The food crisis: How bad can it get?

The food crisis: How bad can it get?

	Former Jamaica prime minister PJ Patterson has sounded a grim warning on the dangers to security of the food crisis.

The former prime minister of Jamaica PJ Patterson has sound a grim warning on just how bad the global food crisis can get, unless it is quicky resiolved.

Speaking at a meeting in Antigua of the G 77 group of countries, he raised the spectre of warfare as an possible outcome.

Referring to so-called food riots which have already taken place in several countries, including Haiti, Mr Patterson warned of the potential for further upheavals if a solution is not found. More>>>

Solar Power Lightens Up with Thin-Film Technology

Cheap, durable, efficient devices are needed to generate a significant amount of electricity from the sun. So-called thin-film photovoltaic cells may be just the ticket

The sun blasts Earth with enough energy in one hour—4.3 x 1020 joules—to provide all of humanity's energy needs for a year (4.1 x 1020 joules), according to physicist Steven Chu, director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The question is how to most effectively harness it. Thin-film solar cells may be the answer: One recently converted 19.9 percent of the sunlight that hit it into electricity, surpassing the amount converted into power by mass-produced traditional silicon photovoltaics and offering the potential to unleash this renewable energy source.

Prices for high-grade silicon (that can generate electricity from sunlight) shot up in 2004 in response to growing demand, reaching as high as $500 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) this year. Enter thin-film solar cells—devices that use a fine layer of semiconducting material, such as silicon, copper indium gallium selenide or cadmium telluride, to harvest electricity from sunlight at a fraction of the cost. More>>>

Global Warming Is Affecting Arctic Faster, WWF Says

April 24 -- Global warming is hitting the Arctic harder and faster than scientists expected, causing unforeseen changes to the frigid region's ice, wildlife, atmosphere and oceans, the conservation group WWF said.
The most prominent differences observed over the last three years include a ``massively accelerated'' decline in summer sea ice and ``much greater'' shrinking of the Greenland Ice Sheet, the environmental campaign group, known in the U.S. as the World Wildlife Fund, said in a 123-page report today.

``We're seeing more rapid temperature-warming,'' Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, said by phone. The best explanation is ``a trigger from greenhouse gases,'' he said. Scambos wasn't involved in the WWF report.

Conserving Arctic ecosystems requires slashing emissions blamed for climate change and reducing human activities that threaten the region that stretches between the North Pole and the northern timberlines of Eurasia and North America, the WWF said.

``Whatever happens in the Arctic is of global concern,'' Martin Sommerkorn, climate change adviser at WWF and the study's author, said today in a phone interview from Norway's Lofoten Islands, inside the Arctic Circle. ``We're going into a very uncertain future where we don't understand the changes that are already happening with global climate change.'' More >>>

NOAA: Greenhouse Gases Growing Faster Than Ever

April 23, 2008 = WASHINGTON — Major greenhouse gases in the air are accumulating faster than in the past, despite efforts to curtail their growth.

Carbon dioxide concentration in the air increased by 2.4 parts per million last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Wednesday, and methane concentrations also rose rapidly.

Concern has grown in recent years about these gases, with most atmospheric scientists concerned that the increasing accumulation is causing the earth's temperature to rise, potentially disrupting climate and changing patterns of rainfall, drought and other storms.

• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Natural Science Center.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has worked to detail the scientific bases of this problem and the Kyoto agreement sought to encourage countries to take steps to reduce their greenhouse emissions.

Some countries, particularly in Europe, have taken steps to reduce emissions.

But carbon dioxide emissions, primarily from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, have continued to increase. More >>>

Earth Day April 22

Wild fires likely to spread due to global warming

Thu Apr 17, 2008 - VIENNA (Reuters) - Wild fires are likely to be bigger, more frequent and burn for longer as the world gets hotter, in turn speeding up global warming to create a dangerous vicious circle, scientists say.
The process is being studied as part of work to develop a detailed map of global fire patterns which will be used with climate models to predict future fire trends.

The scientists told a geoscience conference in Vienna they already predict fires will increase and could spread to previously fire-free parts of the world as the climate changes.

"An increase in fire may be the greatest early impact of climate change on forests," Brian Amiro from the University of Manitoba said late on Wednesday.

"Our forests are more likely to become a victim of climate change than a savior," he added. More >>>

Jamaica's energy conservation policy

April 14, 2008 - The world's population is growing. Globalisation has opened up hitherto (geographically, politically and ideologically) isolated places to travel for business and pleasure. Competitive and diverse job markets necessitate frequent long-distance commuting and precipitate lengthy, serpentine traffic lines.

