Clinton to assert U.S. claim in scramble for Arctic

Reuters: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will assert U.S. interest in the Arctic, where the prospects for abundant oil, gas and new trade routes has been likened to a modern-day gold rush, when she visits the region on Saturday. As the sea ice recedes with climate change, huge oil and gas fields are adding vast amounts to global reserves, while sea passages are opening for longer periods each year and cutting thousands of miles off trade routes between Europe and Asia. Clinton will visit Tromsoe, a Norwegian...

URL: http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL4E8GU44J20120531

U.N. agency frets over climate's role in expanding refugee crises

ClimateWire: A five-year report out yesterday from a U.N. refugee agency goes to great lengths to say climate change is likely to increase human displacement among nations. What is less clear in the report is what can be done about it. The report, from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), found that human traffic from armed conflict has over the past five years been compounded by climate change, natural disasters, population growth, urbanization and dwindling resources. Refugee troubles are most...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2012/06/01/1
Enclosure: http://www.eenews.net/assets/2012/06/01/photo_cw_02.jpg

White House threatens to veto energy spending bill

E and E: The White House last night issued a veto threat to a pending House spending bill to fund the Department of Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies, citing cuts to clean energy promotion and other DOE priorities and "policy riders" that would reopen the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository, undo federal building efficiency requirements and block guidance on the Clean Water Act. President Obama's advisers "would recommend that he veto the bill," according to the Office of Management...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/EEDaily/2012/06/01/1

UN report predicts increase in world's displaced

Associated Press: The number of people fleeing their homes and becoming refugees or displaced in their own countries will increase in the next 10 years as a result of a host of intertwined causes ranging from conflict and climate change to population growth and food shortages, according to a report Thursday by the UN refugee agency. "The State of the World`s Refugees," covering the period 2006-2011, said a key change and dominant challenge is the increasing number of internally displaced people--some 26 million...

URL: http://dawn.com/2012/06/01/un-report-predicts-increase-in-worlds-displaced/
Enclosure: http://dawncompk.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/afghan-refugees-collect-water-from-a-water-point-in-a-slum-area-on-the-outskirts-of-islamabad670.jpg?w=670&h=350

EU aviation carbon spat seen unlikely to reach World Trade Organization

Reuters: Countries that oppose the European Union's move to include airlines in its scheme to control carbon emissions would find it difficult to bring a dispute to the World Trade Organization (WTO), an official with the global trade body said on Friday. China and India have boycotted their airlines from taking part, raising the prospect of a potential trade war over the carbon scheme, which forces all flights to and from EU airports to limit carbon dioxide emissions and airlines to cover the cost of...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/01/us-wto-aviation-carbon-idUSBRE8500WQ20120601

Clinton in Arctic to see impact of climate change

Agence France-Presse: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew to Tromsoe in the Arctic Circle to see first hand the way climate change is opening a once frozen region to competition for vast oil reserves. Experts here estimate the value of the Arctic's untapped oil alone -- not including natural gas and minerals -- at $900 trillion, making it a huge prize for the five countries that surround the Arctic if they can reach it. And with climate warming opening up some 46,000 kilometers a year that had once been bound...

URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hHXflghxKh2X87BOk0aLR03Tgu2Q

Fourteen programs show CO2 trade taking off: World Bank

Bloomberg: New carbon programs in at least 14 emerging nations from China to Costa Rica show emissions trading may take off even as U.S. lawmakers focus on non-market-based regulations for climate protection, a World Bank official said. Seven countries including Mexico and Indonesia are considering emissions-crediting systems, five mull domestic carbon markets while India and South Africa are studying their own plans, Xueman Wang, team leader for the bank's Partnership for Market Readiness program, said...

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-01/fourteen-programs-show-co2-trade-taking-off-world-bank.html

Arctic air offers scientist clues about the speed of global warming

Arctic Sounder: In the 18 years he's been an atmospheric chemist at Purdue University, Paul Shepson has visited the Arctic many times, and through many countries. Now the head of the chemistry department, Shepson made "a trip of a lifetime" to Barrow this March. While Shepson has spent many such trips studying the unique Arctic atmosphere and the chemical gases found there, the big difference this time was the ride. They called it ALAR (Aircraft Laboratory for Atmospheric Research) and it provided his team with...

URL: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/arctic-air-offers-scientist-clues-about-speed-global-warming

Biogas project helps Kenyan school save money, trees

AlertNet: When Evelyn Mukami, a form three student, joined Gachoire Girls Secondary School in January 2010, she was very surprised to learn how the meals at her school were prepared. The charcoal and firewood that are typically used for cooking in Kenya were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the kitchens cooked with biogas produced from the students' own toilet waste. "Before I came to this school, I was living in Nakuru (in Kenya's Rift Valley) where we use charcoal and firewood for cooking,' Mukami said....

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/biogas-project-helps-kenyan-school-save-money-trees/
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/6def7876-9637-43b2-b48d-0fd40776abd7/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201206011139

Rise in greenhouse gas emissions

C and EN: Annual carbon dioxide emissions from worldwide burning of fossil fuels reached a record high of 31.6 billion metric tons in 2011, according to preliminary estimates announced in late May by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The 2011 releases are up 3.2%, or 1.0 billion metric tons, over 2010's CO2 emissions, IEA says. The country contributing most to this increase was China, the world`s largest emitter of CO2, IEA says. China`s CO2 emissions in 2011 were up 9.3%, or 720 million metric tons,...

URL: http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i23/Rise-Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions.html

United Nations warns of worsening next decade global displacements

Pakistan Observer: As a humanitarian gesture the United Nations has forewarned the world that the number of displaced persons worldwide will significantly grow in next decade due to factors such as conflict, natural disasters and climate change, according to the flagship publication of the United Nations refugee agency. This advance caution stresses that international solidarity is needed to address the issue, says a UN report. "The world is creating displacement faster than it is producing solutions, and this means...

