

Climate Change Pushes 'African' Diseases North. By Jeremy Clark, Reuters, March 9, 2007. "Global warming is pushing northwards diseases more commonly found in developing countries, posing a risk to the financial and physical health of rich nations, the head of a livestock herders' charity said. Steve Sloan, chief executive of GALVmed, said on Friday insect-borne diseases were increasingly moving north, such as the viral infection bluetongue that has hit cattle and sheep in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. If Kenya's Rift Valley Fever also reached Europe, the impact would be immense, he said. 'These African' diseases have become global issues because of climate change... These... diseases... should frighten the hell out of Europe's meat business, not to mention the threat they pose to human lives,' Sloan said."

The Massachusetts Interfaith Walk for Climate Rescue: a Call to Action. ClimateWalk.org. "2006 was the turning point for public awareness of global warming. 2007 must be the turning point for action... Join the Interfaith Walk for Climate Rescue, Northampton to Boston, March 16-24, 2007... You can walk for an hour, an afternoon, a weekend, or the whole nine days. You can walk as an individual, a family, or a team from your community, school, or congregation. You can be of any faith or none. We'll call for swift, bold, and comprehensive political action to address global warming.... Don't miss this opportunity to make climate change history." This call to action is from Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian, Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Rev. Fred Small, Co-chairs, Religious Witness for the Earth... Read about Climate Rescue Day in Boston on Saturday, March 24... Students gathering for the Northeast Student Energy Summit will be participating in the March 24, Climate Rescue Day activities, including the 3 p.m. Climate Rescue Rally at Copley Square: "Imagine being a part of history. Imagine walking in the street with hundreds of people demanding immediate, comprehensive and bold global warming policies. Imagine being a part of the largest climate demonstration to date in the country. Imagine spending a day being trained by top level organizers about how you can take action against global warming on your campus, in your community and in your state… Sound good? Join us on March 23-25 in Boston, MA for the 5th Annual Northeast Student Energy Summit and make history."

Next IPCC Climate Report to Warn of Drought, Disease and Famine. By Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press, March 11, 2007. "The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people won't have enough water, top scientists will say next month at a meeting in Belgium. At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year as the Earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press. Tropical diseases like malaria will spread. By 2050, polar bears will mostly be found in zoos, their habitats gone. Pests like fire ants will thrive. For a time, food will be plentiful because of the longer growing season in northern regions. But by 2080, hundreds of millions of people could face starvation, according to the report, which is still being revised. The draft document by the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change focuses on global warming's effects and is the second in a series of four being issued this year. Written and reviewed by more than 1,000 scientists from dozens of countries, it still must be edited by government officials. But some scientists said the overall message is not likely to change when it's issued in early April in Brussels, the same city where European Union leaders agreed this past week to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020... The report included these likely results of global warming: By 2080, water shortages could threaten 1.1 billion to 3.2 billion people, depending on the level of greenhouse gases that cars and industry spew into the air.... between 200 million and 600 million people could be hungry... About 100 million people each year could be flooded."

E.U. Leaders Back Green Energy but Tussle over Role of Nuclear Power. By Jan Sliva, Aoife White and Raf Casert, The Associated Press, March 9, 2007 . "European Union leaders reached agreement on a plan for pollution-cutting measures, a 'massive' step in the fight against global warming, but argued over the role of nuclear energy and details of the planned switch to green sources like wind and solar power... At French insistence, the deal noted the role atomic energy could play in replacing coal- or oil-fired power plants blamed for pumping out greenhouse gases. That caused unease for non-nuclear states such as Austria and Ireland and triggered complaints from environmental groups... The French, Czechs, Slovaks and others argued that nuclear power could play a crucial part in helping Europe move away from carbon fuels. The agreement says each EU nation should decide whether to use nuclear power, but takes note of a Commission report that says nuclear energy could contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and help alleviate worries about security of energy supply. It also stresses the need to improve nuclear safety."

Calls for Action

Another Warning on Warming. Editorial, The New York Times, March 11, 2007. "If President Bush requires any more proof that he sits on the wrong side of the global warming debate, he should listen to his own scientists. An internal draft of a report the administration will soon forward to the United Nations shows that his program of voluntary reductions has done little to stop the rise in greenhouse gases generated in this country... It will also show that in absolute terms, emissions will grow nearly as fast in the next decade as they did in the last, when they increased by 11.6 percent. This is not much better than business as usual. And as national policy it is clearly unacceptable... This page has long lamented that Mr. Bush seems perfectly happy bringing up the rear of a parade he ought to be leading... In January, 10 major corporations announced their support of a mandatory limit on emissions. Two regional agreements to cap greenhouse gases — agreements developed in part by Republican governors — are nearing completion. And Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, has urged the relevant House committees to produce a bill by the summer. Mr. Bush changed his mind once on carbon emissions. He should change it again. The world will thank him for doing so."

A Climate for Change. Commentary by Jeffrey D. Sachs, Time Magazine, March 8, 2007. "The time has come for action. The earth's future is in our hands... In December the U.S. and the rest of the world will begin negotiating a set of standards to follow the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012... Earlier this month, the Global Roundtable on Climate Change, which is based at the Earth Institute at Columbia University and includes companies and organizations from all parts of the world, adopted a consensus statement that could serve as a template for an international agreement. Green-technology leaders like General Electric, insurance leaders like Swiss Re, automobile firms like Volvo and innovative Chinese and Indian firms all endorsed it, as did many of the world's prominent scientists. Now you can join as well. The roundtable invites you to add your signature to show that the citizens of the world yearn for a serious and global agreement, one based on the best science and the interests of our children. By signing on at www.nextgenerationearth.org you can send a powerful message to politicians and business leaders around the globe that climate change is a battle for our common future." Sachs, author of The End of Poverty, directs the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Washington Responds

House Inquiry Sought on Agency Memo about Polar Bears, Climate Change. By Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post, March 10, 2007. "Two senior House Democrats demanded yesterday that Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne turn over documents to Congress to determine whether the administration was preventing federal scientists from discussing how global warming affects polar bears. In a letter to Kempthorne, Bart Gordon (Tenn.), chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, and Brad Miller (N.C.), chairman of the investigations and oversight subcommittee, questioned why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a directive that has stirred protests from environmentalists. This 'appears to be the latest effort by the Bush Administration to block a full and free discussion of issues relating to climate change by the scientific community,' they wrote."

Biofuels

Brazil-U.S. Ethanol Deal Represents a Convergence of Interests. By Mario Osava, Inter Press Sevice, March 10, 2007. "'If you're dependent on oil from overseas, you have a national security issue,' said President George Bush, explaining the U.S. decision to diversify energy sources and to reduce domestic consumption of gasoline by 20 percent over the next 10 years. He was speaking during a visit he made with host President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to an ethanol plant in the city of Sao Paulo... Bush did not explicitly refer to Venezuela -- governed by his nemesis, President Hugo Chávez... In the joint press conference, President Lula emphasised the social aspects of the new alliance. The new cooperation with the United States, he said, will create the conditions to 'convince the world that everyone can change the energy blend,' by generating 'a global market for biofuels' that will 'democratise access to energy,' create jobs and reduce poverty in developing countries... The memorandum of understanding signed Friday by the two governments states that biofuels are a 'transformative force in the region to diversify energy supplies, bolster economic prosperity, advance sustainable development, and protect the environment.' The agreement entails cooperation in research and development of next-generation biofuel technology, such as ethanol production from cellulose, which will increase productivity of raw materials and incorporate new ones, since any biomass can become a source for fuel."

Coal, Nuclear and Tar Sands

TXU Announces Plans for 2 Coal Plants Designed to Be Cleaner-Burning. By Clifford Krauss and Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times, March 10, 2007. "The TXU Corporation announced on Friday that it was making plans to build two power plants in Texas that would use advanced technology intended to capture carbon dioxide before it escapes into the atmosphere. The plan for the so-called integrated gasification combined cycle, or I.G.C.C., plants comes almost two weeks after TXU announced that several private equity groups led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Texas Pacific Group proposed to acquire TXU for $45 billion... The planning for the two new clean-coal generators would potentially help fill the gap for a state where the population is expected to grow by 20 percent, to nearly 30 million people, over the next decade. But it also may signal a shift in the thinking of utilities that depend on coal to generate energy to try to develop a challenging technology that is accompanied by high construction costs. These plants would convert coal to gas and separate the carbon dioxide, which would then be injected into existing oil fields. Nationwide, there are applications to build about 25 such generators, but that represents a small fraction of the proposed coal-fired plants. So far none have been built anywhere in the world... A study by the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Future of Coal in a Carbon-Constrained World, scheduled for release next week, points to the importance of the kind of effort that TXU now says it embraces. But pumping the carbon dioxide into old oil fields has limited significance for long-term, large-scale carbon dioxide sequestration, the report says, because the amount to be sequestered is so much larger than the available oil field capacity." See MIT report, (PDF, 7 pages).

Climate Policy Considerations

Containing the Mercury in Compact Florescents. By Bruce Gellerman, Living On Earth, National Public Radio, March 9, 2007, audio and transcript. "Compact florescent light bulbs may be more efficient than incandescent lighting, but they contain toxic mercury. Terri Goldberg, deputy director of the Northeast Waste Management Officials Association... talks about the environmental impact of fluorescents and the lack of regulations for recycling the bulbs."

Climate Activists (Like CCC) Should Check the Numbers on Carbon Emissions in the News Stories They Cite. By Charles Komanoff, Gristmill, Grist Magazine, March 7, 2007. "What's a percent or two? Or three? Not much, sometimes. But a lot when we're talking about carbon dioxide emissions that are throwing earth's climate out of whack. And quite a lot when effort is going into ranking emission sources to help prioritize our responses to the climate crisis. These thoughts are occasioned by a scoop in the Guardian (U.K.) reporting that world shipping -- essentially, freighters and tankers moving goods and raw materials -- accounts for 'up to 5% of the global total' of carbon emissions. 'CO2 output from shipping [is] twice as much as airlines,' shouts the Guardian headline, in light of the 2-3 percent share of emissions associated with air travel... A more thorough calculation, shown in this spreadsheet, yields 2.4 percent for shipping's share of world CO2." (CCC ran the Guardian story in question on March 4th.)... On Wednesday CCC ran this story: How Green Is Nuclear Power?, By Mark Clayton in The Christian Science Monitor. Clayton writes; "Nuclear power has more than just a little greenhouse gas attached to it, when mining uranium ore, refining and enriching fuel, building the plant, and operating it are included. A big 1,250 megawatt plant produces the equivalent of 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year during its life, Dr. Fritsche says... Nuclear power may not fare as well when its life-cycle cost of reducing CO2 emissions is compared with other energy alternatives. An Öko Institut study last year found that countries would get more bang for their buck by moving to other forms of energy - such as biomass and even some natural-gas power plants - rather than nuclear power"... Charles Komanoff wrote CCC to say: "Before anyone gets too excited over the Oko Institut report, consider that a 1,250-MW coal-fired plant emits around 8.2 million tons of CO2 a year (not counting energy to mine and ship the coal). That's 33 times the CO2 for the nuke."

More Warnings of Trouble

China Set to Pass U.S. This Year or in 2008 as World's Top Generator of Greenhouse Gases. By Robert Collier, The San Francisco Chronicle, March 5, 2007. "Far more than previously acknowledged, the battle against While China's total greenhouse gas emissions were only 42 percent of the U.S. level in 2001, they had soared to an estimated 97 percent of the American level by 2006."global warming will be won or lost in China, even more so than in the West, new data show. A report released last week by Beijing authorities indicated that as its economy continues to expand at a red-hot pace, China is highly likely to overtake the United States this year or in 2008 as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. This information, along with data from the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based alliance of oil importing nations, also revealed that China's greenhouse gas emissions have recently been growing by a total amount much greater than that of all industrialized nations put together... New statistics released in Beijing on Wednesday by China's National Bureau of Statistics show that China's consumption of fossil fuels rose in 2006 by 9.3 percent, about the same rate as in previous years -- and about eight times higher than the U.S. increase of 1.2 percent.

Controversial Presidents

Czech President: Environmentalism is a Religion. By Martin Berillas, Spero News, March 11, 2007. "Czech president Vaclav Klaus warned that environmentalists who claim to advocate policy changes to combat so-called global warming 'only pretend' to promote environmental protection. 'Environmentalism should belong in the social sciences,' said President Klaus, along with other 'isms' such as communism, feminism, and liberalism. President Klaus said that 'environmentalism is a religion' that seeks to change peoples' habits and economic systems. On March 9 he spoke at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank in Washington DC... Further studies on global warming, he said, are a waste of money... The Czech president said recently 'Global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so'... President Klaus had toured the US for the past week and met with Vice President Dick Cheney, along with other senior US administration officials."

Hugo Chávez's Oil Largesse Winning Fans Around Globe. By Sara Miller Llana and Mark Rice-Oxley,The Christian Science Monitor, March 5, 2007. "London's fuel deal is the latest part of the Venezuelan leader's '21st century socialism. The London bus has come to symbolize many things over the years. It's a national icon, a picture postcard paragon of public transport, a byword for frustration and irregularity. But a harbinger of international socialism? Far-fetched perhaps, but less so after the latest move by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez to offer cut-rate fuel so that 250,000 Londoners on welfare can travel half-price throughout one of the world's most expensive cities. The double-decker trademark isn't the only trace of Mr. Chávez's so-called '21st century socialism:' For the past year residents in New York, Boston, and other major US cities have scored cheaper heating bills, thanks to Venezuela. Chávez has also sent cheap oil to Cuba, Nicaragua, and more than a dozen other countries. His offerings go beyond oil and have been announced with particular frenzy since he won a third term in December, promising $500 million in financing for Ecuador, $135 million for a dairy cooperative in Argentina, and a development plan in Nicaragua that includes generators to ease blackouts as well as a new development bank. Analysts say his projects both in Latin America and beyond are singular among leaders sitting on vast energy reserves, as Chávez sets out to create a counterbalance to US dominance with a flurry of deals, measures, gifts, and grandiose schemes. To his harshest critics he's an egomaniac using an 'energy bribe' to inflate his reputation. To fans he's the consummate humanitarian. Both agree that his moves have amounted to a PR coup, and some analysts even say the fallout could lead to a shift in social, economic, and political balances across the region."

Living by Our Beliefs

Evangelical Body Stays Course on Warming. By Alan Cooperman, The Washington Post, March 11, 2007. "Rebuffing Christian radio commentator James C. Dobson, the board of directors of the National Association of Evangelicals reaffirmed its position that environmental protection, which it calls 'creation care,' is an important moral issue. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, and two dozen other conservative Christian leaders, including Gary L. Bauer, Tony Perkins and Paul M. Weyrich, sent the board a letter this month denouncing the association's vice president, the Rev. Richard Cizik, for urging attention to global warming."

'Why Don't We Just Stop Using Our Car?'. By Nancy Shohet West, The Boston Globe, March 8, 2007. "Isaac Wilde was tired of hearing his parents gripe about global warming. So last fall the 6-year-old burst forth with a suggestion based on his rudimentary grasp of greenhouse gases. 'Why don't we just stop using our car?' It was an idea that took hold. His parents, Sarah Huber and Parke Wilde of Arlington, had thought about this possibility before... But... Then three things happened last November. Huber and Wilde saw the film An Inconvenient Truth... The temperatures in the Boston area soared above 65 nearly every day for a week. And East Arlington, where the family lives, acquired a Zipcar -- a service that allows customers to rent a car by the hour... So the family bought a new calendar. Every day they avoid the car, they write 'No car' in red on that day's calendar square. It's been more than three months now, and they are averaging car use only four or five days a month. 'It seems silly, but I find the calendar is key to my motivation,' Huber said. Wilde agreed that the reminder on their kitchen wall serves as inspiration... Huber and Wilde expected that the car-free experiment would make them feel virtuous. What has surprised them is how much fun they are having. They find themselves linked to their community in a new way."

Living Day to Day by a Gospel of Green. By Laurie Goodstein, The New York Times, March 8, 2007. "THE Rev. Jim Ball is an evangelical Christian minister whose pulpit is parked in front of his townhouse. It's a deep blue hybrid Toyota Prius, but it is not just any Toyota Prius. It is the original What Would Jesus Drive? car. Four years ago Mr. Ball, the executive director of the nonprofit Evangelical Environmental Network (www.creationcare.org), and his wife, Kara, drove the Prius from Texas east across the Bible Belt in a provocative stunt that, in keeping with the core mission of his organization, awakened evangelical churches to the threat of global warming. It also awakened Americans to the existence of the human hybrid known as a Green Evangelical. It turns out that Jim and Kara Ball spend a lot of time thinking not just about what Jesus would drive, but also about how his people should wash their clothes, light their bathrooms, clean their windows, shop for groceries and furnish their living rooms — the day-to-day elements of what some Christian environmentalists call 'creation care'... In the last year he has led an effort that has persuaded more than 100 influential evangelical pastors, theologians and organizational leaders — many of them political conservatives — to sign an Evangelical Call to Action on climate change."

Stronger Storms in Western States Traced to Asian Pollution. By Peter N. Spotts, The Christian Science Monitor, March 12, 2007. "Air pollution blowing over the western U.S. from Asia has been a growing environmental concern for several years. Now, it seems, it's giving winter storms added punch as well. Tiny aerosols and soot from burning wood and coal in winter, especially in China, appear to be seeding clouds in large winter storms that churn thousands of miles east across the northern Pacific, says a team of US scientists. The pollution is turning relatively routine marine rain clouds into towering thunderheads, much like those seen above land. Previous studies have shown that during the last half of the 20th century, northern Pacific winter storms have become steadily more frequent and stronger, based on tracking wind speeds and atmospheric pressure. The latest results, published last week, indicate that ill winds blowing out of Asia are adding muscle to the types of clouds these stronger winter cyclones carry. The team posits that the shift toward these types of clouds, with their strong updrafts, could be altering global circulation patterns - perhaps even masking the effects of global warming, because the thicker, taller clouds reflect more sunlight back into space. And they could be contributing to more rapid melting of snow and ice in the Arctic as dark soot is lofted by strong updrafts in these clouds and carried north to fall back to the surface... 'As you change things in the atmosphere, whether it's particulates or climate change, all of the effects are not obvious' immediately, says Renyi Zhang, an atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University in College Station, who led the study."

Grand-Thinking Virginia Mayor Seeks Town's Energy Independence. By Sandhaya Somashekhar, The Washington Post, March 12, 2007. "George B. Fitch, mayor of Warrenton, [has set out to] make his rural town of 8,000 residents energy independent before he leaves office in 2010. The keystone of what Fitch calls his 'low-carbon diet' is to build a $30 million plant at the county dump, which would chew up garbage, construction waste, agricultural residue, manure and other materials referred to as 'biomass' and spin it into electricity and ethanol. He reckons that his plant would generate 10 million gallons of ethanol a year and enough electricity to power every house in town with minimal greenhouse gas emissions and no use of fossil fuels. All of this he hopes to accomplish without raising taxes or taking on debt. Moreover, he said, it could earn the town a modest profit. 'You don't have to be a big fan of Al Gore to realize that this is critical to our community and our national security,' said Fitch, 59, a self-described fiscal conservative who ran for governor on the Republican ticket."

Vermont's Green Mountain Power Approaches Near-Zero CO2 Emissions. GreenBiz.com, March 9, 2007. "Green Mountain Power Corporation announced that only two percent of its fuel mix for 2006 was from carbon dioxide emitting sources. The Energy Information Administration estimates that the national average is nearly 70 percent from CO2-emitting sources. More than half of Green Mountain Power's sources came from water, wood or wind. 'We have consistently worked to reduce emissions at Green Mountain Power, both in our operations and in the fuels we use to supply our customers with electricity,' said CEO Christopher L. Dutton... He added, ' We were able to take advantage of additional hydro power resources from Hydro Quebec and we experienced near record-breaking production at our own hydro facilities, which helped reduce the use of fossil fuels.' Green Mountain Power uses no coal and in 2006 sold more power into the New England market than it purchased. Green Mountain Power owns and operates eight hydroelectric plants in Vermont... The complete breakdown of Green Mountain Power's fuel mix in 2006 is: hydro 50.4 percent, nuclear 43 percent, wood 4.3 percent, oil/natural gas 2.2 percent, and wind 0.1 percent." [Note: wood emits CO2 as do nuclear, hydro and wind in an indirect way.]

British Coal Giant to Generate a Tenth of Its Electricity from Crops. By Michael Harrison, The London Independent, March 9, 2007. "Drax, Britain's biggest coal-fired electricity generator, is planning to cover an area one-fifth the size of Wales with biofuel crops to meet its ambitious targets for cutting carbon emissions from the station. The company, which generates 8 per cent of the UK's electricity, said yesterday that 10 per cent of its output would come from burning energy crops such as rape- seed and elephant grass by 2009, saving 2 million tonnes of CO2 a year. Dorothy Thompson, its chief executive, said that would involve planting between 200,000 and 400,000 hectares of land - an area equivalent to a quarter of North Yorkshire, where the Drax station is located, or between 3 and 5 per cent of the UK's cropped land. She added that Drax planned to source the bulk of its biomass in the UK to take maximum advantage of a relaxation of the rules covering the co-firing of power stations. This will allow all electricity produced from biomass to qualify for subsidies under the Government's renewables obligation scheme provided the crops were planted specifically for use in power stations."