The demands of 'modern' living and the need for creature comforts have put a tremendous strain on the world's energy resources. The economic boom in India and (especially) China is accelerating the depletion of our uncertain energy stores. Consequently, every nation, including Jamaica, needs a programme of energy conservation to significantly reduce consumption of fossil fuel. This energy source - believed to be formed by the fossilised remains of dead plants and animals that have been heated and pressurised within the Earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years - is not only non-renewable, it is expensive and extremely polluting.

Jamaica's innumerable motor vehicles congest our streets day and night. Air-conditioned, multi-storey administrative offices; hillsides bejewelled by opulent illuminated residences, energy-hungry factories and businesses all go to prove that we consume far more than we produce. Our penchant for First-World amenities on a Third-World budget (that landed us deep in generation-spanning debt) belies the fact that Jamaica's energy bill is subject to volatile crude oil prices (now more than US$110 per barrel). More >>>

Eritrean coral reefs provide hope for global marine future

SHEIKH SEID, Eritrea, April 15 (AFP) Apr 15, 2008 Silver bubbles pop to the surface as a snorkeler glides over a colourful coral reef, bright fish speeding to safety in its protective fronds.

Experts say this small Horn of Africa nation has some of the most pristine coral reefs left anywhere worldwide, a "global hotspot" for marine diversity supporting thousands of species.

Known also as Green Island for its thick cover of mangroves, Sheikh Seid is only one of 354 largely uninhabited islands scattered along Eritrea's southern Red Sea desert coast, many part of Eritrea's Dahlak archipelago.
The remote reefs are exciting scientists, who see in Eritrea's waters a chance of hope amidst increasingly bleak predictions for the future of coral reefs -- if sea temperatures rise as forecast due to global climate change.
Unlike the deeper, cooler waters elsewhere in the Red Sea, Eritrea's large expanses of shallow -- and therefore hotter -- waters have created corals uniquely capable of coping with extremes of heat, scientists say.

"Eritrea has the most temperature tolerant corals in the world," said marine expert Dr John 'Charlie' Veron, dubbed the "king of coral" for his discovery of more than a fifth of all coral species.

"That bodes well, for climate change is set to decimate coral reefs." More >>>

Caribbean Governments Urged to Set Climate Action Agenda

KINGSTON, Jamaica, April 9, 2008 (ENS) - Regional scientists are calling on Caribbean governments to help develop an emerging research and action agenda that will prepare the islands for the effects of climate change.
A preliminary agenda was reached after three teams of scientists carried out extensive research on climate change scenarios and modeling, coastal, marine and terrestrial biodiversity in the region.

Fined tuned at a two-day workshop hosted by the Trinidad-based Caribbean Natural Resource Institute at the University of the West Indies, Mona, the agenda identifies gaps in existing capacity in the region to deal with the effects of climate change and outlines measures to correct those deficiencies.
Dr. John Agard, chairman of the Environmental Management Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, says the agenda is long overdue.

"At the climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia last December, the Caribbean had no defined position," he declared. "Other countries had positions, and we, named as the primary targets that are likely to be most affected by climate change, had no regional positions on what we wanted to achieve, while other people were busy lobbying for what they wanted."

"That is absurd and embarrassing and we must not do that again!" said Dr. Agard. More >>>

EU Funding to fight climate change

New €80 million fund to boost energy efficiency and renewables in the fight against climate change in developing countries.

Brussels, 28 March 2008 - New €80 million fund to boost energy efficiency and renewables in the fight against climate change in developing countries.

The Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF)
As part of its initiatives to fight against climate change, the European Commission has launched a fund, the GEEREF, to mobilise private investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in developing countries and economies in transition. Targeted at small scale projects, the Commission will kick-start the fund with a contribution of up to €80million over the next four years. New €80 million fund to boost energy efficiency and renewables in the fight against climate change in developing countries. More >>>
[How nice it would be if the British Overseas Territories were eligable for some of this! Editor.]

Global warming threatens to flood Manila – WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday that Asia’s “delta megacities” like Manila and Calcutta in India “could be threatened” by river and coastal flooding brought about by global warming.

April 9, 2008 - WHO noted that sea levels are expected to rise because of increasing temperatures, threatening those living in low-lying areas.“Millions of people could face disease, poverty and hunger if Asia’s arable lands become unworkable through changes in temperature, rainfall, river flows or pest abundance,” the agency added. WHO estimates that climate change and variability might be the cause of increase in the number of deaths – now at over 150,000 every year – from malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition and injury from floods. Half of them are in Asia and the Pacific.