URL: http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=158326

For an Ailing Planet, the Cure Already Exists

Inter Press Service: The planet's climate recently reached a new milestone of 400 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the Arctic. The last time Earth saw similar levels of climate-heating carbon dioxide (CO2) was three million years ago during the Pliocene era, where Arctic temperatures were 10 to 14 degrees C higher and global temperatures four degrees C hotter. Research stations in Alaska, Greenland, Norway, Iceland and even Mongolia all broke the 400 ppm barrier for the first time this spring, scientists...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=108004
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/108004-20120601.jpg

Study highlights climate food risk hotspots

Phys.Org: Residues of last season's maize crop (right), and irrigated maize, grown during Honduras' intense dry season. The poorest societies may be more able to adapt to the threat climate change poses to food supplies than their slightly richer peers, a new study suggests. You might assume getting richer would always make a country safer from drought and famine, but that turns out not to be the case. Instead, the very poorest countries seem to become more vulnerable in the early stages of development....

URL: http://phys.org/news/2012-06-highlights-climate-food-hotspots.html
Enclosure: http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2012/2-studyhighlig.jpg

Romney: Solyndra is Obama's 'Symbol of Failure'

MSNBC: The Romney campaign has moved quickly to exploit the candidate's unannounced visit to bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra, producing a web ad entitled "Symbol of Failure," designed to highlight the president's role in the failed business. The ad intersperses audio from national news broadcasts' coverage of the bankruptcy and subsequent federal investigation of Solyndra (including NBC's coverage), with clips of Barack Obama visiting the plant in 2010, and Romney's press conference there Thursday....

URL: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/01/12003752-romney-claims-solyndra-is-obamas-symbol-of-failure?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/120601-romney-2a.photoblog600.jpg

GM foods: science and society

Guardian: Last weekend protesters gathered at Rothamsted Research, north of London, threatening to destroy a field of genetically modified wheat. In the event the protest, called Take the Flour Back, was relatively thinly attended, the police were out in force and it all ended peacefully. It's a far cry from the late 1990s when Friends of the Earth were launching dawn raids on experimental crops in anti-radiation outfits. Last weekend's campaigners wore T-shirts and looked like they were on a picnic. More...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/01/editorial-gm-foods-science-society

RIO+20: U.N. Aims To Offset its Own Carbon Footprint

Inter Press Service: As the international community readies for a global mega- conference on sustainable development in Brazil mid-June, the United Nations is determined to practice what it preaches to the outside world: improve resource efficiency and drastically reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions. With over 50,000-60,000 participants worldwide scheduled to arrive in Rio de Janeiro, the U.N. staff delegation to the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20, has been minimised to approximately...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=108005
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/108005-20120601.jpg

Australian government cautions business over carbon tax

AAP: Climate Change Minister Greg Combet has warned that businesses which hike the cost of their goods under the guise of the carbon tax will be caught. "I heard about one pie shop for example that was going to put their pies up some extraordinary amount," Mr Combet told ABC television, noting food prices will increase by less than half a cent in the dollar. "If you are a business person thinking that you are going to use this as an opportunity to put prices up I would be very, very careful, because...

URL: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/govt-cautions-business-over-carbon-tax-20120601-1zn4p.html

Some butterfly species particularly vulnerable to climate change

Eureka! Science News: A recent study of the impact of climate change on butterflies suggests that some species might adapt much better than others, with implications for the pollination and herbivory associated with these and other insect species. The research, published in Ecological Entomology, examined changes in the life cycles of butterflies at different elevations of a mountain range in central Spain. They served as a model for some of the changes expected to come with warming temperatures, particularly in mountain...

URL: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2012/06/01/some.butterfly.species.particularly.vulnerable.climate.change

Voluntary carbon market reaches $576 m in 2011

Mongabay: The voluntary carbon offset market reached a three-year high in 2011, according to the State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets report released this week. Volume hit $576 million in 2011, trailing only 2008 when $776 million in voluntary carbon credits where traded. Two-thirds of 2011's buying was done by corporations seeking to voluntarily "offset" their emissions for corporate social responsibility programs and marketing purposes. "The markets' increase in value points to a continued demand,...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0601-voluntary-carbon-market.html
Enclosure: http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay/indonesia/600/sumatra_9232.jpg

UN report predicts increase in world's displaced

Associated Press: If people fleeing their homes and becoming refugees or displaced in their own countries will increase in the next 10 years as a result of a host of intertwined causes ranging from conflict and climate change to population growth and food shortages, according to a report Thursday by the U.N. refugee agency. "The State of the World's Refugees,'' covering the period 2006-2011, said a key change and dominant challenge is the increasing number of internally displaced people — some 26 million globally...

URL: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2012/06/01/un_report_predicts_increase_in_worlds_displaced/

Science recognition in Rio+20 talks 'uphill struggle'

SciDev.Net: A senior UNESCO official has complained that science is being left out of key parts of the negotiations on the draft conclusions of UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) to be held later this month (20--22 June) in Brazil. Hans d'Orville, assistant director-general for strategic planning at UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), told SciDev.Net that despite rising acknowledgement of the importance of science in tackling global problems, it was failing to...

URL: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/news/science-recognition-in-rio-20-talks-uphill-struggle-.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment

New Mexico's record-setting wildfires deepen trend of devastating 'megafires'

Guardian: The first Shane Wolfe saw of the wildfire now raging through the New Mexico wilderness was from a helicopter – just as the firefighter was to lower himself down a rope to fight the flames. By the time Wolfe's crew rappelled in, a vast swathe of desert grasses, juniper, ponderosa pine and spruce fir was reduced to a moonscape. "It was all ash and grey and no more vitality left. No more colour left," he said. The fire tearing through the canyons and peaks of up to 10,000ft, covered 216,000 acres,...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/01/new-mexico-wildfires-devastating-megafires
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/6/1/1338563516204/New-Mexico-wildfire-fire-008.jpg

Clinton highlights importance of oil-rich Arctic

Reuters: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton boarded a research ship on Saturday to tour the Arctic, where big powers are vying for vast deposits of oil, gas and minerals that are becoming available as the polar ice recedes. The top U.S. diplomat took the unusual step of visiting Tromso, a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle, to dramatize U.S. interests in a once inaccessible region whose resources are up for grabs as the sea ice melts with climate change. "From a strategic standpoint, the Arctic has...