E.U. Highway Speed Limit Plan Irks Germans. By Geir Moulson, The Associated Press, March 12, 2007. "An EU official called on Germany to give up the famous freedom of its highways and impose speed limits on the autobahn to fight global warming — a demand that drew angry responses on Sunday in a country that cherishes what it calls 'free driving for free citizens.' The call came as the German government makes action against climate change a priority of its current presidencies of the EU and Group of Eight. Still, the German environment minister showed little enthusiasm for EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas' suggestion and a group representing the country's auto industry said it needed 'no coaching on efficient climate protection from Brussels.' Many stretches of German autobahn lack speed limits — traditionally a cherished freedom in a rule-bound country. However, the growing concern over carbon dioxide emissions is putting that tradition under renewed scrutiny... In most European countries the highway speed limit is either 75 and 80 miles per hour. Britain, Latvia and Sweden have the strictest speed limit with 70 mph, according to an official EU Web site... Each 5 mph a car drives over 60 mph reduces fuel economy by 10 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Energy... Germans may be becoming receptive to the idea, however. Last month, a survey by the Forsa institute for Stern magazine found that 60 percent would favor autobahn speed limits to cut emissions, while 38 percent would oppose them."

Canadians Rally for Kyoto Protocol. By Sarah Green, The Toronto Sun, March 12, 2007. " Hundreds of protesters filled a sunny Nathan Phillips Square [in Toronto] yesterday to urge Canada's leaders to fight global warming by meeting the targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions set out in the Kyoto protocol. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called the targets unattainable. Canada has committed to a 6% drop from 1990 levels by the year 2012. 'Make no mistake about it -- global warming is a reality. The debate is over,' said Greenpeace's David Martin. 'Kyoto will work. It has to work. Kyoto is just the beginning. We need much, much deeper reductions.' It was a spirited rally -- complete with music, cheeky placards, even protesters dressed as polar bears -- but NDP Leader Jack Layton injected a 'sobering statistic, noting global warming has the same impact on the world as war.' Layton urged Canadians to mobilize in the fight against climate change -- and politicians who don't abide by Kyoto. 'You have no right to take Canada out of the Kyoto protocol,' Layton said. 'That's Canada's signature on that document, not your signature.' There were similar rallies in cities across the country, including Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and London."

British Party Leaders Battle over Green Agenda. By Phil Hazelwood, Agence France-Presse, March 12, 2007. "The two men expected to contest the next general election attempted to seize the leadership agenda in keynote speeches [today at a business conference in London], setting out rival visions for tackling climate change. With the environment increasingly seen as a key battleground for votes, Labour's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and main opposition Conservative leader David Cameron both aimed to show off their green credentials. Prime Minister Tony Blair, Brown and Environment Secretary David Miliband will publish a climate change bill on Tuesday, outlining long-term goals to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2050, but not set annual targets. Cameron, who has engaged Labour in a centre-ground battle over environmental issues since taking over in late 2005, argues that independently set annual targets will be more credible and effective and less liable to political manipulation. The Conservatives tried to steal a march on Labour at the weekend, announcing politically high-risk plans to increase the cost of flying by limiting people to one short-haul flight per year at the standard rate of tax."

An Inconvenient Truth about The Great Global Warming Swindle. Geoffrey Lean, The London Independent, March 11, 2007. 'The Great Global Warming Swindle, screened by Channel 4 on Thursday night, convinced many viewers that it is untrue that CO2 is to blame for global warming. But now the programme--and the channel--is facing a serious challenge to its own credibility. It was the television programme that set out to show that most of the world's climate scientists are misleading us when they say humanity is heating up the Earth by emitting carbon dioxide. And The Great Global Warming Swindle, screened by Channel 4 on Thursday night, convinced many viewers that it is indeed untrue that the gas is to blame for global warming. But now the programme - and the channel - is facing a serious challenge to its own credibility after one of the most distinguished scientists that it featured said his views had been 'grossly distorted' by the film, and made it clear that he believed human pollution did warm the climate. Professor Carl Wunsch, professor of physical oceanography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said he had been 'completely misrepresented' by the programme, and 'totally misled' on its content. He added that he is considering making a formal complaint."

Sen. Bingaman Says Emissions Caps Unlikely Without Bush Help. By H. Josef Hebert, The Associated Press, March 12, 2007. "Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Monday... 'It's almost certain supporters of climate legislation will need 60 votes in the Senate to overcome an expected filibuster by opponents. That would require garnering additional Republican support. Overcoming a filibuster 'depends very much on whether the White House is willing to work with us,' said Bingaman, adding that if the administration agrees to 'some meaningful limits' on emissions there is a 'decent chance' of getting of getting a bill... Bingaman has proposed a bill that would require actions to slow the growth of greenhouse emissions and also provide for a safety-valve if costs are too steep. His bill, which is still being revised, is viewed as the most modest 'cap-and-trade' proposal before the Senate. Several other bills would require more aggressive emission reductions and have no economic safety valve for industry."

British Government Unveils Draft of Climate Change Bill. BBC News, March 13, 2007. "The government has unveiled plans to set a 'legally binding' target to cut carbon emissions by 60% by 2050. The draft Climate Change Bill calls for 'carbon budgets' to be set every five years and for ministers to give annual progress reports on cutting emissions. Environment Secretary David Miliband said the plans, which also include more investment in wind and wave power, provided 'clarity' for businesses. But he rejected opposition calls for annual targets on reducing emissions. 'Changing your policy on the basis of one year's weather isn't a sensible way of doing things,' he told the BBC. The government's plans include: Targets to reduce carbon emissions by 60% by 2050 and between 26% and 32% by 2020... Greater energy efficiency, with more consumers becoming 'producers' of their own energy at home... Investment in low-carbon fuels and technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, wind, wave and solar power... Carbon 'budgets' - which cap emissions levels - set every five years... The government reporting annually to Parliament on its progress in controlling emissions."

Nordics Doubt Net Gains from Global Warming. By Alister Doyle, Reuters, March 12, 2007. "Global warming could mean Scandinavia's farmers will be able to grow sweeter fruit but the consequences for herring fishermen could be dire, Norway's environment minister said. While Nordic nations could experience less snow and longer growing seasons, damaging side-effects of climate change on fisheries may wipe out any gains. A U.N. report due in April [the 2nd this year from the IPCC] is likely to say that northern Europe will be among regions to gain from moderate warming, scientists say. A 2006 British report said Scandinavia could have net benefits from a 2-3 Celsius (3.6 to 5.4 F) rise. 'Norway can get higher income if there is more mild weather. There will be better conditions for growing crops and longer growing seasons - perhaps sweeter apples and cherries because there is more sunshine,' Helen Bjoernoy told Reuters. 'But a rising temperature in the oceans could have dramatic consequences for fisheries,' she said. 'Spawning grounds for cod and herring might shift. That could create big economic problems.'"

Texas Wind Generates a Big Energy Gamble. By Jeffrey Ball, The Wall Street Journal, March 13, 2007, subscription. "Deep in the heart of Texas, multinational giants are gambling on a new supply of energy. The prize isn't oil. It's wind... Energy companies investing in wind power are expecting governments to toughen rules relating to traditional energy sources, part of long-term efforts to reduce global-warming emissions and reliance on Middle East oil. As a result, they're hoping renewable energy will become a profitable niche, not merely one that allows them to burnish their green credentials... Few places exemplify the gamble as vividly as Briscoe County, a 900-square-mile patch of ranchland in the Texas Panhandle with more cows than people. It's one of the windiest spots in Texas, which already cranks out more wind power than any other state. Texas regulators won't decide for months whether to authorize a new line to connect this isolated county to Texas's network of high-voltage power lines. But in Austin, the state capital, energy companies are lobbying hard, and on the ground they're scrambling to lock up acreage... Panhandle has few high-voltage lines and it sits in a multistate power grid that commands relatively low power prices because it gets much of its power from coal, a cheap fuel.... If one were built to Briscoe County, this massive wind resource would be unlocked."

Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Stimulates Soils To Release, Not Store, CO2. Science Daily, March 13, 2007. "Researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center report that doubling the atmospheric greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) in a scrub oak ecosystem caused a reduction in carbon storage in the soil. This response suggests a limited capacity of Earth's ecosystems to stabilize atmospheric CO2 and slow global warming. These findings add a new perspective and a measure of caution suggesting that elevated CO2, by altering microbial communities, may turn a potential carbon sink into a carbon source."

The Science in An Inconvenient Truth is Questioned and Defended. By William J. Broad, The New York Times, March 13, 2007. "Some scientists argue that some of Mr. Gore's central points on global warming are exaggerated and erroneous. But Mr. Gore clearly has supporters among leading scientists, who call his science basically sound... 'I don't want to pick on Al Gore,' Don J. Easterbrook, an emeritus professor of geology at Western Washington University, told hundreds of experts at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America. 'But there are a lot of inaccuracies in the statements we are seeing, and we have to temper that with real data'... Mr. Gore, in an e-mail exchange about the critics, said his work made 'the most important and salient points' about climate change, if not 'some nuances and distinctions' scientists might want. 'The degree of scientific consensus on global warming has never been stronger,' he said, adding, 'I am trying to communicate the essence of it in the lay language that I understand.' Although Mr. Gore is not a scientist, he does rely heavily on the authority of science in An Inconvenient Truth, which is why scientists are sensitive to its details and claims... Typically, the concern is not over the existence of climate change, or the idea that the human production of heat-trapping gases is partly or largely to blame for the globe's recent warming. The question is whether Mr. Gore has gone beyond the scientific evidence... Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton who advised Mr. Gore on the book and movie, said that reasonable scientists disagreed on [some of the] points that the critics had raised. In general, he said, Mr. Gore had distinguished himself for integrity. 'On balance, he did quite well — a credible and entertaining job on a difficult subject,' Dr. Oppenheimer said. 'For that, he deserves a lot of credit. If you rake him over the coals, you're going to find people who disagree. But in terms of the big picture, he got it right.'"

John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Prepare to Launch Book on Environmental Activists. By Rick Klein, The Boston Globe, March 12, 2007. "Recent months have found the Kerrys... finishing This Moment on Earth, a book dedicated to individuals who are taking action to stop global warming and other threats to the environment. The couple hope the book can inspire others to do the same. 'We want to make a statement: We both believe this is a vital moment,' Kerry, said in an interview last week in his Senate office. 'This book is driven by a sense of urgency, to put on the table that this is a pretty critical moment. We're losing opportunities every single day.' The book tackles climate change and other environmental challenges from the bottom up, telling the stories of individuals who have taken smaller steps to help solve big environmental problems, ranging from polluted rivers to the link between environmental hazards and major health issues such as cancer. It also marks a new phase in the political partnership that is the couple's marriage. The politician and his wealthy philanthropist wife want to use the book to take on a public role outside of politics. A 10-city book tour is scheduled, as well as joint television and radio appearances... Kerry said he and his wife have incorporated environmental lessons in their lives. They own three hybrid cars, have replaced most of the lights in their homes with efficient fluorescent bulbs, and now buy carbon credits for the fuel they burn in their cars and private plane, he said. Yet Kerry said one of the book's central lessons is that major sacrifices aren't necessary. 'I didn't want it to be an angry book. I wanted it to be positive,' he said. 'You can keep your quality of life. You can do the things you do. We can just do them in a way that's carbon-neutral, and benefits the people around you.' Looking back at 2004, Heinz Kerry said she knows they both 'poured our hearts and our souls out in terms of ideas' as Kerry ran for the White House. Though the campaign fell short, she said she takes solace in the fact that they can still bring passion to a cause together."

Oil Sands Versus Tar Sands: What's in the Name? By David Ebner, The Toronto Globe and Mail, March 13, 2007. "Oil sands is the standard phrase [in Canada], but critics almost always say tar sands. 'They were always called the tar sands, when I was young growing up here...' said Brian Mason, leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party. 'Industry made a deliberate decision to call them oil sands, because it conveyed a cleaner image. The language of tar sands conjured up a sticky, smelly, dirty kind of petroleum resource... And so they [industry] consciously changed it to oil sands and we've [critics] consciously changed it back to tar sands, because that's exactly what it is. This is messy, expensive and dirty oil'... At wikipedia.org, the online user-produced encyclopedia, a search for 'oil sands' is redirected to 'tar sands,' an entry that begins: 'Technically speaking, the bitumen [extracted in Alberta] is neither oil nor tar, but a semisolid, degraded form of oil.' The material that miners in the oil sands strip from the land is a combination of clay, sand, water and bitumen, which is what is upgraded into synthetic oil, which is then refined into products such as gasoline. Wikipedia users have debated whether to rename the tar sands entry as oil sands but have not yet reached a consensus."

New Alliance Announced Today to Eliminate Incandescent Light Bulbs. By Matthew l. Wald, The New York Times, March 14, 2007. "A coalition of industrialists, environmentalists and energy specialists is banding together to try to eliminate the incandescent light bulb in about 10 years. In an agreement to be announced today, the coalition members, including Philips Lighting, the largest manufacturer; the Natural Resources Defense Council; and two efficiency organizations, are pledging to press for efficiency standards at the local, state and federal levels. The standards would phase out the ordinary screw-in bulb, technology that arose around the time of the telegraph and the steam locomotive, and replace it with compact fluorescents, light-emitting diodes, halogen devices and other technologies that may emerge... The agreement is a compromise among the participants. Some favored an outright ban on incandescent bulbs, like the one Australia said last month it would seek by 2009 or 2010. Philips, a unit of Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands, has pledged with others doing business in Europe to seek a shift to more efficient lighting there, too. The announcement... will commit coalition members to seek 'a market phaseout' by 2016... General Electric, the largest American manufacturer of lighting, has recently been campaigning against the elimination of incandescent bulbs, and promising instead to bring out a new model that is twice as efficient as its current bulbs. The company is not part of the new coalition. But it has allied itself with the Natural Resources Defense Council in another group called the United States Carbon Action Program, which seeks to control emissions of greenhouse gases through energy conservation."

White House Seeks to Cut Geothermal Research Funds. By Bernie Woodall, Reuters, March 14, 2007. "The Bush administration wants to eliminate federal support for geothermal power, just as many U.S. states are looking to cut greenhouse gas emissions and raise renewable power output. The move has angered scientists who say there is enough hot water underground to meet all U.S. electricity needs without greenhouse gas emissions. 'The Department of Energy has not requested funds for geothermal research in our fiscal-year 2008 budget,' said Christina Kielich, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy. 'Geothermal is a mature technology. Our focus is on breakthrough energy research and development.' The administration of George W. Bush has made renewable energy a priority as it seeks to wean the United States off foreign oil, but it emphasizes use of biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel for vehicles and nuclear research for electricity. 'In spite of its enormous potential, the geothermal option for the United States has been largely ignored,' a recent study led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said... New geothermal power projects by 2050 could provide 100,000 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power about 80 million U.S. homes, or as much as U.S. nuclear power plants make today, the MIT study said. But U.S. geothermal development will need $300 million to $400 million over 15 years to make this type of power competitive versus other forms of power generation, the study said. The big hurdle for geothermal power is finding out where the hot water is and developing better ways to drill for it. Geothermal power plants use steam or water from underground to turn turbines to create electricity... Leland 'Roy' Mink, who until last October was geothermal program director at the DOE, said he thinks the White House's waning interest in geothermal is a mistake. He said he left the DOE when he saw the Department was cutting funding. 'It's far from a mature technology,' said Mink, who is now working on a geothermal project in Idaho... While its industry is largely undeveloped, the United States is still the largest producer of geothermal electricity in the world. U.S. geothermal power generation in 2005 was 0.36 percent of national power generation and geothermal capacity is rated at 2,828 megawatts, with almost all in California, according to the Geothermal Energy Association."

Edwards Commits to 'Carbon Neutral' Campaign. Press Release, American Chronicle, March 14, 2007. "As part of his efforts to combat global warming, Senator John Edwards announced today that he will make his campaign 'carbon neutral.' Edwards believes global warming is one of the great challenges facing America and the world and that we can all take immediate action to decrease the amount of carbon we produce. By conserving energy and purchasing carbon offsets, the Edwards campaign will offset the carbon emitted by Edwards and his staff's campaign travel, and the energy used in his campaign headquarters and field offices. "Global warming is an emergency and we can't wait until the next president is elected to take action," said Edwards. "Each of us can take responsibility in small ways to make a big difference. I encourage all Americans to conserve energy in their own homes and workplaces and help fight global warming." In February, Governor Tom Vilsack announced he would be the first presidential candidate to plan a carbon neutral campaign... Edwards will work with NativeEnergy to calculate the carbon impact of his campaign activities and purchase carbon offsets."

Carbon Confusion: Buying Offsets Is a Challenge for Consumers. By Beth Daley, The Boston Globe, March 12, 2007. "Although specialists say some of the money is well spent, it can be difficult for consumers to figure out if they are buying any new environmental benefit. Sales of voluntary offsets skyrocketed worldwide from $6 million in 2004 to $110 million last year, according to Abyd Karmali of ICF International a consulting firm. Everyone from the Dixie Chicks to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain now invests in greenhouse gas-reduction projects to offset personal emissions. The projects can include planting trees, destroying methane, or harnessing wind, solar, or other types of renewable energy that reduce demand for fossil fuels. The trend is so hot that the New Oxford American Dictionary declared 'carbon neutral' -- the balance between producing and reducing carbon -- the 2006 word of the year. The Globe found more than 60 websites that sell offsets to US consumers, but there is no government oversight of these sites, nor is there a uniform standard for what constitutes a legitimate offset. Price and quality vary greatly. Some websites provide scant information about the criteria they use to pick projects and how much they charge for overhead, making it difficult for consumers to sort out effective offsets from projects that have little true environmental value… The price for offsetting a ton of carbon varies greatly, from $5 to $25. Some companies don't clearly state on their websites how much of the purchase price actually goes to the offset and how much to transaction costs, salaries, other overhead and profit -- nor, in fact, whether they are for-profit... Broader criticism of the concept of offsets is also growing as some environmentalists accuse consumers of trying to buy the right to pollute, instead of taking the more difficult step of reducing their energy consumption by buying smaller cars and homes. One website -- cheatneutral.com -- pokes fun at offsets, comparing them to trying to compensate for infidelity… 'Because there is no one standard in the voluntary market, the offsets being sold to people are often like money made with your own Xerox machine,' said Seth Kaplan, senior attorney for the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation. 'People can't be sure if what they are buying has any value.'"

Carbon Trading Won't Stop Climate Change. By David Morris, AlterNet. March 12, 2007. "These days, everyone thinks that carbon trading is the solution to our climate crisis -- from Congress members to Al Gore to the folks organizing the Oscars. Here's why they are wrong and what we can do instead... 1. Buying offsets encourages complacency... 2. Carbon trading is inherently susceptible to fraud and manipulation... 3. Carbon trading rewards low-cost cosmetic changes while undermining higher cost innovation... 4. Carbon trading separates authority and responsibility, undermining coherent, holistic community-based efforts... One alternative is good old regulation, which contrary to the popular wisdom, has worked very well, especially when the regulations are performance-based... Offsets should be allowed, but only if they occur on the local level and do not involve long-distance trading... But unlike carbon trading, investing to reduce local carbon emissions strengthens the local economy, encourages real innovation, and is a long-term, durable strategy." David Morris is co-founder and vice president of the Institute for Local Self Reliance in Minneapolis.

Climate Change Has Parched Aussie Farmers Looking North. By Nick Squire, The Christian Science Monitor, March 14, 2007. "When the heavens open over the savanna flood plains and billabongs of northern Australia, it seems like it will rain forever. Great black storms march across the landscape, drenching the cattle ranches, national parks, and Aboriginal reserves, which make up Australia's 'Top End.' Thousands of miles to the south, however, in the most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria, the fields are parched, livestock are dying, and farmers face ruin as the worst drought in a century grinds on. Two-thirds of Australia's freshwater flows down the great tropical rivers of the north, compared with less than five percent in the depleted waterways of the south. It is hardly surprising, then, that a government task force this week will begin studying the prospects of encouraging Australia's farmers to bow to the harsh realities of drought and climate change, and head north. Critics, however, warn that the north's own climate peculiarities, lack of infrastructure, and indigenous land claims could make industrial-scale farming a risky venture... 'Northern Australia is one of the last agricultural frontiers left on the planet,' says Bill Heffernan, a government senator who is presiding over the task force... 'The idea of the north as a potential food bowl for Asia is largely a mirage,' says Stuart Blanch, a tropical rivers expert with Australia's division of the World Wide Fund for Nature, a global conservation network. 'Although we get a lot of rainfall, it's erratic - we never know when the monsoon will start.'"