World Health Day 2008 to Highlight Health Effects of Climate Change

PAHO/WHO calls for action to mitigate impacts that range from hurricanes and floods to shortages of food and water.

Washington, D.C., April 4, 2008 (PAHO)—The effects of global climate change on human health and the need for action to prevent adverse impacts will be the focus of World Health Day 2008, which this year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO). The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will host a celebratory event marking the day at its Washington, D.C., headquarters on Monday, April 7, at 9:30 a.m.

"Climate change is already affecting the health of people in countries around the world, and the consensus is that these effects are only going to intensify," said PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses, who will give the welcoming message at the event. "This year's World Health Day is a call for raising awareness and taking action to protect health through preventive measures at the global, regional, and local levels. We cannot wait any longer to act." More >>>

Should Drivers Pay for Global Warming?

April 02, 2008 Nothing riles Southern Californians like a new tax on their God-given right to drive. Yet motorists in Los Angeles County might be paying an extra 9 cents per gallon at the gas pump -- or an additional $90 on their vehicle registration fees. The purpose? It would help fight global warming.

Voters will decide whether to approve a "climate change mitigation and adaptation fee" under a proposed law being debated by the state legislature. It has already been endorsed by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The money would be used to fund public transportation and other projects that ease traffic congestion at a time when the state budget is strapped and money from Washington has all but dried up. Critics are hopping mad. They say that it exploits public sympathy for global warming in order to fund projects that are already sucking down taxpayers' dollars. More >>>

Disintergration: Antarctic warming claims another ice shelf

In late February 2008, the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula disintegrated, an indication of warming temperatures in the region.
March 26 2008 - The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites provided some of the earliest evidence of the Wilkins Ice Shelf disintegration. Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), noticed changes in the shelf in MODIS imagery in March 2008.

Terra acquired these images on February 28 (top) and March 17 (bottom). The top image, acquired just before the breakup, shows the intact ice shelf. The bottom image, taken 18 days later, shows the remnants of the ice shelf becoming frozen in place by surrounding seawater. Whereas the intact ice shelf appears white, the disintegrated shelf appears in varying shades of pale blue indicating small pieces of water-saturated ice mixed with a newly forming veneer of sea ice.

In the March 17 image, amid the pieces of shattered shelf, large blocks of ice cluster along the northern and (especially) southern edges of the shelf. Upstream from the broken shelf, crevasses appear on what remains of the shelf, suggesting that this portion of the shelf remains vulnerable to disintegration. According to Scambos, however, the ice shelf will not likely undergo further breakup until the next Antarctic summer. “The ice has begun to re-freeze, and it’s already been snowed on,” he stated. More >>>

U.N. human rights body turns to climate change

GENEVA, March 28 (Reuters) - Climate change could erode the human rights of people living in small island states, coastal areas and parts of the world subjected to drought and floods, the U.N. Human Rights Council said on Friday. In its first consideration of the issue, the 47-member forum endorsed a resolution stressing that global warming threatens the livelihoods and welfare of many of the world's most vulnerable people.

The proposal from the Maldives, Comoros, Tuvalu, Micronesia and other countries called for "a detailed analytical study of the relationship between climate change and human rights", to be conducted by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, headed by Louise Arbour.

"Until now, the global discourse on climate change has tended to focus on the physical or natural impacts of climate change," the Maldives' ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed, told the session. More >>>

Peak oil? Consider it solved

It won't be easy but we can fix our oil and climate problems at the same time.

March 28, 2008 | For more than a decade, a fierce debate about peak oil has been raging between those who think a peak in global oil production is at hand and those who think the world is not close to running out of oil. The debate is moot for two reasons. First, the growing threat of global warming requires deep reductions in national and global oil consumption starting now, peak or no peak. Second, relying on unconventional oil like tar sands and liquid coal to make up a supply shortage, as the oilmen say we must, would be climate catastrophe. More supply is not the answer to either our oil or our climate problem -- reducing consumption of oil is. And right now we have two feasible solutions: greatly increase our vehicle fuel economy and find alternative fuel sources that are abundant, low-carbon and affordable. More >>>

Can we save our troubled planet?

The main problem for humankind in this present century are immense

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 ,

Tehran - Dr David Hill is the chief executive officer of the UK-based World Innovation Foundation (the WIF) and the World Innovation Foundation Charity (the WIFC) that is based in Bern, Switzerland। The WIF is an outwardly looking global institution now comprising of around 3,500 of the world's leading-edge 'independent' scientists, engineers, technologists and economists. They are generally regarded as the 'Peers' of their respective professions and sciences; most are listed in the ISI rankings of the foremost scientists in the world today.