URL: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/02/12022769-clinton-highlights-importance-of-oil-rich-arctic?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/120602_cliintonnorway.photoblog600.jpg

Indonesia: Climate Change Drives Exodus to Jakarta

Inter Press Service: Another month of plying his 'becak' (trishaw) in the capital city and Sarjo will be coming back to this West Java district to harvest the rice ripening on his 1,400 sq m paddy. Sarjo (one name) reckons the harvest will fetch him a timely 325 dollars to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan (Jul. 20 – Aug. 18) before returning to becak-pulling in Jakarta. Mona, who works as an entertainer in Jakarta's 'Princess Entertainment' nightclub, is also preparing to return home for Ramadan. "But, my boss...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=108003
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/108003-20120601.jpg

Plants previously thought to be 'stable' found to be responding to climate change

ScienceDaily: Many wild plant species thought to be "stable" in the face of climate change are actually responding to global warming, say researchers at UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). Their findings, in a study titled, "Divergent responses to spring and winter warming drive community level flowering trends," are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. According to the study, a number of wild plant species previously thought to be unresponsive...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120601135942.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

In Louisiana, rising seas threaten Native Americans' land

Public Broadcasting Service: MARGARET WARNER: Now: Coping With Climate Change. In this edition of our series, Hari Sreenivasan reports from the Louisiana Gulf Coast, where rising seawater is claiming the land people have lived on for centuries. ARTICLE TOOLS Print Email Share Louisiana Public Broadcasting was our partner in this report. HARI SREENIVASAN: It used to be a long walk for Theresa Dardar to reach her ancestors' cemetery here in coastal Louisiana. We had to take a boat ride with her to visit the burial site...

URL: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/climate-change/jan-june12/climate_06-01.html
Enclosure: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rss/media/2012/06/01/20120601_climatechange.mp3

New Mexico wildfire is 15% contained as firefighters prepare for bad weather

Associated Press: More than 1,200 firefighters are battling the nation's largest wildfire that has charred acre after acre of timber and brush in rugged mountains and canyons of southwestern New Mexico, shrouding parts of the region in smoke. The blaze maintained its rapid growth Friday through what New Mexico governor Susana Martinez termed "impossible" terrain, as forecasters predicted thunderstorms and dry lightning that could spark even more fires. Fire authorities said the blaze in the Gila national forest...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/02/new-mexico-wildfire-firefighters-weather
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/6/2/1338639770474/gila-new-mexico-fire-008.jpg

Energy Innovation: Snails and Griddies

![][1] Ask most people to describe vanguard energy technology, and they'll name LED lights, certain forms of solar energy and new electric storage methods. But how about this -- generating energy from a living body? The Journal of the American Chemical Society is reporting a "real-life scientific tail of the first electr

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/1/0-energy-innovation-snails-and-griddies.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/06/energy-innovation-snails-and-griddies?cmpid=rss

How Short-Term Shipment Delays Could Impact US Solar Market

![][1] Two weeks after a trade ruling deepened the rift in an increasingly divided industry, analysts and CEOs alike are still working to assess how the newly imposed trade tariffs will impact shipments, projects and pricing.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/1/1332-how-short-term-shipment-delays-could-impact-u-s-solar-market.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/how-short-term-shipment-delays-could-impact-u-s-solar-market?cmpid=rss

NLP Solar Sales Training Live Webinar June 13th & 14th

![][1]

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/assets/logos/9745.gif

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/partner/rich-hessler-solar/news/article/2012/06/nlp-solar-sales-training4?cmpid=rss

A Recent Renewable "Omne Trium Perfectum"

![][1] The Latin phrase omne trium perfectum, translates as 'everything that comes in threes is perfect,' or 'every set of three is complete.' It conveys the same idea as the 'rule of three,' while also (appropriately) using exactly three words. So while not exactly three words, here are three recent events that merit mentioning. 1)

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/1/1908-a-recent-renewable-omne-trium-perfectum.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/06/a-recent-renewable-omne-trium-perfectum?cmpid=rss

Merkel Shakes Up Energiewende

![][1] Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel shook up Germany's energy revolution by firing her environment minister, Norbert Rottgen, who was a stalwart proponent of the shift to renewables as Germany phases out nuclear power. Ostensibly, her sacking of Rottgen, who was considered a close ally and possible future chancellor, had nothing to

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/1/0-merkel-shakes-up-energiewende.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/06/merkel-shakes-up-energiewende?cmpid=rss

The Sunset and Dawn of a Solar Era: Jeff Wolfe Steps Down at groSolar

![][1] Recently, it was announced that Jeff Wolfe, co-founder and CEO of groSolar, was stepping down as the company's CEO, but would remain an active member of groSolar's board, as well as continue his work as Chair of the PV Division of SEIA. Today, June 1st, is his last day. If you've never met Jeff, or at least heard of him…wh

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/1/8435-the-sunset-and-dawn-of-a-solar-era-jeff-wolfe-s-grosolar.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/06/the-sunset-and-dawn-of-a-solar-era-jeff-wolfes-grosolar?cmpid=rss

Tellurex Seeks Funding and Distributors for Tea Candle Powered Thermoelectric Generator.