London Mayor Calls for Strengthening of Climate Change Bill. Press Release, eGov Montor, March 14, 2007. "The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has welcomed the government's draft Climate Change Bill but called for it to be strengthened. At his press conference the Mayor said: 'I welcome the publication today of the government's draft Climate Change Bill, which will make Britain one of the first countries to enshrine tackling climate change in legislation - just as London last month became the first major city to publish a comprehensive plan to cut carbon emissions. Together with the decision of the European Union to set binding targets for reducing carbon emissions, national and international action to avert catastrophic climate change is now beginning to happen. The inclusion in the draft Climate Change Bill of proposals to widen carbon trading is welcome. As Nicholas Stern pointed out, climate change is perhaps the greatest ever example of market failure. Reflecting the true costs of carbon emissions in the price of goods and services is the key to incentivising behavioural change and innovation to avert climate catastrophe. But I would like to see the government go further. First the Bill should set annual targets for emission reductions. Second it should move towards personal carbon allowances, whereby the majority of people who are willing to live in a way that minimises carbon emissions receive financial rewards for doing so, paid for by charging those people who wish to continue to make large carbon emissions.'"

Start-Up Fervor Shifts to Energy in Silicon Valley. By Mark Richtel, The New York Times, March 14, 2007. "Out of the ashes of the Internet bust, many technology veterans have regrouped and found a new mission in alternative energy: developing wind power, solar panels, ethanol plants and hydrogen-powered cars. It is no secret that venture capitalists have begun pouring billions into energy-related start-ups with names like SunPower, Nanosolar and Lilliputian Systems. But that interest is now spilling over to many others in Silicon Valley — lawyers, accountants, recruiters and publicists, all developing energy-oriented practices to cater to the cause... The similarities to past booms are obvious, but the Valley has always run in cycles. It is a kind of renewable gold rush, a wealth- and technology-creating principle that is always looking for something around which to organize. In this case, the energy sector is not so distant from other Silicon Valley specialties as it might appear, say those involved in the new wave of start-ups. The same silicon used to make computer chips converts sunlight into electricity on solar panels, while the bioscience used to make new drugs can be employed to develop better ethanol processing... This time around, entrepreneurs say they are not expecting such quick returns. In the Internet boom, the mantra was to change the world and get rich quick. This time, given the size and scope of the energy market, the idea is to change the world and get even richer — but somewhat more slowly."

Woodstock NY Adopts 'Zero Carbon' Initiative. By William J. Kemble, DailyFreeman.com, March 14, 2007. "The Town Board on Tuesday adopted a Zero Carbon initiative that changes the town's energy-use policy in what Councilman Stephen Knight called a step toward 'rescuing the nation from embarrassment.' The initiative, which aims to reduce the emission of carbons thought to contribute to global warming, includes increasing the fuel efficiency of town vehicles, conforming with the guidelines of the Energy Star and U.S. Green Building Council programs, increasing recycling and promoting the development of renewable energy resources... The town already has taken steps to improve energy efficiency by subsidizing the creation of wind power installations, installing a 16.8-kilowatt photovoltaic solar panel array on the Town Hall, installing a geothermal heating-cooling system at the town highway garage and ending the use of propane fuel at the town wastewater treatment plant."

Step It Up: Renewing a Call to Act Against Climate Change. By Felicity Barringer, The New York Times, March 14, 2007. "Bill McKibben, who was one of the first laymen to warn of global warming, is now the philosopher-impresario [of the nation-wide call for] climate-change rallies called Step It Up... Mr. McKibben's title — scholar in residence at Middlebury College — seems far too passive to encompass his current frenetic pace. His online call for locally inspired, locally run demonstrations on April 14 has generated plans for a wave of small protests under the Step It Up banner — 870 and counting, in 49 states (not South Dakota) — to walk, jog, march, ski, swim, talk, sing, pray and party around the idea of cutting national emissions of heat-trapping gases 80 percent by 2050. Skiers in Wyoming plan to descend a shrinking glacier. New Yorkers plan to form an unbroken human line (dress code: blue shirts) along what might be the new southern shoreline of Manhattan. A group of Dominican sisters and a Wisconsin environmental group are organizing a conference on Sisinawa Mound overlooking the Mississippi River... The rallies, organized online by a half-dozen Middlebury graduates (well, one is still finishing his thesis) hunched over laptops in an otherwise bare conference room in Burlington, could filter a kind of passion and fashion reminiscent of the 1960s through a YouTube lens. All the scattered 'actions,' as Mr. McKibben and Company are calling them, are to be photographed, with the results put up on the Web on the evening of April 14."

Largest Test Yet of Carbon Capture and Sequestration Announced Today. By Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times, March 15, 2007. "American Electric Power, a major electric utility [based in Columbus, Ohio], is planning the largest demonstration yet of capturing carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant and pumping it deep underground... The project... will use a new process — so far tested only at laboratory scale — that uses chilled ammonia to absorb the gas for collection. The process was developed by Alstom, a major manufacturer of generating equipment, and aims to reduce the amount of energy required to capture the carbon dioxide. Some experts have estimated that nearly a third of a power plant's energy output might be needed to pull carbon dioxide from the waste stream. Alstom hopes to hold it to 15 percent... The initial trial, at the company's Mountaineer plant in New Haven, W.Va., will take a portion of the carbon dioxide from the flue, compress it into liquid form at more than 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, and inject it 9,000 feet below the earth's surface, a technique that experts say is not well understood but would be essential to large-scale carbon sequestration. The project will begin next year, the company said. A demonstration 6 to 12 times that size, which would be commercial scale, will be conducted soon after at a plant in Oklahoma... The demonstration [is projected to] cost $800 million, including work to remove conventional pollutants like soot and sulfur dioxide before carbon separation. The company will seek federal grants and will ask state regulators to let it charge customers. Carbon from the larger trial at the Oklahoma plant will be sold for injection into old oil fields where pressure and production have fallen."

MIT Panel Links Coal Future to Carbon Sequestration. By Rob Lever, Agence France-Presse, March 14, 2007. "A panel of scientists Wednesday urged the United States to speed up efforts to store carbon gases underground to keep coal use viable in the face of growing concerns about global warming. Researchers from the MIT said in a report that coal, the dominant fuel for electricity in the US and China, will remain an attractive energy source if greenhouse emission issues can be resolved. The report, The Future of Coal: Options for a Carbon-Constrained World, assumes that some limits will eventually be imposed on carbon dioxide (CO2), most likely in the form of a cap or tax on emissions... The study concluded there are no scientific obstacles to the use of 'carbon capture and sequestration,' or burying CO2 in underground geologic formations. But John Deutch, an MIT scientist and former CIA director who co-authored the report, said there has not been enough practical experience with carbon sequestration to make it commercially viable. The report maintained that the US government-funded 'clean coal' programs are vastly underfunded, and called for three to five subsidized coal-fired plants that would capture and store all carbon emissions." Check report: The Future of Coal

Towns Across New Hampshire Vote on Climate Change Resolution. The Associated Press, March 15, 2007. "New Hampshire voters are sending a message to the Presidential candidates who routinely visit the state: Do something about global warming. At town meetings that began Tuesday, voters are overwhelmingly supporting nonbinding resolutions telling the president, presidential candidates and the state's congressional delegation they favor reductions in U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases. The resolutions also support a "major national research initiative" to rapidly develop sustainable energy technologies and encourage town leaders to set up local energy commissions to address the issue. At least 86 of the 96 towns that voted Tuesday endorsed the resolution, while seven rejected it by narrow margins... This year, a nonpartisan Carbon Coalition of environmentalists, businesses and others got the climate change resolution onto the agendas at 180 of the state's 221 towns. The Sierra Club said 69 more towns will vote this week and the rest will vote later in the month. The coalition plans to use the results to press Presidential primary candidates to support concrete action on climate change."

Climate-Friendly Initiative Proposed for Fairfax County Virginia. By Amy Gardner, The Washington Post, March 15, 2007. "Fairfax plans to become a 'cool' county, where wind power, hybrid vehicles and environmentally friendly building techniques would reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to combat global warming, Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly will announce today. Connolly (D) said that he is developing the program with the Sierra Club and a few other large counties across the nation and that he wants it to be a model for communities everywhere. For Fairfax's 1 million residents, Connolly's proposal would mean rides on ethanol-burning buses, tax breaks for owning hybrid cars and new neighborhoods with more trees and green space. Residents might also grow accustomed to seeing green on public buildings -- vegetation planted on the roofs of schools and firehouses to consume carbon dioxide, Connolly said. Such measures are in place in Montgomery and Arlington counties, which are generally supportive of progressive environmental policies. In business-friendly Fairfax, Connolly's plan would not impose regulations, but it would establish incentives for private-sector energy conservation."

Last year U.S. Saw Highest Public-Transit Ridership Since 1957. Grist Magazine, March 13, 2006. "A report from the American Public Transportation Association says [Americans] took 10 billion mass-transit trips last year -- 2.9 percent more than in 2005, 28 percent more than in 1996, and the most since 1957. Cities including Philadelphia, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Tulsa have seen a spike in riders, and are adding buses and trains to meet growing demand. Besides... fuel costs... factors leading to the new high include a growing elderly population; an immigrant population that often can't afford cars; improved transit services; and an influx of 'transit-oriented young people' in urban areas."

U.N. Reports on 'Out of Control' Forest Destruction in Developing World. By Jerome Taylor, The London Independent, March 14, 2007. "Many countries in Europe and North America have been able to reverse centuries of deforestation and even, in some cases, increase their forest cover, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). But the global picture is blighted by uncontrolled felling in poorer countries - home to the majority of the world's forests... Europe currently has the best track record in preserving its forests with some countries showing an increase in their forest cover. In the United States and Canada, meanwhile, forest cover is considered stable. The report's authors found that improved legislation and conservation practices within the industrial world had led to the net loss of forests decreasing over the last decade from 22 million acres to 17 million acres. Forests in the developing world still suffer from widespread deforestation primarily caused by unregulated slash and burn farming practices and uncontrolled forest fires. 'Deforestation continues at an unacceptable rate,' said Wulf Killmann, a forestry expert at the FAO who helped compile the report, adding that the world currently loses approximately 32 million acres of forest cover a year. Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean are currently the regions with the highest losses."

U.S. Automakers and UAW Tell Congress that Proposed Mileage Standards Could be 'Calamitous'. By Ken Thomas, The Associated Press, March 14, 2007. "U.S. automakers and a top union official pledged Wednesday to work with Congress to find new ways of dealing with global warming but declared their industry could not bear the burden alone. The leaders of General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Chrysler, along with the head of the United Auto Workers union, made a rare joint appearance before a House subcommittee. They stressed that proposed increases in gas mileage standards for new vehicles would be extremely expensive and could have calamitous results. 'This could include the closing of additional facilities and the loss of tens of thousand of automotive jobs,' UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said... But all of the industry leaders, under questioning from House Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., vowed to work with the committee to produce regulations to address climate change and consider 'new regulatory regimes' beyond the fuel economy program. 'Inaction will not work, and telling us what doesn't work is useful but no longer sufficient,' Dingell said. The committee was exploring alternatives to the fuel economy program, possibly through the regulation of a vehicle's carbon dioxide emissions... In the Senate, meanwhile, Democrat Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Republican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho introduced legislation that would raise the fuel economy requirements by 4 percent a year for all new vehicles from 2012 to 2030. Their bill, designed to be part of a larger energy package, would offer also tax incentives to manufacturers."

Radar Could Protect Bats from Wind Farms. BBC News, March 12, 2007. "Bats at risk of being killed by the growing number of wind farms could be saved with the use of radars... Researchers... studied bats at various distances from 10 radar installations across Scotland. They said they found bats foraged where no radiation was detectable. Prof Paul Racey, of Aberdeen's school of biological sciences, said: 'We found that the bats were deterred by the electromagnetic radiation emitted from the radar installations. This raises the possibility that radar could be used to deter bats from approaching wind turbines. And so far this would appear to be the only real possibility of preventing bats colliding with turbine blades worldwide.'"

Have Guitar, Will Recycle. Alex Williams, The New York Times, March 15, 2007. "Like few other enterprises short of a military invasion, the rock tour is designed to convert copious amounts of material and energy into spectacle — and produces equivalent amounts of waste. But in the Inconvenient Truth era, when even the oil and automobile industries are painting themselves green, it should come as little surprise that rock — never shy about making grand, self-congratulatory gestures — is working hard to catch up. Lately, it is doing so with the help of organizations like Reverb, a nonprofit group devoted primarily to the green rock tour... Bonnie Raitt, whose philanthropic foundation works with Reverb, said the goal is not only to make tours eco-friendly, but also to connect fans to the environmental movement. 'A change is coming,' Ms. Raitt said in an e-mail message. 'Green power is the way out of this mess.' In fact, momentum for greener rock tours has been building. Artists like Ms. Raitt, Dave Matthews and Willie Nelson have been vocal about their decision to travel in buses fueled by biodiesel, made of vegetable oils and producing less carbon dioxide... But while rock purists may debate how the fundamental environmentalist impulses toward sacrifice, deferred gratification and guilt fit within an art form built around abandon and excess, those working the front lines to build the greener rock tour believe their moment has arrived... Reverb-coordinated tours feature Eco-Villages — interactive informational tents intended to teach fans about ecological issues. And, for most tours, Ms. Sullivan said, the organization deputizes volunteers to haul home bags of trash from backstage and sort out recyclables on their own time... On most Reverb-advised tours, the performers funnel a percentage of ticket sales, or pay directly, to purchase renewable energy credits from a Vermont company called NativeEnergy — enough for construction of wind, solar and biomass electricity generators to offset the amount of carbon produced by each tour."

Global 'Sunscreen' Has Likely Thinned, Report NASA Scientists. Science Daily, March 16, 2007. "A new NASA study has found that an important counter-balance to the warming of our planet by greenhouse gases -- sunlight blocked by dust, pollution and other aerosol particles -- appears to have lost ground. The thinning of Earth's 'sunscreen' of aerosols since the early 1990s could have given an extra push to the rise in global surface temperatures. The finding, published today in the journal Science, may lead to an improved understanding of recent climate change. In a related study published last week, scientists found that the opposing forces of global warming and the cooling from aerosol-induced 'global dimming' can occur at the same time... 'When more sunlight can get through the atmosphere and warm Earth's surface, you're going to have an effect on climate and temperature,' said lead author Michael Mishchenko of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York."

Collapse of Arctic Sea Ice 'Has Reached Tipping Point'. By Steve Conner, The London Independent, March 16, 2007. "A catastrophic collapse of the Arctic sea ice could lead to radical climate changes in the northern hemisphere according to scientists who warn that the rapid melting is at a 'tipping point' beyond which it may not recover. The scientists attribute the loss of some 38,000 square miles of sea ice - an area the size of Alaska - to rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as well as to natural variability in Arctic ice... Mark Serreze, a senior glaciologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said the world was heading towards a situation where the Arctic will soon be almost totally ice-free during summer, which could have a dramatic impact on weather patterns across the northern hemisphere. 'When the ice thins to a vulnerable state, the bottom will drop out and we may quickly move into a new, seasonally ice-free state of the Arctic,' Dr Serreze said. 'I think there is some evidence that we may have reached that tipping point, and the impacts will not be confined to the Arctic region,' he said. Some studies have linked the loss of sea ice in the Arctic to changes in atmospheric weather patterns that influence such things as rainfall in southern and western Europe and the amount of snow in the Rocky Mountains of the American Midwest... Julienne Stroeve from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado said that the winter sea ice failed again this year to recover fully. 'The freeze-up this year was again delayed, and ice [formations] from October through to December set new record lows during the satellite era,' she said. Computer models suggest that summer sea ice could disappear altogether by 2080. Some forecasts even predict an ice-free summer by 2040."

Antarctic Glaciers' Sloughing Of Ice Has Scientists at a Loss. By Marc Kaufman, The Washington Post, March 16, 2007. "Some of the largest glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland are moving in unusual ways and are losing increased amounts of ice to the sea, researchers said yesterday… Satellite radar readings show that overall, each year the ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica amounts to about 10 percent of the rise in the global sea level, which totals about one-tenth of an inch per year. The net loss of Antarctic ice is estimated to be 25 billion metric tons a year, despite the growth of the ice sheet in East Antarctica. Because such a large percentage of the world's ice is found in those two locations, scientists are carefully watching for signs of increased ice loss. If that process accelerates, researchers say, it could result in a substantial, and highly disruptive, increase in sea levels worldwide. In Greenland, glaciers appear to be moving more quickly to sea because melting ice has allowed the sheet to slide more easily over the rock and dirt below. In Antarctica, the loss is believed to be associated with the breaking off into seawater of ice deep under the ice sheet with little-understood internal dynamics that put increased pressure on the massive ice streams."

Winter Was Warmest on Record. By Randolph E. Schmid, The Associated Press, March 15, 2007. "This winter was the warmest on record worldwide, the government said Thursday in the latest worrisome report focusing on changing climate. The report comes just over a month after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said global warming is very likely caused by human actions and is so severe it will continue for centuries. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the combined land and ocean temperatures for December through February were 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit above average for the period since record keeping began in 1880. The report said that during the past century, global temperatures have increased at about 0.11 degrees per decade. But that increase has been three times larger since 1976, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reported… Contributing to this winter's record warmth was an El Nino, a periodic warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean. It was particularly strong in January — the warmest January ever — but the ocean surface has since begun to cool. The report noted that in the Northern Hemisphere the combined land and water temperature was the warmest ever at 1.64 degrees above average. In the Southern Hemisphere, where it was summer, the temperature was 0.88 degree above average and the fourth warmest. The late March date of the vernal equinox noted on most calendars notwithstanding, for weather and climate purposes northern winter is December, January and February. For the United States, meanwhile, the winter temperature was near average. The season got off to a late start and spring-like temperatures covered most of the eastern half of the country in January, but cold conditions set in in February, which was the third coldest on record."

World May Get Greener, Then Wilt, Due to Warming: IPCC Report, Part II. By Alister Doyle, Reuters, March 16, 2007. "Global warming is expected to turn the planet a bit greener by spurring plant growth but crops and forests may wilt beyond mid-century if temperatures keep rising, according to a draft U.N. [IPCC] report. Scientists have long disputed about how far higher temperatures might help or hamper plants -- and farmers -- overall... 'Global agricultural production potential is likely to increase with increases in global average temperature up to about 3 Celsius (5.4 Fahrenheit), but above this it is very likely to decrease,' the draft said. Plants in tropical and dry regions from Africa to Asia are set to suffer from even a small rise in temperatures, threatening more hunger linked to other threats such as desertification, drought and floods. But some plants in temperate regions, such as parts of Europe or North and South America, could grow more in a slightly warmer world, according to the draft. A 79-page technical summary, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, will be released in Brussels on April 6 after a final review as part of a report based on the work of 2,500 scientists to guide governments in combating warming."

Brazil, Indonesia Sign Ethanol Agreement. The Associated Press, March 16, 2007. "Brazil and Indonesia Thursday signed a biofuels agreement that will open the way for the Asian nation to start producing ethanol, Brazil's Agriculture Ministry said. The agreement for Brazil to provide Indonesia with technical help to produce ethanol from sugarcane was signed in Jakarta by Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono and his Brazilian counterpart, Luis Carlos Guedes, a ministry statement said. Indonesia is trying to reduce dependency on oil while revitalizing its agricultural sector. In addition to making ethanol from sugarcane, the Asian nation also wants to produce it from manioc. The statement said Indonesia has set aside 2.2 million hectares (5.4 million acres) of land for the two crops, has earmarked US$1.42 billion to subsidize local farmers and has signed agreements with Indonesian and foreign companies that will pump another US$12.4 billion into the sector."

Green Energy Enthusiasts Are Also Betting on Fossil Fuels. By Matt Richtel, The New York Times, March 16, 2007. "Silicon Valley's technology investors have taken to the ramparts, threatening to tear down the oil and gas industries' dominance with innovations that use ethanol, solar and wind... For all the boasting in the region about investing in clean technologies, there have also been a smaller number of bets in companies set up to promote the development of fossil fuels — the source of many of the problems their other investments are meant to fix... Daniel Kammen, professor in the energy and resources group at the University of California at Berkeley, said such investments by... firms that portray themselves as green-friendly are inconsistent with their marketing message. 'They're being hypocritical,' he said of the firms. The former vice president Al Gore, the billionaire Richard Branson and other figures with ties to Silicon Valley's green movement 'should hold these companies to a higher standard'... [Nation-wide] in 2006, venture capitalists put $727 million into 39 alternative energy start-ups, compared with $195 million in 18 such firms for 2005, according to the National Venture Capital Association... Yet money has also flowed into start-ups built to serve the oil and gas industries. In 2006, venture capitalists put $163 million into 18 such companies, up from $56 million in 14 oil and gas ventures in 2005. This is an investment category that has ebbed and flowed and that was as high as $586 million in 1999, the height of the dot-com bubble."