... The main problem for humankind in this present century are immense, the greatest that they have ever had to address. Indeed, if we do not get our act together as a species, we run the very high risk of our extinction. I say this with a heavy heart, but where the present economic development system is inherently flawed greatly in that we are all grasping for the world's finite resources that one-day will run out.

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=47722&sectionid=3510302

China tells developed world to go on climate change 'diet'

China now ranks alongside the United States as the world's biggest emitter 12 March 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — The developed world should go on a climate change diet rather than lecture China over its rising greenhouse gas emissions, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Wednesday.

Yang told reporters that China's per capita emission of the gases linked to global warming remained less than one third the average in developed countries.

"It's like there is one person who eats three slices of bread for breakfast, and there are three people, each of whom eats only one slice. Who should be on a diet?" he said at a press conference on the sidelines of parliament.

"If per capita energy consumption is viewed in the context of the fundamental principle that people are all born equal, then I don't think some people are justified in talking about the large emissions of China, as if they have the moral high ground."

China's greenhouse gas output has soared in recent years as its largely coal-powered economy has expanded at double-digit pace, and it now ranks alongside the United States as the world's biggest emitter. More>>>

[All countries need to go on a ‘climate change diet‘ if the truth be known. The developed countries however have an obligation to help the less developed and developing countries implement carbon sequestration / mitigation strategies as well as to implement alternative energy projects. Editor]

Like Airport Delays? You'll Love Climate Change

Memo to everyone who doesn’t care about climate change

March 11, 2008 4:59 PM

Memo to everyone who doesn’t care about climate change—you know who you are—because you figure 1) more heat waves? I have A.C.; 2) rising sea levels? I don’t live in Bangladesh, and I have enough money to keep rebuilding the sea walls around my weekend place; 3) more droughts and floods, causing food shortages? I won’t have any problem buying whatever I need. Scientists have identified consequences of climate change that you won’t be able to buy your way out of: the worst airplane delays you can imagine.

I’ve long thought that Americans don’t really care all that much about climate change because they figure its worst impacts will hit other people. In particular,the poor (Hurricane Katrina, anyone?). But a report by the National Research Council released today on how climate change will affect transportation points out that this is one environmental mess that you won’t be able to buy your way out of. More>>>

Climate change threatens human rights of millions

GENEVA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Climate change threatens the human rights of millions of people who are at risk of losing access to housing, food and clean water unless governments intervene early to counter its effects, experts said on Tuesday.


At a conference on climate change and migration, United Nations officials said rising sea levels and intense storms, droughts and floods could force scores of people from their homes and off their lands -- some permanently.

"Global warming and extreme weather conditions may have calamitous consequences for the human rights of millions of people," said Kyung-wha Kang, the U.N. deputy high commissioner for human rights. More >>>

Benn announces review of climate change target in UK

Benn announces statutory review of climate change target.

Tuesday, 19 February 2008

A review of the target to reduce the UK's CO2 emissions by at least 60 per cent by 2050 will become a statutory duty under the Climate Change Bill, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said today.
Mr Benn announced the decision alongside other amendments to strengthen the Bill as it moves towards completing its passage through the House of Lords.
The Government has committed to ask the independent Committee on Climate Change, headed by Adair Turner, to consider whether the 2050 target should be tightened up to 80 per cent, as the Committee considers its advice on the first three five-year carbon budgets.

Mr Benn said: "The Climate Change Bill is groundbreaking legislation, and will provide the foundations for building a low carbon Britain. We need it to be as strong as possible.

"The scientific evidence has moved rapidly, and as part of a new global climate deal, developed countries may have to cut their emissions by as much as 80 per cent by 2050. That's why we announced a review of the UK target last year. More >>>

IEA urges US to fight global warming

The IEA said the US should change its energy policy.
Sat, 16 Feb 2008

The IEA said the US should change its energy policy.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has urged the United States to increase efforts to control energy use and fight global warming. An IEA report suggests the US needs to do more to boost automobile fuel efficiency standards, improve the efficiency of power plants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The report says the US has made progress toward a more sustainable energy system but is lagging behind other industrialized countries and even developing countries such as India and China in some areas.

"To address the multiple challenges that United States energy policy is facing, the price mechanism is the most important tool," the report said. More >>>

Turks and Caicos Islands to create region's first 'green island'

Monday, February 11, 2008

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands: The Turks and Caicos Islands is to give the Caribbean region its first “green island” in the near future as part of the government’s sustainable tourism programme, Premier, Dr. Michael Misick has said.