The compact, patent pending Tellurex tPOD1(TM) ("tPOD" is an acronym trademarked by Tellurex that stands for thermoelectric Power On Demand) can and will provide up to four hours of continuous bright light from one five cent tea candle. With power generated by a candle, the tPOD1 system can also recharge a companion battery pack that, in turn, will provide adequate power for limited smartphone calls, emergency text messaging and GPS rescue signal use.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips612/jun12001.html

California Feed-in Tariff for Poor Communities Passes Assembly

![][1] A bill to create feed-in tariffs for the poor and the disadvantaged passed the California Assembly on 30 May 2012.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/1/1332-california-feed-in-tariff-for-poor-communities-passes-assembly.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/california-feed-in-tariff-for-poor-communities-passes-assembly?cmpid=rss

Sen. Bingaman: 'The Only Losers in the Clean Energy Race Will Be Those Who Do Not Compete'

![][1] Representing several months' coordination on the part of representatives from U.S. and foreign geothermal companies, government officials, and many experts and individuals in the geothermal community the GEA's International Geothermal Showcase in Washington, DC on May 23 was concrete indication of the rising interest in facilitating the use of geothermal energy on every continent except Antarctica. A common theme of the day was that countries around the world are open for business and many governments are taking competitive strides in developing framework for successful geothermal ventures.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/30/1332-the-only-losers-in-the-clean-energy-race-will-be-those-who-do-not-compete.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/the-only-losers-in-the-clean-energy-race-will-be-those-who-do-not-compete?cmpid=rss

Powin Energy and Ideal Power Converters to Co-develop Modular Grid Storage Solution.

Bi-directional battery converters convert Alternating Current (AC) from the power grid to Direct Current (DC) needed to charge batteries and then invert the DC current from the batteries back to the AC grid.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips612/jun12002.html

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and CalCEF Create CalCharge to Unite California’s Battery Industry.

CalCharge is a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership working to accelerate the timeline of energy storage commercialization and market adoption through technology assistance, workforce training and market education.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips612/jun12003.html

Belgian Passivhaus is Rendered Uninhabitable by Bad Indoor Air

Subtitle:

Inward solar vapor drive and damp earth tubes conspire to ruin an expensive new superinsulated home

Images:

[![][1]][2]

[![][3]][2]

The [first single-family Passivhaus in the U.S.][4] was completed by Katrin Klingenberg in 2004. Klingenberg's superinsulated home in Urbana, Illinois includes two unusual features: a ventilation system that pulls fresh outdoor air through a buried earth tubeVentilation air intake tube, usually measuring 8 or more inches in diameter and buried 5 or more feet below grade. Earth tubes take advantage of relatively constant subterranean temperatures to pre-heat air in winter and pre-cool it in summer. In humid climates, some earth tubes develop significant amounts of condensation during the summer, potentially contributing to indoor air quality problems., and walls that include an interior layer of OSB. These details were not invented by Klingenberg; she adopted practices that were commonly used by European Passivhaus builders.

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Passivhaus - Belgium - Hego Hens paper.jpg (Photo of a Passivhaus in Belgium)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/belgian-passivhaus-rendered-uninhabitable-bad-indoor-air
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Katrin Klingenberg house - air intake 3.jpg (Photo of ductwork at the house of Katrin Klingenberg in Urbana)
[4]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/homes/first-us-passive-house-shows-energy-efficiency-can-be-affordable

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/belgian-passivhaus-rendered-uninhabitable-bad-indoor-air

Warming gas levels hit 'troubling milestone'

Associated Press: The world's air has reached what scientists call a troubling new milestone for carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant. Only on msnbc.com AP Updated 84 minutes ago 5/31/2012 9:26:41 PM +00:00 Edwards not guilty on one count; mistrial on others Courtesy Elizabeth Olivas Teen in Mexico due to 'Leap Day' error can return home Updated 80 minutes ago 5/31/2012 9:30:34 PM +00:00 Obama, Scott Walker follow the same script for survival EPA Updated 33 minutes ago 5/31/2012 10:16:54 PM +00:00...

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47637140/ns/us_news-environment/

Indonesia: Cultivating Food Security in Their Own Backyards

Inter Press Service: Misradi, a 58-year-old farmer from the Jelok neighborhood in Pacitan, East Java, some 524 kilometres east of Jakarta, has found a way to reduce his monthly expenses by 30 percent: instead of buying produce from the local market, he and his family now harvest most of their vegetables from their own yard. Jelok, a neighbourhood of 126 families in Pacitan, the hometown of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was chosen in February 2011 as the location for the pilot project of the Sustainable...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107980
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107980-20120530.jpg

Researchers Argue For Action On Short-Lived Climate Pollutants

Forbes: Yesterday, I wrote about the announcement, little noticed at the time, that G8 leaders had agreed to join the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-lived Climate Pollutants during their May Camp David summit. The coalition is a U.S.-led effort to combat emissions of black carbon, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). A few days after G8 leaders left Camp David for the NATO summit in Chicago, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) hosted a seminar where researchers presented recent...

URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/justingerdes/2012/05/31/researchers-argue-for-action-on-short-lived-climate-pollutants/

Activists from Many Nations Condemn Chevron

Inter Press Service: More than 100 people gathered Wednesday outside the gates of Chevron's sprawling headquarters in upscale San Ramon in the San Francisco Bay area of California, where police and security barred those without passes to the shareholder meeting from entering. The activists' message was inscribed on a giant puppet and on the many placards they waved at passing shareholders: "Occupy Chevron and Big Oil," "Chevron Makes Orphans," Fracking is Environmental Rape," "Chevron: Clean UP and Get Out of Metro...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107990
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107990-20120531.jpg

Can Environmentalists Learn To Love a Texas Coal Plant?

Yale Environment 360: As mayor of Dallas from 2002 to 2007, Laura Miller helped lead the charge against a utility company called TXU that wanted to build 11 coal-fired power plants in Texas. Miller and her allies, including the Environmental Defense Fund and the Natural Resources Defense Council, stopped the coal plants, and in 2007 TXU was sold to two private-equity firms that promised to steer the company onto a greener path. Their story inspired a documentary film produced and narrated by Robert Redford that showcased...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/can_environmentalists_learn_to_love_a_texas_coal_plant/2535/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Midwest Study: Adding More Wind Power Will Save Money

![][1] Adding more wind power to the electric grid could reduce wholesale market prices by more than 25 percent in the Midwest by 2020, according to a new analysis.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/31/1332-midwest-study-adding-more-wind-power-will-save-money.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/midwest-study-adding-more-wind-power-will-save-money?cmpid=rss

Report: Top Companies Say One Thing, Do Another on Climate Change

Rolling Stone: At the same time as they advertise their concerns about climate change or talk up their commitment to reducing carbon emissions, lots of top U.S. companies distort climate science in their public communications or otherwise help spread climate misinformation, says the Union of Concerned Scientists in a new report. The science advocacy group looked at 28 S&P 500 companies, all of them on record as fretting about climate change. Half, in their company materials, misrepresented the science on...