Full House Hears Carbon Tax Pitch on Capitol Hill. By Dan Rosenblum, Carbon Tax Center (CTC) website, March 16, 2007. "Close to 150 Congressional staffers, policy types and lobbyists jammed a Senate hearing room Wednesday for a briefing on carbon taxes and cap-and-trade systems featuring CTC's Charles Komanoff, along with Terry Dinan of the Congressional Budget Office and James Barrett of Redefining Progress. The briefing was sponsored by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Attendance at EESI briefings generally runs between 75 to 100, and the overflow crowd for the March 14 panel was taken as a sign of surging interest in carbon pricing. Komanoff's PowerPoint presentation may be accessed here."

D.C. Climate Crisis Rally Set for Tomorrow. By David A, Fahrenthold, The Washington Post, March 19, 2007. "Environmentalists, members of Congress and the mayor of an Alaskan village threatened by rising seas will be among the speakers at a rally tomorrow at the U.S. Capitol aimed at reducing the causes of climate change. Organizers have said that thousands will attend what they call Climate Crisis Action Day, which would make it the largest demonstration held in Washington on the subject of warming global temperatures. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on a stage at the Capitol's west front... Becky Wynne, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Wilderness League, a Washington-based group that is helping to organize the event, said, 'It is time for this legislature to take the steps to curb global warming.' Specifically, Wynne said, the groups want Congress to pass legislation that would drastically reduce U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases and another measure that would prevent oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge... 'I believe that the American people and the Congress now understand that we have to move forward in a very dramatic way,' Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a telephone interview Friday. Sanders is a sponsor of a greenhouse-gas reduction bill and is scheduled to speak at the rally. Other scheduled speakers include Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Reps. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), and Mayor Stanley Tocktoo of Shishmaref, Alaska. His island town is one of several villages in Alaska threatened by erosion and rising sea levels, which are products of warming temperatures." See Climate Crisis Action Day press release and website.

134 New Hampshire Towns Have Now Passed Climate Resolution. By Katie Zezima, The New York Times, March 19, 2007. "Of the 234 incorporated cities and towns in New Hampshire, 180 are voting on whether to support a resolution asking the federal government to address climate change and to develop research initiatives to create 'innovative energy technologies.' The measure also calls for state residents to approve local solutions for combating climate change and for town selectmen to consider forming energy committees... As of Sunday, 134 towns had passed the initiative; some had yet to hold their meetings. The New Hampshire Carbon Coalition, a bipartisan citizens group led by a former Republican state senator and the former chairman of the state Democratic Party, spearheaded the initiative to have climate change considered at town meetings."

Texas 'Considered Very Hospitable Toward Nuclear'. By Tom Fowler, The Houston Chronicle, March 16, 2007. "The number of nuclear-powered generators in Texas could triple in the next decade with several new projects in the works. Expansions at the state's two existing plants — Comanche Peak south of Dallas and the South Texas Project near Bay City — took steps this past week when TXU Energy said it will likely buy two reactors from Mitsubishi for the Dallas-area expansion, and NRG Energy said it will work with a Tokyo utility as an adviser for two reactors at Bay City. Illinois-based Exelon Energy has also said it is considering sites in South and East Texas for a new two-unit plant, while a private firm in Amarillo hopes to build two new nuclear units. About 14 percent of the state's power, or 4,800 megawatts, came from nuclear-powered units in 2006, according to state power grid operators. The proposed project could add 10,600 megawatts of nuclear power to the grid as early as 2015. One megawatt can power up to 800 homes. 'Texas is considered very hospitable toward nuclear,' said Craig Nesbit, a spokesman for Exelon. 'It's shaping up to be one of the key states for the next generation of nuclear power plants.'"

Ski Industry Escalates Green Initiatives to Fight Warming. By Tom Gardner, The Associated Press, March 18, 2007. "The ski industry is going green to help offset the pollution that feeds global warming a phenomenon that challenges the resorts' very existence with the threat of later snowfalls and earlier snow melts. Fifty-five resorts in 14 states are buying renewable energy to offset part or all of their power needs, according to the National Ski Areas Association. Of these, 26 are operating 100 percent on green energy. 'We as a company and us as an industry are really kind of leading the way amongst corporate America in doing the right things for the environment,' Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz said."

Gore Tells Brits that the Next Administration Will Likely Support Kyoto. By Simon Bain, The Herald (UK), March 19, 2007. "The next US administration is likely to support the Kyoto commitments on climate change, former vice-president Al Gore said in Edinburgh yesterday... He said: 'We are now seeing a real tipping point not far off in the future that includes the new presidential election in US. It will result in a new administration that is really committed to this.'"

U.S. Stymies Any Progress at G8 Meeting. By Julio Godoy, Inter Press Service, March 18, 2007. "Renewed U.S. opposition to an international deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions meant that an environment ministers meeting on the weekend produced nothing more than hot air. Environment ministers of the G8 countries (the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan) and their counterparts from the major developing countries Brazil, Mexico, India, South Africa and China met in Potsdam near Berlin Mar. 16 and 17 to discuss new limits for greenhouse gas emissions. German environment minister Sigmar Gabriel publicly denounced the U.S. opposition to an international consensus. 'On two issues, the United States were the only ones who spoke against consensus,' Gabriel told journalists at the closing press conference. The U.S. opposes a global carbon emissions trading scheme of the kind in place in the European Union. It also rejects the notion that industrialised nations should help achieve a 'balance of interests' between developing countries' need for economic growth and environmental protection, Gabriel said. The summit at Potsdam, 30km south of Berlin, was also expected to prepare the ground for a UN conference on greenhouse gases emissions to take place next December in Bali, Indonesia. The failure of the Potsdam summit followed warnings by scientists, environmental activists and some of the leaders at the summit that there has been enough talking on climate change, and that decisive action is now needed. 'Stop talking - act now' read a Greenpeace banner on a ship on the Havel river near the palace of Cecilienhof where the ministers met. Most environmentalists agreed that the U.S. rejection led to the failure of the summit."

G8 Meeting Seen as Positive Step Forward. By Verena Schmitt-Roschmann, The Associated Press, March 18, 2007. "A meeting of G8 environmental ministers and representatives from five key developing countries produced no new accords but should provide momentum for future talks, officials said Saturday. 'I think we've come much farther than we thought possible at the start,' German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said at the end of the three-day meeting in Potsdam, on the outskirts of Berlin... He said there was common ground on many points, including a general acceptance of the scientific explanation for the causes of global warming. He said the ministers also agreed that industrialized countries are responsible for most of the past greenhouse gas emissions and on the need to help developing countries control their emissions... German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she hopes to follow the EU commitment with another "step in the right direction' when G8 leaders meet in Germany's Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm in June. But Achim Steiner, the executive director of the UN Environment Program, said there is still much work to be done. 'The way the discussions went here gives cause for optimism,' Steiner said. 'But we have not yet reached the point where we can say that in Heiligendamm we'll make the big breakthrough.'"

Fridge Gadget Could Slash Greenhouse Emissions. By David Adams, The Guardian Unlimited, March 17, 2007. "Invented by British engineers, the [e-cube] significantly reduces the amount of energy used by fridges and freezers... The patented cube mimics food and is designed to fit around a fridge's temperature sensor, which usually measures the temperature of the circulating air. Because air heats up much more quickly than yoghurt, milk or whatever else is stored inside, this makes the fridge work harder than necessary. With the cube fitted, the fridge responds only to the temperature of the food, which means it clicks on and off less often as the door is open and closed. Trials are under way with supermarkets, breweries and hotels... David Bell, chief engineer, says energy use decreased by about 30% on average... The slightly increased variation in temperatures in dummy loads would indicate that food safety would not be compromised."

Congo's Grand Inga Hydro Would Be World's Biggest. By Carl Mortished, The Australian, March 17, 2007. "The world's biggest hydroelectric scheme, the Grand Inga power station, a project to harness the Congo River and power the African continent, was debated on Friday in Botswana by multinational energy companies and development banks. Grand Inga would capture the intensity of water flowing through rapids at Inga Falls, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). Located near the mouth of the Congo River, with an output of 39,000 megawatts, Grand Inga would generate twice the power of China's Three Gorges dam. Three electricity superhighways would deliver power south to Angola, Botswana and South Africa, west towards Nigeria and north to Egypt and, ultimately, southern Europe. Andre Caille, former chairman of Hydro-Quebec and currently chairman of the World Energy Council, which is promoting the project, said Grand Inga would produce power at a cost of just 'three cents per kilowatt hour.' So large are the economies of scale that power delivered from Grand Inga to the Italian border would cost less than the current market price of electricity in Italy today. Geopolitical and logistical barriers have kept the Grand Inga megaproject, which might cost $US80billion, away from the starting gate. The hydropower potential of the Congo is legendary. Fed by tropical rainforest, its water flow eclipses the Nile. Two studies of Grand Inga, including a feasibility study by Electricite de France in 1997, concluded that it was economically viable and technically feasible... Having declared its objective to lift Africa out of poverty, the G8 group of nations is looking for projects to kick-start development. A supply of cheap energy is critical and concern about carbon emissions is focusing attention on hydroelectricity. The British Government's chief scientific adviser, David King, a leading voice in the climate change debate, gave support to Grand Inga last week."

Utility and Sierra Club Deal Aims to Cut Carbon Dioxide. By Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times, March 20, 2007. "A Midwest electric company and the Sierra Club announced a deal on Monday under which the environmental group will drop its complaints against a coal plant, and the utility, Kansas City Power and Light, will take steps to cut carbon dioxide output by the amount that a new plant will produce. The utility promised to buy hundreds of windmills and undertake a major conservation program, among other steps. The Sierra Club said it was the first time a utility had agreed to 'fully offset' a new power plant, which would produce six million tons a year of carbon dioxide. Such offsets have become popular as companies, groups and individuals pledge small steps to reduce carbon emissions by planting trees or investing in windmills or other alternative energy sources to make up for their own carbon footprint."

Al Gore Seeking 500,000 Messages to Congress by the Time He Testifies There Tomorrow. Email from Al Gore, March 20, 2007. "When I emailed you last Friday, 294,374 people had signed our message to Congress demanding immediate action to solve the climate crisis. In that email, I asked you to help meet the goal of delivering 350,000 messages when I testify at Congressional hearings on Wednesday. Your response was amazing. By Saturday morning - because of you - we exceeded our goal! In fact, as I write this email [Monday 2 p.m.], our total has risen to 405,758. Thank you! What that means is that we are now within striking distance of collecting over 500,000 messages - and have less than 48 hours to get it done in time for the Congressional hearings. Now is the time to reach out to as many people as possible. Ask any friend who wants to end the climate crisis to sign our message to Congress now by visiting: www.AlGore.com."

Climate Crisis Rally Today at U.S. Capital. Press Release, Alaska Wilderness League, March 20, 2007. "More than a thousand activists from dozens of cities within a six-hour radius of Washington, DC will get up at 4 a.m. to attend 'Climate Crisis Action Day.' Organizers anticipate that they will be joined by scores of activists and concerned citizens from the DC metro area. Following a speaker program on the West Front Lawn, event sponsors will direct concerned citizens to congressional offices. They will ask their representatives to support measures currently before Congress to reduce global warming pollution and permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."

House Oversight Committee: Former Bush Official Defends Altering Climate Reports. By Andrew C. Revkin and Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times, March 20, 2007. "A House committee released documents Monday that showed hundreds of instances in which a White House official who was previously an oil industry lobbyist edited government climate reports to play up uncertainty of a human role in global warming or play down evidence of such a role. In a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the official, Philip A. Cooney, who left government in 2005, defended the changes he had made in government reports over several years. Mr. Cooney said the editing was part of the normal White House review process and reflected findings in a climate report written for President Bush by the National Academy of Sciences in 2001. They were the first public statements on the issue by Mr. Cooney, the former chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Before joining the White House, he was the 'climate team leader' for the American Petroleum Institute, the main industry lobby. He was hired by Exxon Mobil after resigning in 2005 following reports on the editing."

House Oversight Committee: Hansen Delivers a Withering Critique of Whitehouse Censors. By Steve Conner, The London Independent, March 20, 2007. "James Hansen, the NASA scientist who first warned the US government about global warming, yesterday delivered a withering critique of the way the White House has 'interfered' with climate scientists at the space agency. "Dr Hansen, the director of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York, said that the space agency's budget for studying the Earth's climate has been slashed and that its scientists have been systematically gagged about speaking of their concerns. In detailed written testimony delivered yesterday to the US House of Representatives, Dr Hansen said that there had been creeping politicisation of climate change with the effect that the American public has been left confused about the science of global warming. 'During my career I have noticed an increasing politicisation of public affairs at headquarters level, with a notable effect on communication from scientists to the public,' Dr Hansen writes in his testimony... 'In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it has now.'"

Nuclear Waste Dump Estimates at $26.9 Billion. By Erica Werner, The Associated Press, March 17, 2007. "It will cost $26.9 billion to build and operate the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump through 2023, the Energy Department said Friday in a new cost calculation. The department did not release a new figure for the total life-cycle cost of the Nevada project, estimated several years ago at $58 billion. The department plans to recalculate that figure in May and it almost certainly will rise, said Edward F. "Ward" Sproat, director of the Energy Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. The nuclear waste dump planned for 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas [now optimistically scheduled to open in 2017] is supposed to hold at least 77,000 tons of radioactive nuclear waste from civilian reactors and Defense Department activities. It's encountered a number of problems since Congress approved it in 2002, from political opposition and lawsuits to a controversy over government scientists not complying with quality control requirements."

Wind Power Doubles In Canada. By Adrienne Selko, Industry Week, March 20, 2007. "Canada's installed wind power had a 1,468 megawatt (MW) capacity in 2006, double the previous year, and is expected to grow nearly tenfold to 14,100 MW by 2015, according to a new study by Emerging Energy Research (EER), a Cambridge, Mass.-based consulting firm. 'In the past two years the Canadian wind power market has evolved from relative obscurity -- an occasional diversion for wind turbine vendors struggling for market share in the U.S. -- to become one of the world's largest and fastest growing wind power markets,' said EER senior analyst Joshua Magee. Canada will contribute at least 25% of North America's yearly growth through 2015, and 5% of total annual global growth. Quebec and Ontario will account for approximately 60% of the total market with strong growth in British Columbia expected in later years, according to EER's study."

Canada's Prime Minister Now Says He'll Respect Kyoto. By Fred Landgan, The Christian Science Monitor, March 19, 2007. "Once hostile to the idea that man-made greenhouse gases can cause global warming, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government is now eagerly trying to prove its green credentials. In recent months, the Conservatives have introduced a new environmental bill, and replaced a controversial environment minister who hails from oil-producing Alberta. The prime minister now says he will respect the Kyoto Accord, which Canada signed under the former Liberal government. Critics say that Harper Conservatives underestimated the environment as a political issue when they first came to power in January 2006. Now, Harper and new Environment Minister John Baird are more conciliatory and talk about climate change and greenhouse gases, shifting in policy to a stance in tune with the Canadian public. According to the latest polls from the Environics Research Group of Toronto, Canadians are more concerned about the environment than unemployment, the economy, or war and terrorism."

British Pressure Group Urges Higher Air Taxes to Penalize 'Rich' Flyers. By Andrew Grice, The London Independent, March 19, 2007. "In a hard-hitting report published today, the anti-poverty pressure group the World Development Movement warns ministers they will fail to achieve big enough cuts in carbon dioxide emissions unless they halt the planned growth in aviation in Britain. The report, Dying on a Jet Plane (PDF 22 pages), claims: 'Flying is an activity dominated primarily by the rich. The richest 18 per cent of the UK population are responsible for 54 per cent of flights, while the poorest 18 per cent are responsible for just 5 per cent. The average salary of passengers at UK airports is ?48,000.' The study dismisses claims that the recent growth in flying has been due to people on lower incomes taking advantage of cheaper air fares. It says the number of trips from UK airports by passengers earning less than ?14,374 a year fell from more than eight million in 2000 to seven million in 2004, while the number made by people earning over ?28,750 rose from 28.8 million to 36.5 million in the same period."

June 8th International Day of Action Called Against Climate Change and the G8. RisingTide.org, March 19, 2007. "The 8th of June International Day of Action Against Climate Change and the G8 has been called by the International Rising Tide Network. This is a call for autonomous, decentralized actions appropriate for your town, city, or local area. Use this international day of action to support local struggles against oil refineries, gas pipelines, strip mines and coal-fired power plants. Disrupt the financial backers of the fossil fuel industry. Organise workshops to spread sustainable post-petroleum living skills. Find a weak point in the infrastructure of resource exploitation and throw a literal or symbolic wrench in the works. It's time to visit your local polluters and give 'em hell! We already know of actions planned across the UK, North America, Germany, Canada and Australia and that's just the start! By 8th June actions will be planned around the world. Pass this call out on to all environmental justice, climate action, radical sustainability and related movements in all the G8 countries and the Global South."

Ocean Acidification Predicted To Harm Shellfish, Aquaculture. Science Daily, March 19, 2007. "In 2100, mussels are expected to calcify their shells 25 percent slower than currently; oysters, 10 percent slower. This will be caused by the continued release and accumulation of carbon dioxide in the air: one third of it will be absorbed by the ocean water, thereby making it more acid. Scientists of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) report in Geophysical Research Letters... on the potentially major consequences for aquaculture and coastal nature. Following the acid rain issue, we now have to solve a new acid environmental problem: the oceans are turning sourer. Because of the growing anthropogenic emission of CO₂, more of that greenhouse gas is going into the ocean. This carbonic acid gas is acidifying the surface water. The past two centuries of industrialisation showed a decrease of 0.1 unit of pH .The average acidity of the ocean level is presently just above 8. The sea absorbs 25 million tons of CO₂ each day. If this continues at the same rate, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts a further decline of up to 0.35 by the end of the century. In such water the balance is tipping: calcification gets slower. Sea life that needs calcium carbonate for its shell (like mussels) or skeleton (like corals) are hindered. And at higher CO₂ concentrations the mussel shell even dissolves."

Star in New Role, Gore Revisits Old Stage. By Marck Leibovich and Patrick Healy, The New York Times, March 21, 2007. "Al Gore arrived in Washington on Sunday and has spent much of his time preparing for his appearance before Congress. He will testify before House committees this morning and before a Senate committee in the afternoon at a hearing titled 'Vice President Al Gore's Perspective on Global Warming.' Friends say it will be a momentous return to Capitol Hill for Mr. Gore, who spent 16 years here as a lawmaker. Gore to Testify Before Congress. By Shailagh Murray, The Washington Post, March 21, 2007. "Gore returns to Capitol Hill a hero and a target skeptics of global warming hope to test the former Vice President's mettle."

Hundreds Attend Capitol Rally to Demand Action. By David Fahrenthold, The Washington Post, March 21, 2007. "A rally that called for action to reduce climate change, featuring speakers from Arctic villages who said their landscape is being transformed by rising temperatures, drew several hundred people to the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol yesterday. The event, called a Climate Crisis Action Day, was billed in advance as Washington's largest demonstration ever on global warming. It was unclear whether that turned out to be accurate, but those attending said they sensed a powerful momentum building behind calls to limit greenhouse gas emissions. 'This is the challenge of our lifetimes,' Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) told the crowd. 'Either we see the planet go down the tubes, or we reverse it.' The rally's organizers included the Alaska Wilderness League, the Episcopal Church and a committee formed by the indigenous Gwich'in people, who live in northern Alaska and the Yukon Territory... Speakers called for support for bills in Congress that call for an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, based on 1990 levels, over the next 43 years." For pictures and other details of the rally go to story on John Kerry's blog: DC Climate Change Rally. See Safe Climate Act.

Wind and Hydro: a Synergy in the Pacific Northwest. By Blaine Harden, The Washington Post, March 21, 2007. "The Pacific Northwest is hardly alone as it chases the wind for clean power. Anxiety about climate change and surging demand for electricity have triggered a wind-power frenzy in much of the United States, making it the fastest growing wind-energy market in the world. Power-generating capacity from wind jumped 27 percent last year and is expected to do the same this year. But it is in the Northwest where wind power, an often capricious source of electricity, meshes most seamlessly with the existing electricity grid, which relies heavily on hydroelectric dams, power managers say. This meshing of power sources is done in a way that maximizes power reliability while minimizing the grid's need for energy from fossil fuels, which release the greenhouses gases that cause global warming. 'It is synergy on a scale that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world,' said Ken Dragoon, research director at the Renewable Northwest Project, a coalition of public-interest groups and energy companies. For this synergy, thank concrete monstrosities such as Grand Coulee Dam, a federal barrier that has been squatting on the Columbia River since 1942 and is still the largest electrical generating machine in North America. Grand Coulee and other huge dams in the region are proving to be extraordinarily nimble mates for the graceful but fickle wind turbines." See Video based on article.