The 2.5 mile island of Salt Cay, once the centre of the Bermudan salt industry and the mainstay of the Turks and Caicos economy from the late 1600’s until the early 1960’s, has been chosen to be transformed into the “green island,” Premier Misick said at a news conference here.

“Any new development will be consistent with that philosophy (of sustainable development),” the Premier told journalists.

The news conference was being held to launch a public awareness campaign for the 10th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development (STC-10) to be held here from April 28- May 1. More >>>

EU 'should ban inefficient cars'

Markets need to be pointed in the right direction, Sir Mark says
The EU should ban the sale of cars that do under 35 miles to the gallon, the ex-chairman of oil giant Shell says.

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart told BBC News the motor industry would adapt to cope with stricter environmental rules.

The UK Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders opposes the idea, saying drivers of the most polluting cars pay extra through road tax and petrol duty.

But Sir Mark said this simply let rich people avoid taking responsibility for tackling climate change.

Expanding on the views he expressed in a BBC News website Green Room opinion column, Sir Mark said: "Nobody needs a car that does 10-15mpg.

"We need very tough regulation saying that you can't drive or build something less than a certain standard. You would be allowed to drive an Aston Martin - but only if it did 50-60mpg." [The Cayman Islands should also explore this initiative. Editor] More >>>

UN: Mangrove Forests Vanishing at an "Alarming" Rate

ROME, Italy, February 3, 2008 (ENS) - The world has lost about 20 percent of its wetland mangrove forests since 1980, the United Nations said Thursday in a new report to mark World Wetlands Day, February 2. Mangroves are salt tolerant evergreen forests found along coastlines, lagoons, rivers or deltas in 124 tropical and subtropical countries and areas.

Environmental and economic damages caused by the "alarming" loss of mangroves in many countries should be urgently addressed, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, calling for better mangrove protection and management programs.
Heron rests in a mangrove forest in South Florida. (Photo courtesy USGS)
"Mangroves are important forested wetlands," said Wulf Killmann, director of FAO's Forest Products and Industry Division. "If deforestation of mangroves continues, it can lead to severe losses of biodiversity and livelihoods, in addition to salt intrusion in coastal areas and siltation of coral reefs, ports and shipping lanes. Tourism would also suffer."

"Countries need to engage in a more effective conservation and sustainable management of the world's mangroves and other wetland ecosystems," Killmann said. More >>>

US reassures on Global Climate Change Commitment in Honolulu

February 2 2008

With the curtain closed on 31 January 2008 at the end of the two day meting in Honolulu on global climate change, the participants from 16 major global economies plus the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) seemed to agree that the U.S. had taken new initiatives to improve its image and convey the right facts on global climate change based on past US commitments.

The Hawaii meeting proved to be a constructive opportunity particularly as the United Nations was also present to express its views for the first time after the historic UN climate conference in Bali, Indonesia. Although this second Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change ended without reaching any formal agreement, participants did agree to move forward on the Bali Action Plan on Climate Change. More >>>

Wind Shift in Climate Change

January 23 2008

The Bush Administration has stymied action on global warming at home and abroad, questioning and occasionally suppressing compelling scientific evidence that the earth is heating up and man-made pollution is a major reason why.
Global warming has no shortage of causes — coal-burning power plants, carbon-spewing automobiles — but many European and Asian environmentalists seem to blame one factor above all others: U.S. President George W. Bush. As the world's top carbon emitter and the only major developed country to refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, America is seen as hastening global warming while foiling attempts to slow it down. At December's U.N. climate-change summit in Bali, the frustration toward American intransigence on global warming was palpable. When U.S. negotiators stood in the way of agreement during the summit's final day, the anger boiled over, with delegates, observers from environmental groups and even members of the international press booing the American team. The U.S. eventually dropped its opposition to the Bali road map, but that did little to allay suspicion that Washington would remain a roadblock in efforts to combat the world's most pressing environmental crisis. More >>>

'20 20 by 2020' says Europe

EU to Cut Carbon Output by 20%, and Obtain 20% of Energy From Renewables
23 January 2008

The European Commission has made long-awaited proposals on energy and climate change. By 2020 it wants a 20% cut in carbon dioxide emissions, and 20% of energy to come from renewables.

"Europeans want a vision, and a plan of action," said European Commission President Manuel Barroso when announcing the 'package'.