URL: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/report-top-companies-say-one-thing-do-another-on-climate-change-20120531
Enclosure: http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/corporate-climate-report-0390.html

Highway through Amazon worsens effects of climate change, provides mixed economic gains

Phys.org: Paving a highway across South America is providing lessons on the impact of road construction elsewhere. That's what a University of Florida researcher and his international colleagues have determined from analyzing communities along the Amazonian portion of the nearly 4,200-mile Interoceanic Highway, a coast-to-coast road that starts at ports in Brazil and will eventually connect to ones in Peru. The results of their five-year study provide a holistic picture of the social, environmental and...

URL: http://phys.org/news/2012-05-highway-amazon-worsens-effects-climate.html

Southern Great Plains could run out of groundwater in 30 years, study finds

Christian Science Monitor: Key farming regions in the US are drawing water from underground sources at unsustainable rates, with slightly more than one-third of the southern Great Plains at risk of tapping out its sources within the next 30 years. Those are among the conclusions of a study of the nation's two major aquifers – one underlying the high plains, the other beneath California's Central Valley – published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Concerns over the loss of groundwater...

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2012/0530/Southern-Great-Plains-could-run-out-of-groundwater-in-30-years-study-finds
Enclosure: http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/0530-harvest-wheat-kansas.jpg/12703725-1-eng-US/0530-HARVEST-wheat-KANSAS.jpg_full_380.jpg

Warming gas levels hit 'troubling milestone'

Associated Press: The world's air has reached what scientists call a troubling new milestone for carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant. Monitoring stations across the Arctic this spring are measuring more than 400 parts per million of the heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere. The number isn't quite a surprise, because it's been rising at an accelerating pace. Years ago, it passed the 350 ppm mark that many scientists say is the highest safe level for carbon dioxide. It now stands globally at 395. So...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/warming-gas-levels-hit-troubling-milestone-054101171.html
Enclosure: http://esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/

Fossil fuel subsidies must end, says Indian microfinance firm

Guardian: Governments must end subsidies for fossil fuels and focus instead on supporting renewable energy sources, the executive director of an award-winning microfinance organisation said this week. Speaking to the Guardian, LH Manjunath, from Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP) in southern India, which provides consumer loans for energy projects, said: "Most fossil fuels are subsidised. The [Indian] government is spending millions on subsidies. It must stop all subsidies for...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/may/31/fossil-fuel-subsidies-india-microfinance
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/5/31/1338478355662/MDG--Ashden-Awards--Shri--007.jpg

The wind farm rebellion blows across Britain as campaigners take heart from village's victory

Daily Mail: The wind farm rebellion gathered pace yesterday following a landmark High Court ruling. Campaigners are taking heart from a judge`s decision on Tuesday that the right of villagers to preserve their landscape is more important than renewable energy targets. Mrs Justice Lang said that four 350ft turbines would harm the character and appearance of Hemsby on the edge of the Norfolk Broads. Precedent: Lawyers believe the ruling on Tuesday is a significant test case for planning rules Lawyers...

URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2152460/The-wind-farm-rebellion-blows-Britain-campaigners-heart-villages-victory.html
Enclosure: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/05/31/article-0-0C4C45D400000578-263_468x312.jpg

Drought, policy changes may spark more huge fires

Associated Press: A massive wildfire in the New Mexico wilderness that already is the largest in state history spread in all directions Thursday, and experts say it's likely a preview of things to come as states across the West contend with a dangerous recipe of wind, low humidity and tinder-dry fuels. The erratic Gila National Forest blaze grew overnight to more than 190,000 acres, or nearly 300 square miles, as it raced across the area's steep, ponderosa pine-covered hills and through its rugged canyons. More...

URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jBFxe0b92RcerZcrWmIScq_RG9-A?docId=452e887a088e4bf39fdcb025d45cfaf3

US companies need to disclose climate risk -investors

Reuters: Institutional investors and environmental advocates on Thursday urged companies to disclose their risks from the impact of climate change, two years after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidelines for firms to do just that. While the SEC guidelines do not force publicly traded corporations to assess such climate-related events as severe storms, droughts, floods and heat waves, some companies have done so anyway. But those disclosures have not been particularly useful, according...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/31/climate-risk-disclosure-idUSL1E8GVCPN20120531
Enclosure: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/physical-risks-from-climate-change

New Service: Henley AAMCO to offer hybrid conversions

The XL Hybrids hybrid powertrain is designed for aftermarket installation.

URL:

WIDEX First Company in the World to Become “WindMade”: A New Consumer Label for Wind Powered Companies.

The WindMade label was created to allow companies to communicate their commitment to renewable energy while providing consumers with the choice to favour companies and products using wind power.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips512/may12040.html

Indigenous rights rising in tropical forests, but big gaps remain

Mongabay: In the last twenty years, rights for indigenous forest dwellers have expanded significantly, according to a new report by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). Covering nearly thirty tropical forest countries, the report finds that indigenous people now hold rights to 31 percent of the forest land in these countries, rising from 21 percent in 1992. However, landmark land rights for indigenous people remain imperiled by lack of enforcement, land-grabbing, government ambivalence, and industrial...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0531-hance-indigenous-land-rights.html
Enclosure: http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay/papua/600/papua_0487.jpg

Social Networking Is Great, But it Doesn't Beat Socializing…And Networking

![][1] I'm a big fan of social media, especially as a business-to-business publication editor. Through RenewableEnergyWorld.com, our Facebook page, my Twitter account, the REWorld Twitter account, my LinkedIn Profile and the renewable energy-focused LinkedIn groups of which I am a member, I am connected to a huge community of people who have t

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/31/1332-social-networking-is-great-but-it-doesn-t-beat-socializing-and-networking.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/05/social-networking-is-great-but-it-doesnt-beat-socializingand-networking?cmpid=rss

Groundwater Depletion Accelerates Sea-Level Rise

National Geographic: This story is part of a special National Geographic News series on global water issues. Groundwater depletion will soon be as important a factor in contributing to sea-level rise as the melting of glaciers other than those in Greenland and Antarctica, scientists say. That's because water pumped out of the ground for irrigation, industrial uses, and even drinking must go somewhere after it's used-and, whether it runs directly into streams and rivers or evaporates and falls elsewhere as rain,...

URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/120531-groundwater-depletion-may-accelerate-sea-level-rise/
Enclosure: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/539/overrides/freshwater-sea-level-rise-ground-water_53987_600x450.jpg

U.S. DOE Biofuel Funding Opportunity

Innovative Biosynthetic Pathways to Advanced Biofuels to solicit applications for improving fermentative organisms, enzymatic hydrolytic systems, and integration of biochemical processes for the conversion of lignocellulosics into advanced biofuels.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/content/fundopps.html

Nigeria's penalty for gas flaring will not curb emissions, say campaigners

Guardian: Nigeria is to penalise oil giants for flaring gas but campaigners say it's unlikely to curb the release of greenhouse gases in the country, which is the world's second biggest offender after Russia. Toxic orange flares – a byproduct of Nigeria's 2m-barrel-a-day oil industry – spew the equivalent emissions of the UK's annual gas use every three months in the palm-fringed Niger Delta. Nigeria has Africa's largest natural gas reserves, which could be used for power generation if trapped. "Because...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/31/nigeria-penalty-gas-flaring
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/5/31/1338473921886/Gas-flaring-in-Ogoniland--006.jpg

New Product: Suntech Power Holdings has introduced a new compact frame design for its 60-cell W-Series 260W module.

The 1640 x 992 x 35 mm module with up to 16% module-level conversion efficiency has been narrowed from 50mm to 35mm and total module weight has been reduced significantly from 19.1kg to 18.2kg.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/content/products.html

Rethinking Electric Cars - Part 10

The development costs of parts adds to the cost of each vehicle. The more vehicles sold, the more development costs are spread out and around.

URL:

Eco Wave Power Tests Medium-Scale Wave Energy Generation System in the Black Sea.

The Black Sea provided Eco Wave Power with real-life conditions necessary for the testing of EWP's wave energy devices under uncontrolled wave heights and wave periods.

URL:

Tomorrow's Transportation. Ideas Wanted.

One company, Bombardier, a global leader in mass transit technologies, is reaching out, well, globally for those "fresh ideas" using the Internet, social networking and crowd sourcing through its YouCity multidisciplinary Innovation Contest which focuses on shaping "the Future of Urban Mobility."

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/arch/nrgs2012/20120052.html

Ford Launches New Motor City Innovation Exchange and Jump Start Program.

Ford is launching several major initiatives to support entrepreneurship and surface technological innovation in southeast Michigan. In addition to the recent improvement to the Patent Incentive Program that provides Ford employee inventors with a three-month free membership to TechShop Detroit, Ford is also looking for new ideas from outside.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips512/may12039.html

DOC Imposes Tariffs on Chinese Wind Towers

![][1] The United States Department of Commerce has once again ruled in favor of American companies who say Chinese manufacturers are receiving unfair government subsidies.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/31/1332-doc-imposes-tariffs-on-chinese-wind-towers.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/doc-imposes-tariffs-on-chinese-wind-towers?cmpid=rss

Hacking the climate could lead to whiter, brighter skies

MSNBC: Blue sky over Arches National Park in Utah. A new study suggests that a geoengineering proposal could make the sky less blue. Pumping a steady stream of sunlight-blocking particles into the stratosphere to fight global climate change would leave us with inescapable hazy and white skies such as those found over big cities, according to new research. "The skies would be whiter/hazier everywhere, including on weekend getaways to the mountains," study lead author Ben Kravitz of the Carnegie Institution...

URL: http://www.futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/technology/futureoftech/hacking-climate-could-lead-whiter-brighter-skies-805669
Enclosure: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/pip/2012GL051652.shtml

Geoengineering for global warming: Increasing aerosols in atmosphere would make sky whiter

ScienceDaily: One idea for fighting global warming is to increase the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere, scattering incoming solar energy away from Earth's surface. But scientists theorize that this solar geoengineering could have a side effect of whitening the sky during the day. New research from Carnegie's Ben Kravitz and Ken Caldeira indicates that blocking 2% of the sun's light would make the sky three-to-five times brighter, as well as whiter. Their work is published June 1st in Geophysical Research...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120531112614.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

Gimme shelter: Mick Jagger asked to help save Amazon tribes' forest reserve

Guardian: Peru's last uncontacted tribes may be among the small minority of mankind who have never heard of Mick Jagger but conservationists are now calling on the Rolling Stones frontman to help save the Amazonian homeland of these vulnerable groups. The British rock star – who was reportedly made an "honorary ambassador" for the environment during a visit to Peru last year – is being asked to weigh in on a controversial gasfield development that threatens the Mashco-Piro and other tribes isolated from...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/31/mick-jagger-amazon-tribes-gasfield

More Energy-Saving Products from the AIA Convention

Subtitle:

An innovative celing fan, a phase-change floor panel, and a new LED lighting product

Images:

[![][1]][2]

[![][3]][2]

Last week, I wrote about a number of innovative window and glazingWhen referring to windows or doors, the transparent or translucent layer that transmits light. High-performance glazing may include multiple layers of glass or plastic, low-e coatings, and low-conductivity gas fill. products I came across at the [AIA Convention][4] in Washington, DC earlier this month. Here are a few other products I came across with energy-saving features.