Spain Wind Energy Achieves All-Time High Mark: 27%, Exceeding All Other Power Sources. The Associated Press, March 20, 2007. "Taking advantage of a particularly gusty period, Spain's wind energy generators this week reached an all-time high in electricity production, exceeding power generated by all other means, the nation's electricity network authority said Tuesday in a statement. At 17.40 (1640 GMT) on Monday wind power generation rose to contribute 27 percent of the country's total power requirement, Red Electrica said. At that moment wind power contributed 8,375 mega watts to the nation's power consumption of 31,033. Nuclear power, the second largest contributor, added 6,797 mega watts, while coal-fired electric generation came third with 5,081, the statement said. National broadcaster TVE said it believed this may have been the first time wind power exceeded nuclear power's contribution to the power grid. Over the course of last year wind power contributed nine percent of the nation's requirement while coal-fired power stations put in 24 percent and nuclear power 22 percent."

Australia's Largest Energy Provider Commits to Offsets. By Isabelle Oderberg, The Australian Associated Press, March 20, 2007. "Australia's largest gas and electricity retailer, AGL Energy, has signed on to the world's first voluntary but legally binding greenhouse gas emission reduction. AGL managing director Paul Anthony said the move to join the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) might provide the utility with a new revenue stream. 'AGL will not only gain a physical means of mitigating the cost of any carbon constraint, it will also position itself, in joining the CCX, as a global player in emission reduction activities,' he said. AGL is the first Australian utility to join the exchange, whose members include corporate powerhouses Sony, Ford, Motorola, IBM, Bayer Corporation and American Electric Power. Mr Anthony said the move gave AGL the opportunity to derive an income stream from selling carbon credits on world markets. The CCX is the largest market of its kind." [Kansas City Power and Light signed a similar deal on Monday: Utility and Sierra Club Deal Aims to Cut Carbon Dioxide. The New York Times, March 20, 2007.]

U.S. Investors Worth $4 Trillion Beg Feds for Climate Action. Grist Magazine, March 20, 2007. "For a long time now, the Bush administration has said it can't possibly take action on climate change because it will harm the economy. Now the economy is all like, 'Hurt me, baby, please.' Yet another business-oriented coalition -- this one including investors who manage a combined $4 trillion -- is begging the U.S. to curb greenhouse-gas emissions and create a market-based emissions trading system. A letter aimed at Bush and signed by 65 parties -- including companies like Alcoa, BP America, and Sun Microsystems, as well as big-league money managers Merrill Lynch, Allianz, and CalPERS -- called for 60 to 90 percent cuts from 1990 greenhouse-gas emissions levels by 2050. 'What businesses need to move forward is a mandatory policy that finally will address the global financial risk of climate change,' says Mindy Lubber, president of Boston-based Ceres, which pulled the new alliance together. 'It's very hard for businesses to act without certainty.' Investor Group Seeks Strict Emissions Curbs. By John Donnelly, The Boston Globe, March 21, 2007. "In another major push by businesses for federal action on global warming, dozens of institutional investors managing a combined $4 trillion in assets -- led by a Boston investment firm specializing in environmental issues -- yesterday urged Congress to draft and pass strict laws to curb greenhouse gas emissions."

Exxon Advocates Tax Over Carbon Trading. By Andrew Trounson, The Australian, March 21, 2007. "Oil and gas giant ExxonMobil has broken ranks with industry and the Government to argue that a carbon tax has some advantages over a carbon trading system that merit closer examination, as Australia moves to cutting greenhouse gas emissions. In its submission to the Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading, ExxonMobil called yesterday for the scope of the inquiry to be expanded beyond carbon trading. It notes that some economists are advocating a carbon tax as being a more practical and efficient way of cutting emissions than creating a complex carbon trading system... ExxonMobil warns that trading systems risk having a highly volatile carbon price that will make it difficult for business to make long-term investments to cut emissions. It notes that given that tackling climate change needs a global response, a tax is potentially simpler to apply internationally than making countries agree to an international trading system. It also says that some economists believe a tax would be more transparent and less bureaucratic. And, given uncertainties over how much emissions need to be cut, it notes that economists have warned it is difficult to establish a scientific basis for deciding targets or emission caps, which are essential to a trading system... But, in February, Prime Minister John Howard rejected the idea of a carbon tax. 'The imposition of a tax is a very crude, inefficient and potentially damaging way of dealing with it because it pays no proper regard to market forces,' Mr Howard said at the time."

Environmentalists in Uproar as Iceland Pays the Price for Green Energy Push. By Richard Hollingham, The London Independent, March 21, 2007. "For those building the Kárahnjúkar dam this marks an exciting new stage in the country's development. 'The hydroelectric resources of Iceland are stranded here in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,' says Sigurdur Arnalds, an engineer from the national power company, Landsvirkjun. 'We cannot sell the power to other countries because we are isolated here. The sole purpose of this is to sell electrical power to foreign industries, in this case it's aluminium to Alcoa. If you look at it globally this is clean energy.' Far better to build aluminium smelters in Iceland, goes the argument, than power them with fossil fuels elsewhere. It's estimated that by using "green" energy, carbon emissions from aluminium production are reduced by some 90 per cent. For companies keen to stress their environmental credentials, you can see the attraction of setting up in Iceland. From the cold water pouring off the glaciers to the reservoirs of hot water under the ground that can be tapped for geothermal power, there's more green energy here than Iceland's 300,000 inhabitants could possibly need... But if it's all so green - why is opposition to the project so vociferous? Environmental campaigners are coming here from across the world, the Icelandic singer Bjork has written songs about Kárahnjúkar and politicians are highlighting the issue in forthcoming elections."

Canada Plans to Phase Out Tax Break on Oil Sands. By Gregg Quin, Bloomberg News, March 19, 2007. "Canada plans to phase out a C$300 million ($255 million) tax break for oil-sands producers such as Suncor Energy Inc., saying it's no longer needed to help the sector grow. An allowance for oil-sands projects to defer taxes on capital costs, in place since 1972, will drop to 90 percent in 2011 and to zero by 2015, according to a budget presented today by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. He also proposed extending to 2020 a 50 percent credit for projects that reduce pollution, a program set to expire in 2011. The tax credits and soaring oil prices led to a boom in oil- sands projects in the western province of Alberta, which sits on the world's biggest reserves outside the Middle East. As much as C$125 billion may be spent by 2015, to almost triple oil-sands output to about 3 million barrels a day, Canada's national energy agency estimates. Growth in the oil patch has fed criticism that Prime Minister Stephen Harper hasn't done enough to protect the environment. Recent polls show global climate change is a top voter issue ahead of a possible election this year. Harper and Environment Minister John Baird have promised tough industrial pollution rules this month, which may force companies such as Suncor Energy Inc. and Shell Canada Ltd. to scale back investment."

Climate Change Fuels Spread of Dengue Fever in South America. By Marcela Valente, Inter Press Service, March 19, 2007. "Climate change, which has resulted, for example, in heavier and more persistent rains in South America, is forcing countries to take more proactive measures to prevent the spread of diseases like dengue fever... Global warming also speeds up the development of the virus in the mosquito vector, extends the habitat of the mosquitoes and increases their capacity to adapt to colder temperatures... Brazil reported 85,000 cases of dengue fever in January and February 2007, nearly 30 percent more than for the same period in 2006... In Paraguay, the epicentre of the South American outbreak, the authorities have registered some 20,000 cases, including 12 deaths. However, doctors there suspect that underreporting is huge. In the Central department alone, in the west of the country, press reports say 300,000 people are infected, and the government has not denied the claim... Mosquitoes, with their potential for transmitting diseases, are 'extremely sensitive to climate change,' Argentine Health Minister Ginés González García said in early March on a visit to the Paraguayan border. 'Winds, temperature and rainfall patterns are decisive factors in their distribution and abundance.'"

New Technology Offering Vivid Depictions of Global Distribution of Greenhouse Gases. European Space Agency, March 21, 2007. "Based on three years of observations from the SCIAMACHY instrument aboard ESA's Envisat, scientists have produced the first movies showing the global distribution of the most important greenhouse gases -- carbon dioxide and methane -- that contribute to global warming... Dr. Michael Buchwitz and Oliver Schneising from the Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP) at the University of Bremen in Germany, led by Prof. Dr. John P. Burrows produced these maps based on SCIAMACHY observations from 2003 to 2005... Data from SCIAMACHY is being provided to the GMES Service Element for Atmosphere PROMOTE, which delivers policy-relevant services on multiple atmospheric issues to end-users." To view images, go to site (www.gse-promote.org) and follow links.

Are Big Enviro Groups 'Holding Back' Anti-Warming Movement? By Megan Tady, The NewStandard. March 19, 2007. "While the U.S. government and some corporations are finally acknowledging global climate change, some critics say partnering with such forces may 'tame' the movement's goals and strategies...The dominant approach to human-induced global warming revolves around slow but dramatic reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions by mid-century. The mainstream environmental community, along with a handful of politicians and corporations, is calling for various regulations and market-based actions to reduce greenhouse-gas output by 60 to 80 percent over the next 43 years... Noting that '2050 is a long time away,' David Morris, vice president of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said he wants to see action right away. 'So what I want to know is, what are [environmental groups and politicians] going to do tomorrow?' Morris and others who want to see more-immediate and deeper action fear such incremental changes are downplaying the urgency of the situation. 'They're really holding the whole movement back by setting their sights so low,' said Brian Tokar, Biotechnology Project director at the Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont... Bill McKibben, an environmentalist organizing national demonstrations against climate change with the new 'Step It Up' campaign, likened the United States' stance on global warming to an 'ocean liner heading in the other direction entirely.' He said, '[Eighty percent reductions by 2050] seems to be at the moment the outer limit of what's politically possible'... For author and radical environmentalist Derrick Jensen, the obstacles to faster changes presented by the US political system, illustrate the need for more-holistic measures. 'None of [the solutions presented by mainstream groups] address the power structures,' Jensen said. 'None of them address corporations. None of them address a lack of democracy... The environmental groups are not questioning this larger mentality that's killing the planet.'"

Bill McKibben Steps It Up. By John Donnelly, The Boston Globe, March 19, 2007. "Bill McKibben was among the first to sound the alarm about global warming in 1989 with The End of Nature. But after that book and nine others, he no longer seems content with just issuing warnings. He wants to lead people into action. McKibben, along with five Middlebury College graduates and a current Middlebury student, are organizing a one-day extravaganza on April 14, called Step It Up. Their goal is to stage more than 1,000 global warming-related events in the 50 states; by late last week, the Internet-powered movement had counted 937 events around the country... These days, McKibben is flying around the country, rallying people. This week, he will visit Berkeley, Calif.; San Francisco; Seattle; and Hamilton, Mont. Next week, it's Madison, Wis.; Milwaukee; Minneapolis; and Pasadena, Calif. 'He has gone from sitting in his room writing to standing in front of a crowd, trying to use his abilities and knowledge to bring people along with him in an almost physical way,' said his wife, writer Sue Halpern. 'The sense of urgency he feels now about climate in particular makes him feel he needs to go out and shout from the mountaintop and street corner, and see that it has an impact.'"

Local Zoning Ordinance Delays Gore's Efforts to Install Solar Panels on His Roof. By Erik Schelzig, The Associated Press, March 20, 2007. "Gore bought his multimillion dollar home in 2002 in Belle Meade, an exclusive city encircled by metropolitan Nashville, and he has embarked on an ambitious renovation. But his contractors ran into a legal barrier last summer when they sought to apply for a permit to install solar panels on the roof. Terry Franklin, Belle Meade's building officer, said the town only allows power generating equipment to be placed on the ground level. 'Solar panels are generators,' Franklin said. 'We told them they couldn't do it,' he said. 'They wanted to try anyway, but we convinced them it was something the board wouldn't allow'... Gore's contractors had argued that silent solar panels should not be equated with noisy gas- or diesel-powered generators, but they ultimately agreed not to press the issue while the city considered changes to the code. New rules on April 1 will allow homeowners to install solar panels on their roofs... The builders at Gore's home plan to make the application for solar panels once the new ordinance goes into effect."

Gore Warns Congress of 'Planetary Emergency'. By Felicity Barringer and Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times, March 22, 2007. "It was part science class, part policy wonk paradise, part politics and all theater as former Vice President Al Gore came to Congress on Wednesday to insist that global warming constitutes a 'planetary emergency' requiring an aggressive federal response. Mr. Gore, accompanied by his wife, Tipper, delivered the same blunt message to a joint meeting of two House committees in the morning and a Senate panel in the afternoon: Humans are artificially warming the world, the risks of inaction are great, and meaningful cuts in emissions linked to warming will happen only if the United States takes the lead. While sparring with Representative Joe L. Barton, a Texas Republican critical of his message, Mr. Gore resorted to a simple metaphor. 'The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor'... In the House, there was little debate about the underlying science; the atmosphere was more that of a college lecture hall than a legislative give-and-take. But in the Senate, James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, set a pugilistic tone, challenging Mr. Gore's analysis of the dangers of climate change from hurricanes and melting ice in Antarctica... Republican committee leaders, including Mr. Barton in the House, and Mr. Inhofe in the Senate, seemed somewhat isolated from their rank-and-file colleagues, who appeared more receptive to Mr. Gore's message and the scientific consensus on climate change. Even J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, the former House speaker, seemed to accept the scientific consensus."

Gore's Legislative Recommendations to the House. By David Roberts, Gristmill, Grist Magazine, March 21, 2007. A summary of his ten legislative recommendations, and a 38-minute video of Gore's opening statement before the House Energy Subcommittee:

An immediate "carbon freeze" that would cap U.S. CO2 emissions at current levels, followed by a... 90% reductions by 2050.
Start a long-term tax shift to reduce payroll taxes and increase taxes on CO2 emissions.
Put aside a portion of carbon tax revenues to help low-income people make the transition.
Create a strong international treaty by working toward "de facto compliance with Kyoto" and moving up the start date for Kyoto's successor from 2012 to 2010.
Implement a moratorium on construction of new coal-fired power plants that are not compatible with carbon capture and sequestration.
Create an "ELECTRANET" -- a smart electricity grid that allows individuals and businesses to feed power back in at prevailing market rates.
Raise CAFE standards.
Set a date for a ban on incandescent light bulbs.
Create "Connie Mae," a carbon-neutral mortgage association, to help defray the upfront costs of energy-efficient building.
Have the SEC require disclosure of carbon emissions in corporate reporting, as a relevant "material risk."

Videos of Senate and House Hearings on Climate Change. C-SPAN, March 21, 2007, Al Gore at the Senate Environment and Public Work Committee Climate Change Hearing (2hr 41min) and before the House Energy Subcommittee (3 hr). (Scroll down on C-SPAN site to find the correct link.)

Politics of Fuel Economy Catch Up to Automakers . By Sholnn Freeman, The Washington Post, March 21, 2007. "The auto industry is facing one of its toughest political battles in years as shifts in the political and business landscape have eroded its defenses against stricter fuel-economy standards. Congressional Democrats and environmental groups have new allies in the fight to mandate higher vehicle mileage, including a coalition of business executives and retired military leaders. President Bush's support of higher standards also has hampered Detroit's efforts to fend off new rules. Increasingly, the war in Iraq and related concerns over U.S. dependence on foreign oil are changing the dynamics of the debate."

'Cap and Trade' Gaining Favor. By Robert Collier, The San Francisco Chronicle, March 21, 2007. "In Congress, all five bills on global warming being debated -- with two more expected to be introduced soon -- rely heavily on the creation of an emissions trading system, in which companies are given limits for their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and then are allowed to buy and sell their excess or deficit emissions as if they were financial securities. California regulators are drawing up plans for an emissions trading system under a state law enacted last year calling for the reduction of greenhouse gas output to 1990 levels by 2020, a cut of about 25 percent. California recently signed agreements with Oregon, Washington, Arizona and New Mexico -- as well as with British Columbia -- to form a cross-border emissions market... And on Monday, a coalition of institutional investors, including Merrill Lynch and California's two giant pension funds, the Public Employees' Retirement System and the State Teachers' Retirement System, threw their weight behind cap-and-trade legislation... 'Most people believe that the two big alternatives out there are a carbon tax or cap and trade,' said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., speaking at a climate change conference at UC Berkeley last month. 'I fall into the cap and trade thing, largely because I don't see a carbon tax ever getting enacted in the United States'... 'Setting up a market for greenhouse gases is tremendously tricky,' said Mark Trexler, director of global consulting services for EcoSecurities, a London consultancy and broker in carbon credits... One danger, Trexler said, is that companies will be granted too many credits -- which, in effect, gives them permission to keep polluting. This mistake has severely shaken the European Union Emission Trading Scheme, set up to comply with the Kyoto Protocol, as prices have collapsed from about $38 per ton of carbon dioxide in 2004 to Tuesday's closing average of $1.40."

Effort Afoot to Start U.S. Climate Registry as an Outgrowth of California's Registry. By Bernie Woodall, Reuters, March 21, 2007. "Thirty-three states have informally agreed to create a registry for companies and organizations to log early actions on cutting output of gases linked to global warming -- and possibly get credit for them if future limits on the gases are passed -- state officials said. The log, known as The Climate Registry, could spawn a wider national registry and perhaps help pressure the federal government to regulate heat-trapping gases, the sources said. The United States, the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases, has no national laws regulating them. But many companies that have already cut emissions -- especially multinational ones that have to cut emissions to meet laws in other countries -- are eager to log their early actions on a registry that verifies the reductions. No state has formally joined the organization, which is at this point still an abstract entity without a charter, offices or a single employee, said the officials speaking on the sidelines Tuesday, at the annual conference of the California Climate Action Registry, the first U.S. climate action log. California's log will form the 'backbone' of much of The Climate Registry's early work, said Joel Levin, its vice president for business development. The California registry is a nonprofit with 242 members."

Global Boom in Coal Power - and Emissions. By Mark Clayton, The Christian Science Monitor, March 22, 2007. "In the past five years, [the world] has been on a coal-fired binge, bringing new generators online at a rate of better than two per week. That has added some 1 billion tons of new carbon-dioxide emissions that humans pump into the atmosphere each year. Coal-fired power now accounts for nearly a third of human-generated global CO2 emissions. So what does the future hold? An acceleration of the buildup, according to a Monitor analysis of power-industry data. Despite Kyoto limits on greenhouse gases, the analysis shows that nations will add enough coal-fired capacity in the next five years to create an extra 1.2 billion tons of CO2 per year. Those accelerating the buildup are not the usual suspects... Take China, which is widely blamed for the rapid rise in greenhouse-gas emissions. Indeed, China accounted for two-thirds of the more than 560 coal-fired power units built in 26 nations between 2002 and 2006. The Chinese plants boosted annual world CO2 emissions by 740 million tons (see chart). But in the next five years, China is slated to slow its buildup by half, according to industry estimates, adding 333 million tons of new CO2 emissions every year. That's still the largest increase of any nation. But other nations appear intent on catching up.... United States is accelerating its buildup dramatically. In the past five years it built 2.7 gigawatts of new coal-fired generating capacity. But in the next five years, it is slated to add 37.7 gigawatts of capacity, enough to produce 247.8 million tons of CO2 per year, according to Platts. That would vault the US to second place -just ahead of India - in adding new capacity. Even nations that have pledged to reduce global warming under the Kyoto treaty are slated to accelerate their buildup of coal-fired plants. For example, eight EU nations - Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic - plan to add nearly 13 gigawatts of new coal-fired capacity by 2012. That's up from about 2.5 gigawatts over the past five years."

Brazilian Opposition to Bush-Lula Ethanol Accords Mounts. By Isabella Kenfield and Roger Burbach, The Porcupine, March 21, 2007. "During Bush's visit to Brazil thousands of poor, rural members of the international Via Campesina social movement and the Brazilian Movement of the Landless Rural Workers (MST) orchestrated massive, non-violent occupations of multinational agribusiness corporations throughout the country. Nine hundred women occupied the Cevasa ethanol distillery in São Paulo. According to the press statement released by Via Campesina, the protest was against 'the proposal by the United States government to benefit large ethanol companies in Brazil, which is not in the interest of the majority of the Brazilian population.' Cevasa is the largest producer of sugarcane in Brazil, and last year 63% of its shares were bought by the US-based Cargill corporation. Other occupations included paper mills in Rio Grande do Sul owned by Stora Enso Oyj of Finland, and Votarantin and Aracruz of Brazil. All of these actions were to protest the model of economic growth via industrialized agriculture for export. The social movements and their supporters in civil society assert that while Brazil's agroexport boom may boost Brazil's GDP, it is increasing poverty and marginalization for the rural poor due to land concentration, environmental destruction, unemployment and labor exploitation. According to the Via Campesina press statement, for every 100 hectares planted to sugarcane (from which Brazilian ethanol is produced) only one job is generated, while on a family farm 35 jobs are generated. In Brazil, agribusiness is controlled by a handful of multinational corporations that are usurping more and more Brazilian territory, and expelling more rural poor to the already-swollen urban centers. The occupations' organizers were careful to highlight that their critique is not of ethanol itself, but with the paradigm being imposed on the industry - large scale, industrialized production for export to the Global North (especially the US), entirely controlled by multinational agribusiness corporations."