The draft legislation follows on from a March 2007 agreement outlining the same aims. The new proposals contain three main strands: the imposition of "specific, binding national targets" for each of the 27 European Union member countries for greenhouse emissions; mandatory targets for the percentage of renewables in each country's total energy consumption; and an overhaul of the existing carbon dioxide emissions trading scheme; and a proposed law on carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Europe should cut its own emissions by 20% by 2020, and be ready to "step up to 30% with international agreement," Barroso said. More >>>

Man-made undersea ridges expected to fight global warming

More than 20 years ago, Tatsuo Suzuki came up with the idea of building an artificial undersea ridge from coal ash to help increase the fish population and provide a new use for industrial waste. His project raised eyebrows, but it might have produced another upshot: helping to fight global warming.

The shape of the manmade ridge creates currents that cause nutrients to rise, sustaining tiny phytoplanktons. As these phytoplanktons go through photosynthesis, they suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to Suzuki, who now heads the Environment Project Department of major general contractor Hazama Corp.

The Fisheries Agency projected in 2006 that one underwater ridge, which measures 120 meters long, 60 meters wide and 12 meters high, absorbs and stabilizes about 3,500 tons of carbon dioxide a year. Suzuki had a hunch that something like this might result. More >>>

Ranking Port Cities with High Exposure and Vulnerability to Climate Extremes

Screening Study: Ranking Port Cities with High Exposure and Vulnerability to Climate Extremes: Interim Analysis: Exposure Estimates

The impact of climate change and urban development could more than triple the number of people around the world exposed to coastal flooding by 2070, according to a new report by the OECD, co-authored by experts from academia and the private sector.

• Executive Summary
• Press Release
• OECD work on climate change

150 million people could be exposed to a 1 in 100 year coastal flood event by 2070, up from 40 million today, says a new report by the OECD. The co-authors include Professor Robert Nicholls from the Tyndall Centre at Southampton University. ...More ⋙

Global Warming Could Kill World's Coral Reefs in 50 Years

ST. LUCIA, Queensland, Australia, December 21, 2007 (ENS) -Seventeen eminent marine scientists warn that world leaders face a race against time in preparing coral reefs, and the coastal communities dependent upon them for the "inevitable impact" of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. Their new study shows that levels of carbon dioxide could become unsustainable for coral reefs within 50 years.

The warning comes in a new study published in the journal "Science" on December 14.

"It's vital that the public understands that the lack of sustainability in the world's carbon emissions is causing the rapid loss of coral reefs, the world's most biodiverse marine ecosystem," said Drew Harvell, Cornell professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and head of the Coral Disease Research Team, which is part of the international Coral Reef Targeted Research, CRTR, group that wrote the new study. Read More

Climate Sanctions Sought Against US

German Party Launches Effort

by Judy Dempsey

BERLIN - The Social Democrats are calling for sanctions on energy-intensive US export products if the Bush administration continues to obstruct international agreements on climate protection, the party’s leading environmental specialist said yesterday.The move, after the United Nations climate conference last week in Bali, Indonesia, has won strong support from the Greens and other leftist groupings in the European Parliament. Those factions will renew their bid to impose such levies when the Parliament reconvenes next month.

It also signals a big effort by the Social Democrats to take the initiative on the environment and perhaps reshape it as a foreign policy issue that could affect relations between Berlin and Washington.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken the lead on climate change, both domestically and internationally, leaving her junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats, frustrated. The opposition Greens have also lost ground on an issue they had long dominated.

But with three important state elections next year, the Social Democrats, still floundering in the opinion polls, are revamping their program to stem the decline of public support, party officials say.

“Merkel has made climate change a big issue and has tried to bring the Bush administration on board, so far without success,” said Ulrich Kelber, deputy parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats and an environmental specialist who is leading the campaign to impose levies on energy-intensive US products. Read More

Al Gore’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

By Al Gore

11 December, 2007

Oslo, Norway

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Honorable members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen.

I have a purpose here today. It is a purpose I have tried to serve for many years. I have prayed that God would show me a way to accomplish it.

Sometimes, without warning, the future knocks on our door with a precious and painful vision of what might be. One hundred and nineteen years ago, a wealthy inventor read his own obituary, mistakenly published years before his death. Wrongly believing the inventor had just died, a newspaper printed a harsh judgment of his life’s work, unfairly labeling him “The Merchant of Death” because of his invention - dynamite. Shaken by this condemnation, the inventor made a fateful choice to serve the cause of peace. Read More

FutureGen, World's Cleanest Coal Plant, Sited in Illinois

WASHINGTON, DC, December 18, 2007 (ENS)

A consortium of some of the world's largest coal companies and electric utilities has selected the small east-central Illinois town of Mattoon for FutureGen, a $1.4 billion coal-fueled power plant that is planned as the cleanest in the world.