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Caramel-Bamboo.jpg (Haiku Fan in bamboo)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/more-energy-saving-products-aia-convention
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/EcoCore-Panel.jpg (EcoCore panel from Tate Access Floors)
[4]: http://convention.aia.org/event/convention-home.aspx

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/more-energy-saving-products-aia-convention

A Gust of Wind Industry Mergers

![][1] A rising tide may float all boats, but a stiff wind separates the wheat from the chaff. Over the last week, it's become clearer which wind developers are the wheat and which are the chaff. Stronger developers with deeper experience are buying projects from their weaker kin. At least two such deals were announced last week.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/30/1332-a-gust-of-wind-industry-mergers.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/a-gust-of-wind-industry-mergers?cmpid=rss

Has climate change been the death of environmentalism?

RTCC: For some the climate change and sustainability movement`s aims have become so far removed from the vision of a world at peace with nature, that traditional environmentalism no longer has a place in the debate. For them protecting the planet has been replaced by the need to sustain human life in the wake of increasing climatic changes. Rio+20 offers yet another moment of reflection and debate for the world, but can climate change and the environment be reconciled? The debate was reignited...

URL: http://www.rtcc.org/nature/has-climate-change-been-the-death-of-environmentalism/
Enclosure: http://www.rtcc.org/files/2012/05/NASA-Earth-shot1.jpg

EU's greenhouse emissions up but still meeting Kyoto target

Associated Press: COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The European Union's greenhouse gas emissions rose in 2010 for the first time in six years, but the 27-nation bloc is still on track to meet its target under an international climate accord, the EU's environmental agency said Wednesday. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases increased by 2.4 percent as some EU countries bounced back from recession, the European Environment Agency said. In addition, a colder winter than in the previous year led to higher heating demand,...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/eus-greenhouse-emissions-up-but-still-meeting-kyoto-target/2012/05/29/gJQAv4axzU_story.html

German and Chinese solar firms battle for survival

Spiegel: Michael Zhu gazes at the watch he's placed in front of him on the glass table in his office. He'll have to get a move on. He has to walk over to the factory and continue to work on forcing the Germans out of the very market they've created. Zhu is the vice president of Suntech Power, which has an annual output of 10 million solar panels. No company in the world makes more than his, and no country in the world buys more than Germany. "We really have to thank Germany," says Zhu, whose office is in...

URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/german-and-chinese-solar-firms-fight-for-survival-a-835367.html
Enclosure: http://cdn3.spiegel.de/images/image-356792-panoV9-xptt.jpg

Africa's biosafety regulators urged to strengthen links

SciDev.Net: In efforts to harmonise national biosafety regulations across Africa, the links between national regulatory authorities and key stakeholders must be strengthened, say experts at the African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE). Many of the continent's science and agriculture ministers endorsed the use of biotechnology to address poverty and food insecurity at an annual dialogue held last month (18-19 April) in Accra, Ghana. But biosafety regulations in many of those countries still need to...

URL: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/news/africa-s-biosafety-regulators-urged-to-strengthen-links-1.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
Enclosure: http://c96267.r67.cf3.rackcdn.com/Cassava_harvesting_in_Africa_Flickr_Gates_Foundation.jpg

Rural women in Peru key to adaptation of seeds to climate change

Inter Press Service: For ages, rural women in the Peruvian highlands have been selecting and storing seeds, ensuring their preservation. But the authorities have failed to tap into this storehouse of knowledge and experience, despite the contributions it could make to the design of effective policies for adaptation to climate change, which poses a growing threat to the women's livelihoods. Peru's campesinas or peasant women have played this role from time immemorial, handing down their knowledge by oral transmission....

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107956
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107956-20120529.jpg

Boise State study: Climate change could decrease aquifer

Boise Weekly: Two Boise State researchers warn that climate change could lead to "a significant decrease to the aquifer for the Boise and Spokane rivers' basins, resulting in an even broader impact to Treasure Valley residents who depend on the basins for drinking and irrigation. "Essentially, this is going to shift the hydrology of the basin and that is going to affect wildlife, wildfire possibilities," said Boise State civil engineer researcher Venkataramana Sridha, who authored the study with colleague Xin...

URL: http://www.boiseweekly.com/CityDesk/archives/2012/05/29/boise-state-study-climate-change-could-decrease-aquifer
Enclosure: http://www.awra.org/jawra/

Obama’s Aide on Climate Change Seeking Oil, Gas Allies

Bloomberg: Heather Zichal spent her early days in the Obama administration pushing a climate-change bill in Congress that oil and gas companies helped to derail. Now President Barack Obama has named Zichal, his deputy assistant for energy and climate change, as a liaison to that industry, and to make sure proposed rules don't slow the surge in U.S. natural-gas development. With energy emerging as a central topic in the 2012 presidential race, efforts by the 36-year-old Iowa native may help Obama blunt...

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-30/obama-s-aide-on-climate-change-seeking-oil-gas-allies.html

Germany's renewable energy revolution leaves UK in the shade

Guardian: The blazing blue skies that Germany baked under last weekend added a fresh gleam to the nation's renewable energy revolution: a new world record for solar power generation, equivalent to 20 nuclear power stations. It is the battle between nuclear, fossil fuels and renewables, and between the big utilities and the community-owned renewables eating into their profits, that has driven Germany's radical energy transformation to the top of its political agenda, with success seen as vital to chancellor...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/30/germany-renewable-energy-revolution

Overnight Shift from Drought to Flooding in Central Cuba

Inter Press Service: The sudden shift from drought to heavy rainfall that caused severe flooding in central Cuba drove home to the authorities the need to redesign preparedness and prevention plans for climate-related emergencies. "These unusually heavy rains in such a short period of time made it necessary for us to update our plans and modify procedures to adapt to climate change-related phenomena," said Inés María Chapman, president of the National Institute of Water Resources (INRH). The INRH's responsibilities...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107971
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107971-20120530.jpg

Companies’ Political Cash Contradicts Climate Stance, Group Says

Bloomberg: Companies that express concern about global climate change are more likely to donate to campaigns of U.S. lawmakers who oppose caps on carbon dioxide than to supporters of emission curbs, according to a study. The Union of Concerned Scientists studied 28 companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SPX) that weighed in on a California campaign to repeal limits on greenhouse gases or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's finding that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases endangered...