E.U. 'Open Skies' Pact Threatens to Undermine Green Aviation Efforts. By Stephen Castle, The London Independent, March 22, 2007. "Plans to open up transatlantic aviation and generate an extra 26 million air passengers over five years will undermine Europe's push to combat climate change, campaigners warned yesterday. An 'open skies' agreement, due to be agreed by EU transport ministers today, is being hailed as a revolution by officials who say it will deliver more competition and lower fares. But environmental groups say the increased air traffic generated by the measure will write off all the benefits expected from separate plans to 'green' aviation by bringing airlines into the EU's carbon emissions trading scheme. Coming just days after EU leaders announced ambitious plans to combat global warming, the row over 'open skies' has prompted questions about the EU's commitment to the environment. Under the deal, any EU airline will be able to fly to the US from any part of Europe ushering in a dramatic change in the structure of transatlantic aviation."

Major Rivers Facing Catastrophic Collapse. By Alok Jah, The Guardian Unlimited, March 21, 2007. "Many of the world's biggest rivers, including the Nile, Ganges, Yangtze and Danube, are facing catastrophic collapse due to man-made problems, according to a leading conservation group. A wasteful attitude to water use and inadequate protection of rivers has destroyed ecosystems while threatening the livelihoods of people living in river basins. 'We're talking about a complete collapse of the system - they're so polluted, so over-extracted or so cut up by dams that it's really not functioning as a river any more,' said Tom Le Quesne, freshwater policy officer at WWF-UK, the conservation charity that published a report yesterday on the threats to the world's rivers. 'It's a challenge that humanity faces not far off the scale of climate change.' The report, launched ahead of Thursday's World Water Day." See the report: World's Top 10 Rivers at Risk (PDF 53 pages.)

Denmark to Host 2009 U.N. Summit, Aims to Replace Kyoto. The Associated Press, March 21, 2007. "Denmark will host a U.N. environmental summit in 2009 at which the Scandinavian country hopes nations will agree on a new climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the government said Wednesday. The new agreement should include the United States... and other major polluters like India and China, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said... The 2009 summit is scheduled for December in Copenhagen."

Global Warming Can't Buy Happiness. Commentary by Bill McKibben, The Los Angeles Times, March 21, 2007. "Earlier this month, a draft White House report was leaked to news outlets. The report, a year overdue to the United Nations, said that the United States would be producing almost 20% more greenhouse gases in 2020 than it had in 2000 and that our contribution to global warming would be going steadily up, not sharply and steadily down, as scientists have made clear it must... Some pollutants, such as smog, decrease as we get richer and can afford things like catalytic converters for our cars. But carbon dioxide consistently tracks economic growth. As Harvard economist Benjamin Friedman concluded last year, CO2 is 'the one major environmental contaminant for which no study has ever found any indication of improvement as living standards rise.' Which means that if we're going to cope with global warming, we may also have to cope with the end of infinite, unrestrained economic expansion... In the 1990s, for instance, despite sterling economic growth, researchers reported a steady rise in 'negative life events.' In the words of one of the study's authors, 'The anticipation would have been that problems would have been down.' But money, as a few wise people have pointed out over the years, doesn't buy happiness. Meanwhile, growth during the decade increased carbon emissions by about 10%... What did we spend our new wealth on? Bigger houses, ever farther out in the suburbs. And what was the result? We have far fewer friends nearby; we eat fewer meals with family, friends and neighbors. Our network of social connections has shrunk. Do the experiment yourself. Would you rather have a new, bigger television, or a new friend? If we're going to do anything about that endless flow of carbon that's breaking our planet, we're also going to have to do something about our broken communities. Not just by preaching about neighborliness but by rebuilding the web of economic relationships that grows from farmers markets, or effective public transportation, or an energy grid that relies on your rooftop solar panels and my backyard windmill as much as it relies on some central power station. More and better don't lie in the same direction anymore. And that's good news, at a moment when good news is scarce."

Interfaith Walk Nears Boston for Tomorrow's Climate Rescue Day. By Brianne Mallaghan, New England Cable News, March 22, 2007, Video. Religious leaders are completing their nine-day walk from Northampton, Mass. to Boston in an effort to bring a "moral call for swift, bold, and comprehensive political action to address global warming." The Interfaith Walk for Climate Rescue, will arrive in Cambridge tonight. People are invited to participate in tomorrow's (March 24th) Climate Rescue Day: 10:00 am - Assemble at Christ Church, Zero Garden St., Cambridge... 11:30 am - Walk from Cambridge to Copley Square, Boston... 2:00 pm - Attend the Interfaith Service for Climate Rescue at Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, Boston... 3-4:30 pm - Rally for Climate Rescue, Copley Square." For info: www.climatewalk.org.

Waxman Introduces The Safe Climate Act of 2007. By Luke O'Brien, Wired.com, March 22, 2007. "Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) and 127 other lawmakers in the House introduced a bill on Wednesday that would cap greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 and gradually reduce emissions over the next four decades to a level 80 percent lower than in 1990. The Safe Climate Act of 2007, which would institute an economy wide cap-and-trade program along with incentives to develop new technology for renewable energy, is similar to legislation Waxman drafted in the last session of Congress. That bill never made it to a vote on the floor. But with Democrats in control of Congress, Waxman is more optimistic this time around. 'In just nine months, there has been remarkable progress in building consensus,' he said in a statement... The bill would give the EPA control over the market-based cap-and-trade system, in which polluting companies would pay the government for each ton of carbon dioxide emitted over the legally determined limit. The bill would also impose California-style vehicle emissions standards on all cars, require that a certain percentage of electricity come from renewable sources and mandate that utilities improve energy efficiency. Every five years, according to the bill, the National Academies would be charged with reviewing the nation's progress on avoiding dangerous climate change." Read the Safe Climate Act (PDF, 21 pages)

Gore Moves On to Live Earth Concerts and the Alliance for Climate Protection. By Robert Collier, The San Francisco Monitor, March 23, 2007. "Washington is suddenly debating global warming this week, but the big challenge remains outside the Beltway -- coaxing Americans to adopt new technologies and change their energy-guzzling lifestyles. While former Vice President Al Gore prodded Congress to act Wednesday, activists in the Bay Area and nationwide were preparing a pressure campaign that they hope will boost their movement's public support, which recent opinion polls show to be respectable yet hardly overwhelming... After his appearances in Congress, Gore will turn to organizing for his next major goal, a worldwide series of concerts July 7. The concerts, dubbed Live Earth, will take place on all seven continents -- even in the sub-zero temperatures of midwinter Antarctica -- and will feature stars such as Snoop Dogg, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters and Faith Hill. Organizers estimate 2 billion people will watch the shows live, via television or on the Internet. Concert proceeds will go to a new nonprofit organization, the Alliance for Climate Protection, which will soon open its national headquarters in the Palo Alto area. The group's executive director, Cathy Zoi, said it will wage a three-year publicity campaign, running an extensive series of television ads and working with companies to jointly promote energy-saving consumer products."

Idaho Governor Signs Two Bills that Encourage Wind Power. Press Release, Ridgeline Energy, March 21, 2007. "Idaho Governor C. L. 'Butch' Otter today signed two bills into law to encourage wind energy development in Idaho. The first, House Bill 130, clears the way for wind farms on state endowment lands. Royalties received from wind power generation will directly benefit Idaho schools. The second, House Bill 189, restructures the method of personal property taxation to ease the burden on Idaho wind farms in the early years of operation. Both bills cleared the legislature without a single dissenting vote... Ridgeline CEO Stephen Voorhees stated... 'We believe the potential exists to develop 3,000 megawatts of wind energy in Idaho over the next ten years. This would represent capital investment in excess of five billion dollars and could help Idaho make the transition from a net importer of power to a net exporter. Farmers and ranchers across the state could realize significant income and rural economies could blossom under this development.'"

Automakers Challenging States' Emission Laws. By Marc Lifsher and John O'Dell, Los Angeles Times, March 23, 2007. "A swarm of lawyers hired by the world's automakers is descending on a federal courthouse in the picturesque New England town of Burlington, Vt., to wage a proxy fight against a California law to curb global warming. The 2002 law, which set stringent tailpipe standards for carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases, has been adopted by 10 other states including Vermont. None of those emissions standards are in effect yet, but a federal lawsuit by automakers against the Vermont law is being closely watched as a test of states' power to regulate carbon emissions. 'This trial is incredibly important for all parties,' said Jim Tripp, an attorney with Environmental Defense, an activist group granted legal permission to participate in the case. Automakers argue that only the federal government can set fuel-efficiency standards and, by extension, carbon emissions standards for cars and light trucks. The Vermont case is a warmup for the main event, an identical suit against the California law that isn't scheduled to be heard until this summer. California is the only state that can devise emissions rules that differ from federal standards. Other states can then choose between the California and federal regulations. So although a decision in the Vermont case would apply only there, the ruling in the California case, if it goes to trial, would affect every state. A win by the automakers in California would overturn the state's ability to regulate greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions. Any court decision, however, could be short-circuited in June when the U.S. Supreme Court must decide whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or California has any authority over greenhouse gas pollution."

NOAA Announces 'Carbon Tracker'. Spero News, March 23, 2007. "Scientists from NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory announced today a new tool to monitor changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by region and source. The tool, called CarbonTracker, will enable its users to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts to reduce or store carbon emissions. The online data framework distinguishes between changes in the natural carbon cycle and those occurring in human-produced fossil fuel emissions. It also provides verification for scientists using computer models to project future climate change. Potential users include corporations, cities, states and nations assessing their efforts to reduce or store fossil fuel emissions around the world." Check NOAH sites: Carbon Tracker; Carbon Cycle Science

Lake Superior Summer Temperatures Rising Faster Than Regional Air Temperatures. Science Daily, March 23, 2007. "A new analysis of data from buoys, weather stations, and historical ice records indicates that summer surface temperatures of Lake Superior have increased approximately 2.5 degrees C since 1979, roughly twice the rate of regional atmospheric warming. [University of Minnesota scientists] hypothesize that declining winter ice cover is causing the lake to absorb more solar radiation than it did in past years. The increased absorption, in turn, causes earlier stratification of the lake at a rate of roughly half a day per year. Large mid-latitude lakes often freeze over in winter, mix thoroughly during spring and fall, and stratify in summer due to solar heating. The earlier start to Lake Superior's stratified season significantly increases the period over which the lake warms during the summer months, resulting in higher summer temperatures. [This is an example of a positive ice-albedo feedback.] Though little-studied, the response of large lakes to climate change will likely have an important regional effect."

Southern Ocean Current Faces Slowdown Threat. By Michael Byrnes, Reuters, March 22, 2007. "The impact of global warming on the vast Southern Ocean around Antarctica is starting to pose a threat to ocean currents that distribute heat around the world, Australian scientists say, citing new deep-water data. Melting ice-sheets and glaciers in Antarctica are releasing fresh water, interfering with the formation of dense 'bottom water,' which sinks 4-5 kilometers to the ocean floor and helps drive the world's ocean circulation system. A slowdown in the system known as 'overturning circulation' would affect the way the ocean, which absorbs 85 percent of atmospheric heat, carries heat around the globe... 'Changes would be felt ... around the globe,' said Steve Rintoul, who recently led a multinational team of scientists on an expedition to sample deep-basin water south of Western Australia to the Antarctic." Antarctic Melting May Be Speeding Up. By Michael Byrnes, Reuters, March 23, 2007. "Rising sea levels and melting polar ice-sheets are at upper limits of projections, leaving some human population centers already unable to cope, top world scientists say as they analyze latest satellite data."

Google Offering Free Bikes to 2000 Overseas Employees. By Mark Sweney, Guardian Unlimited, March 22, 2007. "Google is improving its green credentials by offering all of its employees a free bike to ride to work. The bikes, manufactured by Raleigh Europe, will be offered to around 2,000 permanent employees of the search engine giant in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. All of the bikes - plus free helmets - will be branded with the Google name. Holger Meyer, Germany's first Google employee, came up with the idea and staff will be able to choose from a range of models including a 'cool cruiser' - a folding bike for those that only make part of their trip to work under pedal power - and men's and women's hybrids... [A Google rep. said] 'We think that these amazing bikes will help Googlers keep fit and healthy, get to know their city better and reduce the environmental impact of their journey to work.'"

Clean Energy Index Founder Does Well at Doing Good. Matt Krantz, USA Today, March 23, 2007. "From his solar-heated swimming pool to the custom hybrid car he's having built, Robert Wilder appears a model citizen in the green revolution. There's one big difference: It's making him rich. Wilder, 47, is co-founder of the WilderHill Clean Energy Index (ECO) of environmentally sound companies that has become a barometer for the investment craze of trying to cash in on global climate change. Think of it as the Dow Jones industrial average of global warming. More than $800 million is riding on the index... since it's the basis of the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio exchange traded fund, a basket of stocks similar to a mutual fund. That dwarfs the $44 million in the Sierra Club Stock index mutual fund, created in 1998 with the marketing power of the global environmental protection group. The WilderHill index appeals to investors' desire to save the Earth and make money doing it."

Climate Change Skeptics Having Their Say: The Communist Influence Of Global Warming. By Bill Wilson, Christian News and Media Agency. March 21, 2007. "The President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus responded in a letter to questions from U.S. Congressmen about global warming... he said, 'As someone who lived under communism for most of my life I feel obliged to say that the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity at the beginning of the 21st century is not communism or its various softer variants. Communism was replaced by the threat of ambitious environmentalism'... Klaus in just a few sentences, has nailed just how supporting global warming initiatives is tantamount to endorsing communism and the one world order... Christians must beware that their zeal for being good stewards of the earth does not snare them in the trap of supporting the one-world government with a one-world religion. The communist agenda, whether in the form of global warming or homosexuality or abortion or teaching our children a watered-down pluralistic version of the Bible, is a form leading to the one world order. Do not be deceived." The Leading Snake Oil Salesman. By Rush Limbaugh, rushlimbaugh.com, March 22, 2007. ''Here you've got Gore, the leading snake oil salesman of one of the biggest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the planet, what must it be like to be this guy every day?"

A Carbon Tax: the Least Popular Solution and the Most Consequential. Commentary by Robert J. Samuelson, Newsweek, March 21, 2007. "Most of the many reports on global warming have a different plot. Despite variations, these studies reach similar conclusions. Regardless of how serious the threat, the available technologies promise at best a holding action against greenhouse-gas emissions. Even massive gains in renewables (solar, wind, biomass) and more efficient vehicles and appliances would merely stabilize annual emissions near present levels by 2050. The reason: economic growth, especially in poor countries, will sharply increase energy use and emissions. The latest report came last week from 12 scientists, engineers and social scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The report, 'The Future of Coal,' was mostly ignored by the media. It makes some admittedly optimistic assumptions: 'carbon capture and storage' technologies prove commercially feasible; governments around the world adopt a sizable charge (a.k.a. tax) on carbon fuel emissions. Still, annual greenhouse-gas emissions in 2050 are roughly at today's levels. Without action, they'd be more than twice as high... The study's proposal of a stiff charge on carbon fuel—to be increased 4 percent annually—is intended to promote energy efficiency and create a price umbrella to make CCS more economically viable. But there are no instant solutions, and a political dilemma dogs most possibilities. What's most popular and acceptable (say, more solar) may be the least consequential in its effects; and what's most consequential in its effects (a hefty energy tax) may be the least popular and acceptable. The actual politics of global warming defies Hollywood's stereotypes. It's not saints vs. sinners. The lifestyles that produce greenhouse gases are deeply ingrained in modern economies and societies. Without major changes in technology, the consequences may be unalterable. Those who believe that addressing global warming is a moral imperative face an equivalent moral imperative to be candid about the costs, difficulties and uncertainties."

Farmers Plan Huge Increase in Corn Productions to Meet Ethanol Demand. By Philip Brasher, Gannett News Service, March 26, 2007. "The government issues a report this week that is likely to show one of the most dramatic shifts in U.S. crop acreage in memory. The Agriculture Department report, based on a survey of farmers, likely will show growers are going to plant more acres to corn this year than they have since Harry Truman was president - and significantly fewer acres to cotton, soybeans, wheat and other crops. Analysts are estimating that farmers could plant nearly 89 million acres to corn this spring, 10 million more than last year. Farmers haven't planted even 85 million acres since 1949... Corn prices in the range of $3.50 to $3.75 a bushel, which is about what they are expected to average this year, could 'generate a significant amount of resources back to rural areas, especially in developing countries,' said Daniel De La Torre Ugarte, an agricultural economist at the University of Tennessee. But he worried that prices could go higher than that and said some kind of grain or fuel reserve is needed to prevent big swings in corn costs. The price of corn needs to stay at levels low enough to keep food affordable and biofuel production economical but high enough to keep corn growers in business, he said." Ethanol May Be a Blessing or a Curse for Farmers. By Mike Meyers, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, March 26, 2007 (subscription). A number of economists and financial market observers have started to second-guess the assumption that ethanol is nothing but good news for corn growers. Their argument, in short, is that farmers, who have always been beset by droughts, floods, insect invasions and other caprices of nature, now must also contend with the regular seesawing of oil prices. 'Tying a large part of agriculture to oil is to introduce vagaries and risks to an already risky business,' said C. Ford Runge, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy. Ethanol production was supposed to ease risks for farmers by giving them the opportunity to invest in plants that produce the alternative fuel. So far it has. Corn prices have soared and ethanol profits, boosted by federal and state subsidies, delivered what an analyst at A.G. Edwards of St. Louis called 'a stellar year' in 2006."

Climate Change a Work in Progress for Vermont Legislature. By Ross Sneyd, The Boston Globe, March 25, 2007. "Midway through a legislative session that started with tutorials on global climate change, lawmakers find the initiative a work in progress. They've drafted two major initiatives designed to promote energy conservation and renewable energy production. But they haven't gotten very far in controlling one of the prime sources of greenhouse gases in a rural state like Vermont -- cars and trucks. Nonetheless, they are following a national trend in which states are leading the effort to do something about reducing greenhouse gases... As many other states have done, Vermont's Legislature has worked hardest on efforts to encourage greater reliance on renewable energy. The House, for example, is considering a bill that would require at least 5 percent of the state's utilities' energy portfolios to be made up of renewable energy by 2012."

New Jersey Climate Action Planning Major 4-Day March, April 13-16. Press Release, NJClimateMarch.org, March 23, 2007. "Leaders of the New Jersey Climate march today announced that they have firmed up their plans for the largest and most ambitious action on the climate crisis ever in New Jersey. Carlos Miguel Rymer, initiator of the NJ Climate March, explained that: 'From Governor Corzine's Executive Order, to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's most recent report, to Al Gore's Academy Awards -- the news coverage of and momentum for global warming solutions is growing. We are seeing that momentum also by the scores of groups who are supporting the New Jersey Climate March, a series of rallies and outreach across the state to raise awareness and build support for the Global Warming Response Act -- ground-breaking legislation that will make New Jersey the second state in the nation to pass a comprehensive solution to global warming'... The march will begin at Rutgers University in New Brunswick on April 13 with a noontime rally... Among the speakers will be Assemblywoman Linda Stender, primary sponsor of the Global Warming Response Act in the N.J. Assembly. The march will proceed to Princeton on Saturday and Ewing on Sunday. Rallies will be held at Princeton University and The College of New Jersey... The march will conclude on April 16 with a major rally at twelve noon on the steps of the State House in Trenton, where thousands of post cards supporting the Global Warming Response Act will be presented to State Senator Barbara Buono, primary sponsor of the bill in the N.J. Senate. Others speaking on the 16^th will be: Carlos Miguel Rymer, Jeff Tittle of the N.J. Sierra Club, Suzanne Leta Liou of Environment New Jersey, Rev. Fletcher Harper of Green Faith and Ted Glick of the Climate Crisis Coalition. More information can be found at www.njclimatemarch.org."

Ambitious 'Green' Village Planned for Sonoma Country, CA. By Danna Perrigan, The San Francisco Chronicle, March 25, 2007. "Codding Enterprises, a real estate, property management and construction company that has made the bulk of its corporate living in the shopping center industry, plans to create a sustainable village on 175 acres ... of 2,000 homes and businesses, centered around a town square, using the latest principles of sustainability, green technology and new urbanism... If all goes according to plan, the $1 billion, multi-staged project -- called Sonoma Mountain Village -- will be completed in about 12 years. To make the plan work, Codding spent $7.5 million to create the largest privately owned solar power installation in Northern California -- 90,000 square feet of solar panels capable of generating 1.14 megawatts to power 1,000 homes... Homes will be placed on the site to take advantage of passive cooling created by prevailing northwest winds. Another idea is to build a network of cisterns to collect rainwater, which will be used to flush toilets... 80 percent of the homes will be located within a 5-minute walk of the town center, where residents can buy groceries, get a haircut or lounge with a latte... The homes -- ranging from 500-square-foot condominiums to 3,500-square-foot single-family residences -- will be within a 10-minute walk of the train station, so getting around by car will be an option rather than a necessity."