The FutureGen Alliance today announced that Mattoon was chosen over three other sites in Tuscola, Illinois; Jewett, Texas; and Odessa, Texas.

"The Alliance would like to congratulate Mattoon, Illinois for being chosen as the final site to host the FutureGen facility," said Mike Mudd, CEO of the FutureGen Alliance, making the announcement at the National Press Club in Washington. "Officials from Mattoon should be commended for their determination and dedication to the FutureGen program." Read More

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases Final 2007 Report

Climate Change 2007”, has now been completed. Its final part, "The Synthesis Report" was released in Valencia, Spain, on 17 November 2007.

The three Working Groups full reports are available online (see here below). Hardcopies of the Summaries for Policymakers + Technical Summaries are available for free in the 6 UN official languages upon request to the IPCC Secretariat. Hardcopies of the full reports can be purchased from Cambridge University Press.
A limited number of free copies are available for academic institutions from developing countries and countries with economies in transition upon request to the Secretariat. The full Synthesis Report will be available on the website within a few weeks. Read More

Adapting to climate change: Now is the time to act

KOFI ANNAN

October 15, 2007 at 1:47 AM EDT

In recent months, global awareness on the risks associated with climate change has shifted drastically. Few would now dare to argue against the view that climate change does and will present an enormous humanitarian challenge. Even if progress was made in reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases, we should not forget that weather patterns have already changed, global temperatures have already risen and, above all, climate change is already taking a heavy human toll around the globe.

For far too long, climate change has been seen as a problem of the future, one that only a limited range of ministries and institutions should manage. This must change now. Climate change requires broader engagement. Read More

‘Incentives Offered to Destroy Forests’

Instead of providing positive incentives to tropical nations to conserve their rainforests and so reduce greenhouse gases emissions, the world indirectly gives “perverse incentives” to destroy them by demanding goods produced by intensive logging, a leading environmental activist says.

VIENNA - “The Kyoto protocol does not give incentives to rainforest nations to protect their forests,” Kevin Conrad, special envoy of the environment and climate change permanent mission of Papua New Guinea to the United Nations told IPS.

The Kyoto protocol is the international agreement that establishes how industrialised countries should reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by an average of five percent relative to 1990 levels. The treaty does not assign targets to developing nations.

One of the instruments of the Kyoto protocol is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), an arrangement that allows industrialised countries with a GHG reduction commitment to invest in projects in developing countries that reduce emissions. This then counts towards their domestic ‘clean’ record. Conservation of rainforests is not included in such projects.

Between 1989 and 1995, global emissions as a result of deforestation amounted to 5,000 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide, studies show.

“Instead of giving us incentives to protect our forests, the world gives countries like mine incentives to destroy them,” Conrad said. Coffee, soy beans, sugar, flowers and wood furniture, he said, can only be produced in developing countries through systematic deforestation.

“Tropical rainforest nations deserve to be treated equally,” Conrad said. “If we reduce deforestation, we must receive fair compensation for reductions. A tonne (of carbon dioxide) is a tonne is a tonne.” Read More

Cayman Institute makes presentation to Cabinet

Press Release
George Town, Cayman Islands 7 September 2007

The Cayman Institute, on August 7th. 2007 made a presentation to the Cabinet of the Cayman Islands Government on energy security.

The Cayman Institute is an apolitical, privately funded, non profit organization established to consider the long term effects and implications of diverse technological, sociological, economical and cultural issues to the Cayman Islands.

A modern, carefully crafted energy policy, creating the legislative and policy frameworks is imperative for all states today. For Small Island Developing States (SIDS) without the resources of developed nation an energy security is even more important.

“The use of alternative forms of energy, solar, wind, ocean thermal conversion, hydrogen and geothermal are vitally necessary to mitigate the threat global warming as well as that of deminishing and ever more costly petroleum based fuels“, said Nick Robson Chairman and founder of the institute. Read the Report (This is a PDF document and will open in a new window)

Ice-Free Arctic Could Be Here in 23 Years

The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at a record low, scientists said last night. Experts said they were “stunned” by the loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as Britain disappearing in the last week alone. So much ice has melted this summer that the north-west passage across the top of Canada is fully navigable, and observers say the north-east passage along Russia’s Arctic coast could open later this month. If the increased rate of melting continues, the summertime Arctic could be totally free of ice by 2030. Mark Serreze, an Arctic specialist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre at Colorado University in Denver which released the figures, said: “It’s amazing. It’s simply fallen off a cliff and we’re still losing ice.” The Arctic has now lost about a third of its ice since satellite measurements began 30 years ago, and the rate of loss has accelerated sharply since 2002. Read More

A letter to President Bush regarding “The Surge”

Energy Bulletin. Published on 3 Sep 2007

by Neal Brandvik

I have a feeling President Bush is fully aware of Peak Oil and the stakes on the table for America. I think he was speaking from his heart when he said in his State of the Union Address, “America is addicted to oil!”

