Monthly Archives: August 2008

United Kingdom: Activists deny damaging chimney

window.document.getElementById(‘post-7932′).parentNode.className += ‘ adhesive_post’;BBC: Five activists caused £30,000 worth of damage after painting a slogan on a power station chimney, a court heard. The five, who all deny criminal damage, were protesting at redevelopment of the Kingsnorth coal-burning plant in Kent. They planned to daub "Gordon, bin it" on the outside of the [...]
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With Arctic sea ice disappearing at a record rate, scientists are sounding the alarm.

window.document.getElementById(‘post-7932′).parentNode.className += ‘ adhesive_post’;Houston Chronicle: After melting of the polar ice cap turned the fabled northwest passage into reality last year, climatologists were eager to see whether the record low of about 1.6 million square miles would be duplicated again this summer. After a colder than normal winter, that seemed unlikely. After a slow [...]
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Analysts skeptical of Pickens’ plan

window.document.getElementById(‘post-7932′).parentNode.className += ‘ adhesive_post’;United Press International: Oil man T. Boone Pickens’ plan to boost renewable energy sources to curb U.S. oil dependence is unrealistic, some energy experts say. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday that Pickens’ plan would substitute one expensive fossil fuel for another — oil for natural gas. Among other things, [...]
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Aid agencies plan CO2 offsets that also help poor

Reuters: From fuel-efficient stoves for displaced Congolese families to drought-resistant cashew trees in Brazil, some aid agencies offering carbon offset schemes want to marry emissions savings with help for people living with climate change. A London-based coalition is launching a new funding scheme to address concerns about existing trade in carbon credits — primarily [...]
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United States: New Orleans: Gustav is just the start of a major hurricane season

Telegraph (UK): Gustav marks the latest storm in what could be a particularly violent hurricane season. A street at a railroad crossing near the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal is flooded as Hurricane Gustav hits New Orleans The 2008 season could see as many as 14 to 18 named storms in, of which seven [...]
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New Orleans levees hold as Hurricane Gustav weakens

Reuters: Hurricane Gustav slammed ashore on the U.S. Gulf Coast just west of New Orleans on Monday but rebuilt levees appeared to hold floodwaters out of the city devastated by Katrina in 2005. Gustav weakened before hitting land with 110 mph (177 kph) winds, easing fears it would be another Katrina, whose floodwaters burst [...]
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Ener1 Sees Hybrid Battery Costs Halving

Reuters: Ener1 Inc will be able to cut the cost of batteries for hybrid electric vehicles by 50 percent once its lithium-ion technology amasses scale, Chief Executive Charles Gassenheimer said on Friday. The company, which has yet to sign a supply agreement with a major auto manufacturer, also said it expects to secure two [...]
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Australia: Tassie wood to fire Japan power plants

Mercury: TASMANIAN wood will be exported to Japan for use in wood-fired power plants, says Forestry Tasmania managing director Bob Gordon. Speaking at the launch of Forestry Tasmania’s new vision and mission statement yesterday, Mr Gordon said there had already been several exports, mostly to Japan. Starting in October, Gunns Ltd will export [...]
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Melting permafrost will be major driver of global warming

Mongbay: The thawing of permafrost in northern latitudes will become a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study that more than doubles previous estimates of the amount of carbon stored in the frozen soils of Alaska and Siberia. Writing in the September 2008 issue of BioScience, Edward A. G. Schuur [...]
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Hurricanes, floods show risks of climate change-UN

Reuters: Atlantic hurricanes and floods in India are reminders of the risks of ever more extreme weather linked to a changing climate, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Monday. Achim Steiner said that more damaging weather extremes were in line with forecasts by the U.N. Climate Panel. He urged [...]
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Carbon market may fund dam in Panama that threatens natural reserve

Mongbay: The UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) — a scheme that provides funds to projects that reduce emissions in developing nations — may be used to finance a hydroelectric dam in Panama which, according to environmentalists, threatens a biologically rich World Heritage site and an indigenous tribe, the Ngobe. AES Corporation, a Virginia-based company, [...]
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A gnarlier ‘hockey stick,’ the same message

window.document.getElementById(‘post-7932′).parentNode.className += ‘ adhesive_post’;Christian Science Monitor: Northern-hemisphere temperatures over the past decade are likely to have been warmer than at any time in the past 1,300 years — perhaps over the past 1,700 years if tree rings have anything useful to say about it. Either time span embraces the warmest years of the so-called Medieval [...]
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Gore Hailed, Warns Against McCain, Climate Change

Reuters: Al Gore, who lost the 2000 election but has become a world leader on the environment, was embraced at the Democratic Party’s convention on Thursday as a comeback hero — with a warning against John McCain and climate change. An estimated crowd of 75,000 roared approval as the former vice president, who became [...]
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Climate ‘hockey stick’ is revived

BBC: Original post by miscellaneous
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Antarctic Ozone Hole May Be Larger in 2008 – UN

Reuters: The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica may be larger this year than in 2007, the United Nations weather agency said on Friday. The ozone layer shields the Earth from damaging ultra-violet rays that can cause skin cancer. The Antarctic ozone hole is normally about the size of North America but its [...]
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