Deforestation Puts Indonesia as World's 3rd Largest Greenhouse Gas Emitter. Kyodo News (Singapore), March 24, 2007. "Deforestation, which releases a significant amount of carbon dioxide, has put Indonesia as the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the United States and China, a report released Friday said. According to the report, titled Indonesia and Climate Change and published by the World Bank and the British government, yearly emissions in Indonesia from energy, agriculture and waste all together are around 451 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e)."

Montreal Buses to Run on Biodiesel. CBC News, March 23, 2007. "Montreal's transit corporation is switching to biodiesel fuel and buying hybrid buses in an attempt to green its fleet and cut carbon emissions. All Société de transport de Montréal (STM) buses will run on biodiesel fuel by 2008, and the transition should be fairly inexpensive, said president Claude Trudel. Bus engines can run on biodiesel fuel without requiring any modifications, and the cost of a fill-up should be the same. The STM even stands to save money on maintenance, because biodiesel is 'a cleanser, so it will keep your engines and your cylinders cleaner,' said spokesman Luc Tremblay... Replacing regular diesel with biodiesel in the buses would have the same impact on carbon emissions as taking 1,400 cars off the road, Tremblay said."

Airbus Plans to Halve Fuel Use by 2020. By Steve Creedy, The Australian, March 23, 2007. "The European manufacturer of Airbus is targeting a 50 per cent reduction in aircraft fuel consumption by 2020. Airbus vice-president, environmental affairs, Philippe de Saint-Aulaire, said the manufacturer was looking at airframe improvements to provide about 25 per cent of the reduction, while between 10 and 15 per cent would come from engine manufacturers. 'The remainder, about 10 per cent, will come from air traffic control - to ensure there are more direct flights, to ensure there are more direct flights, to ensure that aircraft are not (circling) around the airport before they land,' he said. The Airbus environmental boss expects airframe improvements to come from weight reduction with the greater use of composites, aerodynamic improvements, and new systems that would allow the aircraft to operate more efficiently. These new systems included ways of allowing aircraft to land on a glide slope of 5 degrees rather than the conventional 3 degrees, reducing noise pollution."

White House Pushes Feds to Buy Green Computers. GreenBiz.com, March 23, 2007. "In January, President Bush signed an executive order requiring that 95 percent of all new computer purchases by federal agencies meet EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) environmental standards... In order to make the EPEAT list, which is currently administered by the Green Electronics Council, products must meet at least 23 baseline criteria. EPEAT-registered computers have reduced levels of cadmium, lead, and mercury to better protect human health and the environment, as well as being more energy efficient, and including safe recycling options from the manufacturer."

GOP Wrestles with Global Warming. By Gerry Smith, Cox News Service, March 24, 2006. "Once a talking point reserved for Democrats, global warming is slowly heating up in Republican presidential campaigns amid a growing push to highlight the issue in early primary states. The debate has surfaced in recent Republican visits to California - a pioneer in addressing climate change that is getting more attention from candidates after moving up its primary to Feb. 5... In South Carolina, another early primary state, Gov. Mark Sanford has urged fellow conservatives to become leaders on climate change, saying they 'have conceded the high ground to those on the far left'... 'Republicans need to engage on global warming because they know they can't be where Bush was when he ran for office,' said Navin Nayak, director of 'The Heat Is On,' a campaign by the League of Conservation Voters to spark debate on the issue in early primary states. The project's Web site (www.heatison.org) lists the positions of every candidate and various grass-roots projects in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. During campaign stops in California in February, the top two Republican contenders - former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain - met separately with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to discuss the state's landmark legislation to cut 80 percent of 1990 carbon levels by 2050."

Al Gore, Global Statesman. By Nicholas von Hoffman, The Nation Magazine, March 25, 2007. "There Al Gore was testifying before Congress the other day on the subject of global warming, and he pigmytized many small-minded Senators and Representatives. They dwarfed out when they were caught in the same room with him. On the subject of global warming Gore has more to contribute than the politician's standard ethanol pitch and the promise that if you wait, the science boys will come up with something to save us from having to make changes or adjustments or do anything at all. Some of his ideas are sweeping and some are intriguing. He proposes an immediate cap on any further growth of carbon dioxide emissions. To stop emissions growth everything from industrial plants to lawn mowers and snowmobiles would have to be rejiggered in a serious way. To achieve that goal he would require that no new electric generating plants be built without carbon dioxide traps to prevent the gas from puffing out into the atmosphere. He would strictly tax carbon dioxide emissions by businesses, providing a sharp and painful incentive for businesses to find ways to green up. The money, which there would be a lot of, would be used to cut payroll taxes, which include Social Security, Workers Compensation, etc. That would put more money in people's paychecks, a lot more for the millions whose Social Security tax is larger than their income tax. It would also make it cheaper for employers to hire people, thus creating more jobs... Gore has something of the 19th century about him. He is almost courtly in his manners. He can talk to Republicans, at least of the non-flat-earth variety. He has a deep voice and sometimes he thunders as few modern politicians can. At the same time you would be hard-pressed to find another major public figure so conversant with such a wide span of technology and with the earth, air, fire and water problems, which are reaching crisis proportions in our century. It has been so long since we have seen one that we may not remember what one looks like. We may not recognize that Al Gore has become a statesman."

Auto Execs Tell Bush: Ethanol Is the Answer. The Associated Press, March 27, 2007. "President Bush, seeking to rev up support for his energy plan, praised domestic automakers Monday for building more 'flexible fuel' vehicles capable of running on ethanol and biodiesel blends... Bush said he appreciated 'that American automobile manufacturers recognize the reality of the world in which we live in and are using new technologies to use the consumers different options.' Bush met with General Motors Corp. chairman and chief executive Rick Wagoner, Ford Motor Co. chief executive Alan Mulally and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group chief executive Tom LaSorda. They discussed Bush's support for flex-fuel vehicles and his administration's proposal to reduce gas consumption by 20 percent in 10 years. The three auto executives reiterated their commitment to double their production of flexible fuel vehicles to about 2 million a year by 2010... Wagoner said they spent 'very little time' talking about gas mileage standards beyond the president's support for reforming the way standards are applied for passenger cars."

Ministers from Non-Nuclear Countries Issue Joint Statement: Nuclear Energy 'Not the Solution to Global Warming'. Agence France-Presse, March 27, 2007. "Environment ministers from Austria, Iceland, Ireland and Norway said Monday that nuclear power was not the solution to global warming. In a joint statement following a meeting in Dublin, the four ministers from the non-nuclear countries said the 'inherent risks and problems associated with the nuclear energy option remain and it can not therefore claim to be a clean alternative to fossil fuel use.' They said it was the sovereign right of each country to decide its own energy mix. 'However, for Ireland, Iceland, Norway, and Austria, we voice serious concern that nuclear energy is being presented as a solution to climate change. 'It is our collective view that the current debate seeks to downplay the environmental, waste, proliferation, nuclear liability and safety issues and seeks to portray nuclear energy as a clean, safe and problem free response to climate change.'"

New Europe-Wide Weather Alarm System Launched. Reuters, March 26, 2007. "With climate change set to bring ever more frequent storms, floods and natural disasters, 21 European countries have created a unified weather alert system, its creators said on Friday. Meteoalarm, launched on Friday at the end of a week-long meteorological conference in Madrid, provides simple icon-based information on severe weather in 17 languages from a single web page, www.meteoalarm.eu. 'Our job is to save lives and goods, and this project was needed in Europe,' Tomas Molina, chairman of the International Association of Broadcast Meteorology, told a news conference. The new system should be simple and credible, so that on the rare occasions there is a red alert people will take it seriously, its backers said. Part of the reason the death toll from hurricane Katrina was so high in New Orleans was because people refused to leave their homes, the technical manager of Meteoalarm, Michael Staudinger said."

Appraising Climate And Environmental Risks By Address, Press Release, Science Daily, March 27, 2007. "In partnership between University of Arizona scientists and the company's founder, Climate Appraisal Services, LLC,(CASL) will offer low-cost assessments of climate and environmental risks at any address in the continental United States. It is the nation's first online, address-based climate-and-environmental-risk reporting service. CASL charges $30 for a premium environmental risk assessment for a particular address. The company's Web site also provides free educational material about climate change and a free report that focuses on shoreline reduction at a national level. The address-based premium report contains information on the possible impacts of global warming, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, drought, floods, industrial pollution and disease. The analysis combines historical data and state-of-the-art forecasting science. One of the company's missions is to increase public understanding of climate change and other environmental issues."

Heat Invades Cool Heights Over Arizona Desert. By Timothy Egan, The New York Times, March 27, 2007. "High above the desert floor, [Summerhaven, Ariz] has long served as a natural air-conditioned retreat for people in Tucson, one of the so-called sky islands of southern Arizona. When it is 105 degrees in the city, it is at least 20 degrees cooler up here near the 9,157-foot summit of Mount Lemmon. But for the past 10 years or so, things have been unraveling. Winter snows melt away earlier, longtime residents say, making for an erratic season at the nearby ski resort, the most southern in the nation. Legions of predatory insects have taken to the forest that mantles the upper mountain, killing trees weakened by record heat. And in 2003, a fire burned for a month, destroying much of the town and scarring more than 87,000 acres. The next year, another fire swept over 32,000 acres... The American Southwest has been warming for nearly 30 years, according to records that date to the late 19th century. And the region is in the midst of an eight-year drought. Both developments could be within the range of natural events. But what has convinced many scientists that the current spate of higher temperatures is not just another swing in the weather has been the near collapse of the sky islands and other high, formerly green havens that poke above the desert."

Global Change in Climate Zones Projected by 2100. By Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters, March 27, 2007. "Global warming could re-make the world's climate zones by 2100, with some polar and mountain climates disappearing altogether and formerly unknown ones emerging in the tropics, scientists said on Monday. And when climate zones vanish, the animals and plants that live in them will be at greater risk of extinction, said Jack Williams, lead author of a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 'What we've shown is these climates disappear, not just regionally, but they're disappearing from the global set of climates, and the species that live in these climates really have nowhere to go as the system changes,' said Williams, a geographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Previous studies have raised the concern about species extinctions in specific areas -- such as the cloud forest of Costa Rica or the Cape region in South Africa -- but this is the first to predict this global change, Williams said."

Progress in China and India is Costly, But There Are New Grounds for Hope. By Jonathan Watts, The Guardian Unlimited, March 27, 2007. "For the past five years, Linfen, a city 3.5 million people has been the most polluted place on the planet, [according to] World Bank's air quality rankings, and a symbol of the worst side-effects of China's breakneck economic growth. Enveloped by a spectral haze, the city lies at the heart of a 12-mile industrial belt, fed by the 50 million tonnes of coal mined each year in the nearby hills of Shanxi province. The New York-based Blacksmith Institute puts it alongside Chernobyl on a list of the planet's 10 most contaminated places... What Linfen symbolises is the cost of development in China and the other most populous country: India. Both economies are growing explosively, leading to a rapid expansion of their middle classes. This in turn has seen a growing appetite for power - one sated by the building of dirty, inefficient coal-fired plants that are slowly cooking the world's atmosphere. The effects have been dramatic. By 2009 China is predicted to overtake the United States as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. India has recently become the fourth biggest polluter, but its steeply rising emissions will see it in third place within a few years... But for those seeking good news, it can be found even in China. Linfen is trying to clean up. By the end of this year, the city aims to close 160 of 196 iron foundries, and 57 of 153 coking plants. By replacing small, dirty and dangerous plants with large, cleaner and more carefully regulated facilities, the local government in Linfen plans to drastically reduce emissions. Central heating will be provided by gas instead of coal... [Overall] India emits 1.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person. China puts out 3.5 tonnes. Both are less than the global average of 4.2 tonnes. The comparable figures for the UK and America are 9.6 and 20.2 tonnes respectively... Last year the Indian president, Abdul Kalam, a former scientist, called for 25% of power generation to come from renewable sources by 2030. The figure is now just 6%. The country, which started its renewables ministry a decade ago, is building the world's biggest wind farm site, with 500 turbines outside Mumbai. The farm will have a capacity of 1,000MW... In an address to the National People's Congress this month, the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, promised that 'backward' factories would be shut down and energy efficiency improved to 'bring pollution under control and protect the environment'... China and India were not given targets under the Kyoto protocol while America refused to ratify it. The upshot is that none of these three giants have any binding commitment to cut emissions. But for an effective replacement for the protocol, these three will have to take part in negotiations by 2010. Much depends on the US, which is responsible for about a quarter of all emissions. Without willing American engagement, the chances of a new agreement are small."

Japan's Energy Wisdom. Commentary by Renée Loth, The Boston Globe, March 22, 2007. "An island nation with no domestic oil supply, Japan offers a glimpse into the world's energy future, when oil reserves decline to unsustainable levels and alternatives are the only alternative. Nearly 10 years after the Kyoto global- warming summit meeting, the country still claims a leadership role in reducing carbon emissions. According to the International Energy Agency, Japan's energy consumption as a percentage of gross domestic product is the lowest in the world. The national expression of concern for the earth dovetails nicely with the traditional Japanese reverence for nature (Shintoism sees gods in every mountain, rock, and tree), but in fact Japan has no choice: The country imports almost all its oil and 60 percent of its food. It is self-sufficient only in rice. However, Japan has managed to drive down energy use dramatically without sacrificing the comforts of an affluent society. The per capita consumption of energy in Japan is nearly half that in the United States, but the per capita incomes are roughly the same. So prosperity alone doesn't explain why the United States burns so much more oil... How do they do it? Partly, the Japanese have invented their way out of energy abuse. Hybrid cars from Toyota and Honda are just the most obvious examples. Four of the world's five largest producers of solar panels are Japanese, with Sanyo commanding 24 percent of the market. The government's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) is busy testing thin, flexible solar panels... Businessmen diligently separate their lunch box trash for recycling. Residential recycling is even more intense, with at least 10 sorting categories, including small metal items, bulky refuse, used cloth, and chopsticks. Neighbors frown if the wrong items are in the bins... Gasoline is taxed so that a gallon costs roughly $4.50, and the fast, clean, and relatively inexpensive subways (the basic fare is about $1.50) arrive with military precision. Long-distance travel by the Shinkansen bullet train, though expensive, is almost space age in its efficiency, and easily competes with air travel, especially for business. Can the common consciousness of energy conservation in Japan -- a country where commuters form a silent queue on subway platforms and no one jaywalks -- ever be translated to the United States? Let's hope so. With peak oil production already behind us and global warming an urgent reality, oil consumption is getting costlier all the time. Sooner or later, we are all Japan."

San Francisco Board Votes to Ban Some Plastic Bags. By Jesse McKinley, The New York Times, March 28, 2007. "Paper or paper? That may soon be the only question heard at grocery counters across San Francisco, as the city's Board of Supervisors cast a decisive blow in the paper versus plastic debate on Tuesday, banning non-biodegradable plastic bags in its large grocery stores and pharmacies. The ordinance, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, will remove standard plastic bags from supermarkets and pharmacies with sales of more than $2 million a year, said its author, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who said his city was simply following a worldwide trend toward greener grocers. 'Scores of nations have already gone through this,' said Mr. Mirkarimi, citing similar laws in places including South Africa and Taiwan. 'It's really astounding the United States would be so late in the game to come online to do something that should be common sense.'"

Southern California Energy Takes Two Green Steps. GreenBiz.com, March 28, 2007. "The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will purchase 25 megawatts of renewable power from Vancouver-based electricity marketer Powerex starting on April 1. The purchase is part of a plan, introduced by Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, to increase the city's renewable power supply to 20 percent by the year 2010... The purchase brings the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power's renewable energy supply to 8 percent of its power generation portfolio, and provides for the purchase of 50 megawatts, of renewable energy annually -- enough power to serve approximately 70,000 homes each year. During the first year, LADWP will purchase renewable energy from several small hydro-electric generating facilities in the Pacific Northwest, and in future years the energy may be generated by other sources, including biomass, landfill gas and wind... In addition to a steady increase in renewable energy in Los Angeles, survey results by utility companies found that Southern California Edison customers achieved the highest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through energy-efficiency programs of any area nationwide. SoCal Edison reported that total customer response to its energy-efficiency programs over the past five years has saved four billion kilowatt-hours, enough energy to power 500,000 homes for an entire year."

Cities At Risk Of Rising Sea Levels. By Thomas Wagner, The Associated Press, March 27, 2007. "More than two-thirds of the world's large cities are in areas vulnerable to global warming and rising sea levels, and millions of people are at risk of being swamped by flooding and intense storms, according to a new study released Wednesday. In all, 634 million people live in the threatened coastal areas worldwide — defined as those lying at less than 33 feet above sea level — and the number is growing, said the study published in the journal Environment and Urbanization. More than 180 countries have populations in low-elevation coastal zones, and about 70 percent of those have urban areas of more than 5 million people that are under threat. Among them: Tokyo; New York; Mumbai, India; Shanghai, China; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Dhaka, Bangladesh. The peer-reviewed scientific study said it is the first to identify the world's low-lying coastal areas that are vulnerable to global warming and rising sea levels. It said 75 percent of all people living in vulnerable areas are in Asia, with poorer nations most at risk. The study gives no time frame for rising sea levels or the potential flooding in individual countries. It warns, however, the solution to the problem will not be cheap and may involve relocating many people and building protective engineering structures. And, it adds, nations should consider halting or reducing population growth in coastal areas…The draft copy warned that two biggest cities in North America — Los Angeles and New York — are at risk of a combination of sea-level rise and violent storms. By 2090, under a worst-case scenario, megafloods that normally would hit North America once every 100 years 'could occur as frequently as every 3-4 years,' the draft said."

Thin Breaking Ice Scuttles Annual Seal Hunt and Causes Seal Pups to Drown. By David Ljunggren, Reuters, March 27, 2007. "The first stage of Canada's controversial annual harp seal hunt is likely to be scrapped because the ice floes where pups are born have broken up and many animals have drowned, officials and animal rights activists said on Tuesday. The first part of the hunt, which had been due to start on Wednesday, occurs in the Gulf of St Lawrence to the south of the Magdalen Islands on Canada's East Coast. Hunters move across the ice floes, shooting and clubbing to death young seals. Canada's federal fisheries ministry, which oversees the hunt, said the pups had been born as usual this year but the ice floes had then been blown far out to sea and started to break up before the seals learned how to swim properly. 'This is the first time I've ever seen this in 25 years ... for sure there is increased mortality,' fisheries spokesman Roger Simon said from the Magdalen Islands... Activists say the hunt is cruel and unnecessary and want it to be scrapped. Ottawa is likely to spell out this week how many seals may be killed. Canada says the seal population is a healthy 5.5 million animals and says the cull is needed to keep numbers under control. Last year's overall quota was 325,000 seals."

Energy Companies Rethink Palm Oil As Biofuel. By Arthur Max, Associated Press, March 27, 2007. "Once, palm oil was seen as an ideal biofuel, a cheap alternative to petroleum that would fight global warming. But second thoughts are wracking the power industry. Can the fruit of the palm tree help save the planet -- or contribute to its destruction? Environmentalists have long warned that many plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, where 85 percent of commercial palm oil is grown, were planted on cleared rain forest, threatening the home of endangered animals like the orangutan and the Sumatran tiger. Now, amid global efforts to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, power companies have joined conservationists in calculating the carbon count of producing palm oil fuel -- and found the balance increasingly negative. A few companies have put plans on hold to switch to palm oil. A report late last year by a Netherlands-based research group claimed some plantations produce far more carbon dioxide than they save. Seeded on drained peat swamps, they unleash a warehouse of carbon from decomposed plants and animals that had been locked in the bogs for hundreds of million years, which one biologist described as 'buried sunshine'... 'As a biofuel, it's a failure,' said Marcel Silvius, a climate change expert for Wetlands International, the institute that led the research team. The palm oil debate is just one example of cold realism dampening enthusiasm for vegetable oils as substitutes for the fossil fuels that are widely blamed for the gradual warming of the Earth and potentially disastrous changes in climate."

DaimlerChrysler to Build Test Fleet of Electric Vans. Reuters, March 28, 2007. "DaimlerChrysler said on Tuesday it would begin testing a fleet of commercial vans capable of running on battery power alone over the course of the next year with the roll-out of its redesigned Dodge Sprinter... [They] said it would combine the rechargeable battery on the Dodge Sprinter with a diesel engine for a bigger gain in fuel economy, saying that would be the first real-world test of that technology."