I evem have a hunch that every morning President Bush is in the Oval Office he fires up his computer and can’t help but sneak a peek at www.energybulletin.net to check out the latest Peak Oil news.

I was going to e-mail this letter to www.whitehouse.gov but, realistically, it has a better chance of reaching the President if I post it here. Read More

New study from NASA predicts more severe storms

DailyTech - Science 2 September 2007

NASA scientists have developed a new model that is among the first to simulate the strength of updrafts in storms. This model was applied to a global warming scenario to give a possible peek at what future weather might look like
NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies is a leading research center, located in New York, which studies Earth's past, present and future climates.
The Institute has recently announced a new study which discusses what future storms might look like in a global warming scenario.
NASA's scientists at the Institute developed a new climate model for the study. The model is among the first to successfully simulate the strength of updrafts in storms. This allows the model to give a more complete picture of the strength of storms that are occurring around the world, and those that may someday occur. Read More

Bank launches climate change fund with $20 million

(24 August 2007)

A major regional development bank has put up US$20 million to start a new fund to help Latin American and Caribbean countries tackle climate change.

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) launched the Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Fund earlier this month to boost the use of environmentally friendly energy and lessen the impact of climate change.

Janine Ferretti, IDB environmental safeguards unit chief, said: "Climate change is a development issue. The fund will help countries in Latin America and the Caribbean address the problem of climate change and its impacts in important economic and social areas like agriculture, water, health, and biodiversity. It will also help improve access to affordable and reliable sources of energy." Read More

The 11th Hour

Leonardo DiCaprio's "The 11th Hour" is a feature length documentary concerning the environmental crises caused by human actions and their impact on the planet. The 11th Hour documents the cumulative impact of these actions upon the planet's life systems and calls for restorative action through a reshaping of human activity.

The 11th Hour opens in Los Angeles and New York on August 17th, in select markets on August 24th, and nationwide on August 31st.

UN members to table climate change plans

UN member states will, between 31 July and 1 August in New York, US, present their national strategies and commitments to address the adverse effects of climate change.

The countries' plans, which will be discussed at a special meeting, is aimed at fostering sustainable growth and development.

The meeting tagged: ‘Climate Change as a Global Challenge’, is convened by UN General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Al-Khalifa, ahead of the General Assembly scheduled for September and October.

A UN source, who spoke to PANA Monday, said that it will be attended by the three UN Secretary-General's Special Envoys for Climate Change. Read More

Glaciers and Ice Caps Quickly Melting Into the Seas

Environment News Service
20 July 2007

BOULDER, Colorado, July 20, 2007 (ENS) - Sea level rise this century may be greater than previously thought, posing risks to hundreds of millions of people who live close to the world's oceans, concludes a new study of ice loss from glaciers and ice caps. The researchers say that in the near future, the giant Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will contribute less to sea level rise than glaciers and ice caps.

Scientists with the University of Colorado-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, INSTAAR, and the Russian Academy of Sciences conclude that glaciers and ice caps now contribute about 60 percent of the ice melting into the oceans and the rate has been accelerating over the past decade.

"One reason for this study is the widely held view that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will be the principal causes of sea-level rise," says lead author Emeritus Professor Mark Meier, former INSTAAR director and CU-Boulder professor in geological sciences.

"But we show that it is the glaciers and ice caps, not the two large ice sheets, that will be the big players in sea rise for at least the next few generations, he says. Read More

Brown to lobby EU on greener VAT

Friday, 20 July 2007, 22:03 GMT 23:03 UK

Gordon Brown has said he will push for lower taxes on environmentally friendly products across the European Union.
Mr Brown said the UK and France would seek to persuade other nations of the need for an EU-wide cut on VAT levied on less polluting goods.
The British Prime Minister made the pledge during his first meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The European Commission welcomed the initiative but said it would require agreement from all 27 member states. Read More

Valuing the Environment in Small Islands

An Environmental Economics Toolkit (2007)

van Beukering, P., Brander, L., Tompkins, E. and McKenzie, E.

This toolkit provides clear guidance on how the value of the environment in small islands can be estimated and incorporated into planning and development decisions. It explains why you would undertake a study, who should be involved, how to implement the study and how to use the results.
Read More