Mercury in Energy-Saving Bulbs Worries Scientists. By Lisa Von Ahn, Reuters, March 28, 2007. "Because [energy-saving bulbs] contain tiny amounts of mercury, [a growing challenge] is getting rid of them when they burn out. Mercury is poisonous, but it's also a necessary part of most compact fluorescent bulbs, the kind that environmentalists and some governments are pushing as a way to cut energy use. With an estimated 150 million CFLs sold in the United States in 2006 and with Wal-Mart alone hoping to sell 100 million this year, some scientists and environmentalists are worried that most are ending up in garbage dumps... Mercury is probably best-known for its effects on the nervous system... Mercury can also damage the kidneys and liver, and in sufficient quantities can cause death. U.S. regulators, manufacturers and environmentalists note that, because CFLs require less electricity than traditional incandescent bulbs, they reduce overall mercury in the atmosphere by cutting emissions from coal-fired power plants. But some of the mercury emitted from landfills is in the form of vaporous methyl-mercury, which can get into the food chain more readily than inorganic elemental mercury released directly from a broken bulb or even coal-fired power plants, according to [U.S. Department of Energy] scientist Steve Lindberg. 'Disposal of any mercury-contaminated material in landfills is absolutely alarming to me,' said Lindberg... To prevent mercury from getting into landfills, the EPA, CFL makers and various organizations advocate recycling. Besides commercial recyclers and some municipal waste collection services, some retailers accept used CFLs."

'Acknowledge the Costs; Let the Market Work; and Keep the Solution Simple'. Commentary by David Leonhardt, The New York Times, March 28, 2007. "The politicians who deny that global warming is a problem used to be the biggest obstacle to a solution. They're not anymore. They have lost the argument... On Monday, Gallup released a new poll conducted before the hearings. In it, 86 percent of respondents said they favored new action to deal with environmental problems. No wonder, then, that the political debate now revolves around what that action should be. In the current Congress, there are six bills to deal with climate change, and more are on the way... This attention certainly qualifies as progress. But it is also creating the newest big obstacle to a climate solution, an obstacle that's far less obvious than the efforts to deny scientific reality. The would-be reformers may be saying all the right things; every last one of them may even be pursuing the solution she or he honestly believes to be the best one. But the truth is that some of the ideas now on the table would do very little to change the situation. And a feckless new law would be worse than nothing at all right now... These three principles — acknowledge the costs; let the market work; and keep the solution simple — won't cover everything. But they will go a long way toward reducing carbon emissions here, in the country that produces more of them than any other, and then letting us turn to another big problem: persuading China and India to follow suit."

New Study Shows Consistent Correlation Between CO2 Levels and Earth Temps Dating Back 420 Million Years. Press Release, Yale University, March 28, 2007. "New calculations show that sensitivity of Earth's climate to changes in the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) has been consistent for the last 420 million years, according to an article in Nature by geologists at Yale and Wesleyan Universities. A popular predictor of future climate sensitivity is the change in global temperature produced by each doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere. This study confirms that in the Earth's past 420 million years, each doubling of atmospheric CO2 translates to an average global temperature increase of about 3° Celsius, or 5° Fahrenheit. According to the authors, since there has continuously been life on the planet over this time span, there must be an ongoing balance between CO2 entering and leaving the atmosphere from the rocks and waters at Earth's surface. Their simulations examined a wide span of possible relationships between atmospheric CO2 and temperature and the likelihood they could have occurred based on proxy data from geological samples."

Retreating Himalayan Icefields Threatening Drought in Bangladesh. By Justin Huggler, The London Independent, March 29, 2007. "Notorious for its annual floods, Bangladesh may seem the last place in the world to worry about a drying up of the rivers that flow from the Himalayas. But the country is as much at risk from drought as it is from flooding. Already farmers who used to grow rice have turned to farming prawns because the water in their fields has turned so salty nothing will grow there. Bangladesh is the front line of global warming, with rivers drying up, and increasingly common freak weather conditions that include out-of-season tornadoes and tides that have stopped changing. The entire country is one huge delta, formed by the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers. Flooding may seem to be Bangladesh's greatest enemy, but in fact the rivers are its lifeline. They are the main source of fresh water for a country where agriculture represents 21 per cent of the economy. And environmentalists fear that if the Himalayan glaciers melt, the rivers' flow will reduce drastically. Most people tend to think the main risk in Bangladesh is a catastrophic flood from rising sea levels. But the country has [some] defence against that: a series of dykes along the coast which should [theoretically] be able to withstand predicted rises in the sea level. There is no defence against drought... Bangladesh has good reason to feel aggrieved at global warming. Its annual carbon emissions are only 0.172 tons per capita, compared to 21 tons in the US." Over 62 Million People Threatened by Flooding in Bangladesh. Dhaka New Nation, March 29, 2007. "Bangladesh ranks third among 10 countries, which will to be affected most by global warming and sea level rise."

New Satellite Evidence of Rapid Antarctic Melting. Reuters, March 29, 2007. "A Texas-sized piece of the Antarctic ice sheet is thinning, possibly due to global warming, and could cause the world's oceans to rise significantly, polar ice experts said on Wednesday. They said 'surprisingly rapid changes' were occurring in Antarctica's Amundsen Sea Embayment, which faces the southern Pacific Ocean, but that more study was needed to know how fast it was melting and how much it could cause the sea level to rise. The warning came in a joint statement issued at the end of a conference of U.S. and European polar ice experts at the University of Texas in Austin. The scientists blamed the melting ice on changing winds around Antarctica that they said were causing warmer waters to flow beneath ice shelves. The thinning in the two-mile-(3.2-km)- thick ice shelf is being observed mostly from satellites, but it is not known how much ice has been lost because data is difficult to obtain on the remote ice shelves, they said. Study is focusing on the Amundsen Sea Embayment because it has been melting quickly and holds enough water to raise world sea levels six meters, or close to 20 feet, the scientists said."

Norwegian Ocean Waters Are Warmest Ever Recorded. The Associated Press, March 29, 2007. "Winter ice cover in the Arctic Barents Sea in 2006 was the lowest ever recorded, and waters all along the Norwegian coast were hitting record high average temperatures, the [Norwegian] Institute of Marine Research said Wednesday... The researchers said the North Sea was 5.4°F — 6.3°F higher than average during the last quarter of 2006, the highest level since measurements started in 1936. In the Norwegian Sea, the warmest areas were about 2.25°F above the long-term averages. It said Russian observations in the Barents Sea in May showed temperatures 2.34°F higher than average. It said coastal fish stocks, such as cod, herring and mackerel, were generally in good condition, although southern fish stocks, such as whiting, were moving north to warming waters."

Healthy Coastal Wetlands Would Adapt To Rising Oceans. Press Release, Duke University, March 28, 2007. "Tidal marshes, which nurture marine life and reduce storm damage along many coastlines, should be able to adjust to rising sea levels and avoid being inundated and lost, if their vegetation isn't damaged and their supplies of upstream sediment aren't reduced, a new Duke University study suggests."

More U.S. College Students Studying Clean Energy. By Leonard Anderson, Reuters, March 28, 2007. "Concern over global warming has more U.S. college students looking into careers in alternative energy, leading U.S. universities to add new courses on clean energy technologies and the environment. 'Students see an opportunity for challenging jobs and a way to do some good for the planet,' Dan Kammen, an energy professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said. The number of Berkeley undergraduates enrolled in introductory energy courses has almost tripled and a new graduate class in solar photovoltaics signed up 70 students, the largest course in recent memory at UC's College of Engineering… Venture capital cash is fueling new companies and jobs developing alternative energies like nanotech solar cells and biofuels generated by enzymes and termites. Venture capital for energy and environmental technology in several regions of the world in 2006 nearly doubled from a year earlier to $1.28 billion."

Gore Searches for New Venue for Climate Concert. By Jeremy Pelofsky, Reuters, March 28, 2007. "Plans by ... Al Gore for a climate change rock concert at the U.S. Capitol are running into some Republican opposition. [Gore] wanted to hold one of seven worldwide 'Live Earth' concerts on the National Mall in the U.S. capital on July 7 but two other groups secured that space for events. An alternative to use the Capitol's west lawn -- proposed by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine -- now is on hold in the U.S. Senate... Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky last week objected to approving the resolution to hold the concert on the Capitol grounds because he and the Senate Rules Committee had not yet reviewed it. Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a leading critic of Gore's environment efforts, opposes the move as well... Concert organizers are looking for another host city... 'While it's unfortunate for the American people that we are being blocked from staging the U.S. concert in our nation's capital, the show must go on, even if it's in another city,' said Chad Griffin, a senior adviser to the Live Earth effort. 'This will bring tremendous revenue and worldwide exposure to whatever U.S. city ends up hosting,' he added. In addition to the American concert, others will be held on the other six continents: Shanghai, Sydney, Johannesburg, London, Brazil, Japan and Antarctica."

Markey's Big Chance, Commentary by Katrina Vanden Heuval, The Nation Magazine, March 26, 2007. "Two weeks ago, Representative Ed Markey was appointed chair of the new Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. The committee has no legislative role but it does have subpoena power, a $3.7 million budget, a team of investigators, and a two-year term. So there should be ample opportunity to powerfully illustrate the crisis and arrive at some smart policy recommendations. There are already strong legislative proposals out there and Markey's committee could use these as a starting point for potential Congressional action... Advocates for bold leadership to fight global warming have hailed two bills in Congress: Representative Henry Waxman's Safe Climate Act, and Senators Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders' Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act. All aspects of these bills should be examined, and every opportunity for the public to learn about them should be pursued."

Senators Push for Intelligence Agencies to Assess Global Warming. United Press International, March 29, 2007. "Senators of both parties are pushing for U.S. intelligence agencies to assess the danger to the nation's security posed by global warming. Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., Wednesday introduced legislation that would 'require a National Intelligence Estimate to assess the security challenges presented by the world's changing climate,' according to a statement from their offices. National Intelligence Estimates, or NIEs, represent the best information and thinking of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, distilled by their analysts into a series of key judgments about national security threats and other issues. The legislation will also fund additional research by the Department of Defense in order to examine the impact of climate change on military operations. 'For years, too many of us have viewed global warming as simply an environmental or economic issue. We now need to consider it as a security concern,' said Durbin."

The Dirty Secret About Clean Cars. By Moira Herbst, BusinessWeek online, March 28, 2007. "President Bush enjoyed a high-profile photo-op Monday with the heads of the Big Three automakers and their latest clean-car models. The impressive lineup included a General Motors model that can run on ethanol, a plug-in Ford powered by hydrogen, and a DaimlerChrysler Jeep filled with a biodiesel blend. It was smiles all around as the automakers announced they would make half of America's vehicles ethanol-ready by 2012... But there's a dirty secret about clean cars. The policies for flexible-fuel vehicles—those that can run on mixtures of gasoline and more than 10 percent ethanol—are written in such a way that they result in a number of unintended consequences. One result is that automakers gain some leeway in meeting fuel-economy standards if they produce flexible-fuel cars and trucks. So Detroit's automakers have been pumping out hundreds of thousands of the vehicles, even though most consumers have no access to alternative fuels because they're available at only a fraction of U.S. gas stations... For flex-fuel cars, fuel economy is calculated based on the assumption that their owners use 50 percent gasoline and 50 percent ethanol. But the reality is that just 1 percent of the nation's flexible-fuel vehicles actually use what's known as E85—85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. The remaining 99 percent are using good old-fashioned gasoline. The result is anything but green. The more flex-fuel cars and trucks that are produced, the more gasoline is consumed—dramatically increasing greenhouse gas emissions and deepening the country's dependence on petroleum. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that without the policy in place, the U.S. would have burned 4 billion fewer gallons of gasoline since 1998. 'Automakers have an [economic] incentive to sell cars less efficient than the law requires,' says Don MacKenzie, a vehicles engineer for the Union's clean vehicles program... 'It's a total scam,' says Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's global warming program."

Castro Emerges to Slam Bush on Ethanol; Is He Right? By Mark Durham, Wired.com, March 29, 2007. "Fidel Castro has emerged from eight months of public silence to slam President Bush's born-again ethanolismo — and, implicitly, Brazil's new role as a biofuel 'Mecca.' Which raises two questions: First, can Bush use ethanol as a wedge to divide Cuba from Brazil? Second, does Castro's argument hold water? Castro argues that turning food crops into fuel for First World drivers would cause serious ecological damage while shrinking food stocks and raising food prices in developing countries — leaving them hungrier than ever. So far, Brazil's foreign minister [Celso Amorim] denies that Castro's critique even applies to Brazil — despite Brazil's status as the world's second largest producer of ethanol and a recent agreement to boost ethanol imports to the U.S. At the same time, while expressing respect for Castro, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said, 'He has some ideas that are outdated... Ethanol's success has been proved in practice.' But Michael Pollan, [of UC Berkeley] says Castro actually made some good points. 'I was surprised to find myself in agreement with Castro,' Pollan told me. 'For example, shifting U.S. corn to ethanol production is wreaking havoc on the food economy in Mexico. Now that everyone is tied in together by things like NAFTA, our food prices affect theirs directly. There's been a lot of unrest in Mexico because of their links to our food-industrial complex.' As for ecological damage, says Pollan, 'No one is counting the carbon released as we burn down forests to grow 'green' fuel.' And despite the standard rhetoric, Pollan says, 'This agricultural biomass is not free. All that 'waste' is very important to soil fertility. Where do we get it back? In effect, we're mining the soil. In some respects, it's not so different from the fossil fuel economy.' Finally, Pollan asks, 'Why is ethanol so popular? Because it doesn't require us to change anything except which liquid we pour in the tank.'"

Colorado State University Announces Plan to Convert Campus to 100% Wind Power. Northern Colorado Business Report, March 29, 2007. "Colorado State University will convert its entire Fort Collins campus energy use to 100 percent wind power within a decade through its 'CSU Green Power Project.' The project is a wind farm in Northern Colorado that will ultimately produce more power than the university consumes. Scheduled for completion within the next eight years, the project will also serve as an outdoor laboratory for researchers across the campus in areas ranging from clean energy technology to a variety of related environmental impact studies. 'This wind farm will be an incredible addition to our commitment to research and discovery as well as teaching and learning,' said Tony Frank, CSU provost and senior vice president. 'The university is already a leader in developing renewable energy solutions that address health and environmental concerns around the world.' The CSU Research Foundation recently finalized a deal with Wind Holding LLC to develop the facility on the university's 11,000-acre Maxwell Ranch near the Wyoming border. 'The Green Power Project is just another step in the university's overall goal to develop reliable and ecologically sound energy alternatives to fossil fuels and to continue groundbreaking research in this area,' said Larry Penley, CSU president."

Massachusetts Technical College to Install Major Solar Energy Project. By Mary Ellen Lowney, The Springfield Republican, March 28, 2007. "Springfield Technical Community College will install another massive solar energy project - this time on the academic side of the campus at the site of the historic Springfield Armory. The $726,000 system will be the largest in Western Massachusetts, triple the size of the system that is generating energy across the street at the STCC Technology Park... The 82.3-kilowatt photovoltaic system will be installed atop the health building... The project will be funded with a $461,000 grant from the state Technology Collaborative, along with $265,000 worth of zero-interest bonds through the Clean Renewable Energy Bond Program of the Internal Revenue Service. The bonds will be sold through the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency and will be paid off through energy savings at no cost to the college, over 15 years. Rubenzahl said the annual savings will amount to about $17,000, a fraction of the college's $1.1 million annual energy bill, but a step in the right direction."

Massive Solar Plant Opens in Portugal. BusinessWeek online, March 29, 2007. "One of the largest solar plants in the world has opened in Portugal's sunny south. The project is intended to help reduce the country's reliance on imported energy. Some countries are just better suited to wean themselves off fossil fuels than others. Sun-kissed Portugal is one of the lucky ones when it comes to potential for solar power generation, and the country has now opened one of the world's largest solar energy plants -- even though a plant in cloudy Germany has a higher capacity. The plant, which is located in Serpa in Portugal's underdeveloped Alentejo region, opened on Wednesday. It has a capacity of 11 megawatts, and will deliver electricity to around 8,000 households. The Alentejo is one of Europe's sunniest locations, receiving as many as 3,300 hours of sunlight a year. The Serpa plant was originally intended to have the highest capacity of any solar plant in the world, but has since been overtaken by the Gut Erlasse plant in Bavaria, Germany, which will have a capacity of 12 megawatts. However, the plant's management believe the Portuguese plant will overtake its German rival once actual operation begins."

Over Fishing of Sharks Disrupts Food Chain. By Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters, March 29, 2007. "Overfishing of big sharks in the Atlantic has cut stocks by 99 percent, dooming North Carolina's bay scallop fishery and threatening other species including shrimp and crabs, researchers reported on Thursday. With most of the great predatory sharks -- bull, great white, dusky and hammerhead -- gone from northwest Atlantic waters, the rays and skates the sharks normally feed on had a population explosion, the scientists said in the journal Science. 'With fewer sharks around, the species they prey upon -- like cownose rays -- have increased in numbers, and in turn, hordes of cownose rays dining on bay scallops have wiped the scallops out,' said study co-author Julia Baum of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia... Bull, dusky and hammerhead sharks have declined by more than 99 percent between 1970 and 2005, Baum said... [According the North Carolina fisherman] this coincided with a rise in Asian demand for shark fins for medicinal uses and for food. Shark fins currently sell for about $22 a pound"

UK's Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reach 10-Year High to the Dismay of Blair's Friends and Foes. By Michael McCarthy, The London Independent, March 30, 2007. "A six-million-tonne question mark was placed over Britain's climate change strategy yesterday with the release of figures showing that UK greenhouse gas emissions, which the Government has pledged to cut radically, are actually soaring. Emissions of the principal greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, from power stations, motor vehicles and homes, amounted to 560.6 million tonnes last year, 6.4 million tonnes higher than the 2005 figure. The increase of 1.15 per cent means that Britain's emissions are now at the highest level since Labour came to power a decade ago, nearly 3 per cent above 1997. The disclosure, which seems to be a stark illustration that Britain's climate strategy is not working, despite all the pronouncements of Tony Blair and his ministers, was greeted with concern in Whitehall and with anger and scorn by environmentalists and opposition politicians. They said the Government was clearly not on course to meet its targets of cutting CO2 by 30 per cent by 2020 and 60 per cent by the middle of the century. (It has already admitted it will not meet its long-standing target of a 20 per cent cut by 2010.) It is especially embarrassing for the Government as only a fortnight ago it launched with much fanfare its Climate Change Bill, proposing to make future targets to cut emissions legally binding and thus - in theory - unmissable."

U.S. Income Gap Is Widening Significantly, Data Shows. By David Cay Johnson, The New York Times, March 29, 2007. "Income inequality grew significantly in 2005, with the top 1 percent of Americans — those with incomes that year of more than $348,000 — receiving their largest share of national income since 1928, analysis of newly released tax data shows. The top 10 percent, roughly those earning more than $100,000, also reached a level of income share not seen since before the Depression. While total reported income in the United States increased almost 9 percent in 2005, the most recent year for which such data is available, average incomes for those in the bottom 90 percent dipped slightly compared with the year before, dropping $172, or 0.6 percent. The gains went largely to the top 1 percent, whose incomes rose to an average of more than $1.1 million each, an increase of more than $139,000, or about 14 percent. The new data also shows that the top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much income as the bottom 150 million Americans. Per person, the top group received 440 times as much as the average person in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the gap from 1980. Prof. Emmanuel Saez, the University of California, Berkeley, economist who analyzed the Internal Revenue Service data with Prof. Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics, said such growing disparities were significant in terms of social and political stability."

With Five Private Jets, Travolta Still Lectures on Global Warming. The Evening Standard (UK), March 30, 2007. "His serious aviation habit means he is hardly the best person to lecture others on the environment. But John Travolta went ahead and did it anyway. The 53-year-old actor, a passionate pilot, encouraged his fans to "do their bit" to tackle global warming... But although he readily admitted: 'I fly jets', he failed to mention he actually owns five, along with his own private runway. Clocking up at least 30,000 flying miles in the past 12 months means he has produced an estimated 800 tons of carbon emissions - nearly 100 times the average Briton's tally. Travolta made his comments this week at the British premiere of his movie, Wild Hogs. He spoke of the importance of helping the environment by using 'alternative methods of fuel' - after driving down the red carpet on a Harley Davidson. Travolta, a Scientologist, claimed the solution to global warming could be found in outer space and blamed his hefty flying mileage on the nature of the movie business... 'It [global warming] is a very valid issue,' Travolta declared.'I'm wondering if we need to think about other planets and dome cities. Everyone can do their bit. But I don't know if it's not too late already. We have to think about alternative methods of fuel. I'm probably not the best candidate to ask about global warming because I fly jets. I use them as a business tool though, as others do. I think it's part of this industry - otherwise I couldn't be here doing this and I wouldn't be here now.' Travolta's five private planes - a customised £2million Boeing 707, three Gulfstream jets and a Lear jet - are kept at the bottom of his garden in Florida, next to a private runway." [Photo of private jets parked next to Travolta mansion]

February 2007

January 2007