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-30/companies-political-cash-contradicts-climate-stance-group-says.html

Geoengineering: Risky to Do, Riskier to Ignore

Climate Central: I've got to admit I'm not the world's biggest fan of geoengineering, and I've said so quite publicly. The idea is that if we fail to cut back greenhouse gas emissions and the planet's temperature soars to potentially dangerous levels, we'll have to do something. Since greenhouse gases trap heat from the sun, that something could be finding a way to block sunlight -- by lofting particles of reflective sulfur dioxide up into the stratosphere, for example, or by "seeding' clouds with a fine spray...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/geoengineering-risky-to-do-riskier-to-ignore?utm-source=feedburner&utm-medium=feed&utm-campaign=Feed%253A+climatecentral%252FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed

Changing the Energy Game with the 'Power of One'

![][1] Who among us has not eagerly described the smart meter to a non-energy person only to be greeted by a blank stare, or worse the retort: "Why would I want to track my electricity costs all day?" You try to explain the profound applications: smart appliances that talk to the power grid, consumer clubs that sell energy savings, your car s

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/30/0-changing-the-energy-game-with-the-power-of-one.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/05/changing-the-energy-game-with-the-power-of-one?cmpid=rss

Ruling on wind farm says the countryside is as important as climate change targets

Telegraph: The Coalition is obliged to boost the amount of energy from renewables as part of climate change targets imposed by Europe. This will mean more than doubling the amount of energy from onshore wind over the next ten years and building at least another 5,000 wind turbines onshore. Sea Land and Power Ltd argued that the wind farm near Gt Yarmouth would help to meet these targets. However Justice Laing said the target cannot take precedence over natural beauty. In a judgment handed down at...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9298265/Ruling-on-wind-farm-says-the-countryside-is-as-important-as-climate-change-targets.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01822/wind4_1822348b.jpg

Land rights key to saving forests and climate, study shows

Associated Press: Ensuring that forest dwellers have rights over their land is vital for slowing the deforestation that may be causing up to a fifth of the world's emissions of greenhouse gases, according to a report released Wednesday. The report by the Washington-based NGO Rights and Resources Initiative is aimed at encouraging next month's U.N. summit in Rio de Janeiro to tackle the politically contentious issue of land reforms. RRI says studies in China, India and Brazil show local residents must have a...

URL: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/535ac8df23674f36a66249ad76c984f5/AS--China-Forests/

Extra heatwaves could kill 150,000 Americans by 2099

New Scientist: The US could end up as full of hot air as the politicians sceptical of climate change. By the end of the century, heatwaves caused by global warming could kill 150,000 people who would otherwise live. A report by the US Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimates how many extreme heat events will hit the US this century, assuming greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current path. Climate models suggest that by 2099 the 40 most populous cities will have approximately eight times as...

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21862-extra-heatwaves-could-kill-150000-americans-by-2099.html
Enclosure: http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn21862/dn21862-1_300.jpg

How climate change destroyed one of the world's largest civilizations

Christian Science Monitor: The mysterious fall of the largest of the world's earliest urban civilizations nearly 4,000 years ago in what is now India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh now appears to have a key culprit — ancient climate change, researchers say. Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia may be the best known of the first great urban cultures, but the largest was the Indus or Harappan civilization. This culture once extended over more than 386,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers) across the plains of the Indus River...

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0530/How-climate-change-destroyed-one-of-the-world-s-largest-civilizations

Australia: Call to rein in wind farm construction

Sydney Morning Herald: Michelle Edwards no longer canters her race horses on her Cullerin Ranges grazing land east of Gunning. Since Origin Energy's wind farm began operating in 2009 near the Cullerin sheep and cattle farm she runs with husband Brett, Mrs Edwards says she has lost her balance while riding. She says her vision is blurred, she is losing sleep and feels as if her stomach has battery acid in it. She qualified to train thoroughbreds to prepare horses on the property. She said her illness may not be...

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/act-news/call-to-rein-in-wind-farm-construction-20120529-1zhl2.html
Enclosure: http://images.smh.com.au/2012/05/30/3335937/TO-art729-windfarm-20120530081051904229-420x0.jpg

EU carbon emissions rise, end multi-year decline

Reuters: Greenhouse gases from the European Union rose more than 2 percent in 2010 when a cold winter and a rebound in many economies drove up energy use, breaking a multi-year pattern of emissions declines. The year-on-year rise in the official EU data released on Wednesday was slowed by emissions declines in struggling Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. Higher use of renewable energy and natural gas, which is lower in carbon than other fossil fuels, also limited the increase, but a collapsed carbon...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/30/us-eu-kyoto-idUSBRE84T0VI20120530?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20120530&t=2&i=613259597&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE84T13R900

California tuna connoisseurs shy away from sushi over Japan radiation fears

Guardian: Rodel Jugao studied the menu's sushi options a moment, then pondered the Pacific ocean surf foaming just two blocks away. He shook his head. "Nah. I'm going for the chicken or beef." This Los Angeles outlet of Sarku Japan, a restaurant chain, did excellent fish and Jugao, 33, was a sushi lover. But for this lunch he preferred to stay terrestrial. "It's concerning. You don't want food, you know, to glow." He appeared to speak for many other diners in a city which adores sushi – on condition...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/30/california-tuna-radiation-sushi-industry
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/5/30/1338390866514/Fishmonger-checks-large-b-008.jpg

Romney attacks Obama on Solyndra as he clinches nomination

Washington Post: Mitt Romney and his allies opened a multi-pronged attack Tuesday on President Obama's stewardship of taxpayer dollars, as Romney won the Texas primary and clinched the Republican presidential nomination. Romney garnered at least 88 delegates in the Texas primary, bringing his total past the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination, according to an Associated Press count. But the candidate's historic feat — he is the first Mormon to win a major party's nomination — and his economic message were...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-attacks-obama-on-solyndra-but-trump-steals-the-spotlight/2012/05/29/gJQAvma9zU_story.html
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/05/30/Production/Digital/homepage/Images/Romney_2012-06488.jpg

Brazilian Indigenous Community Seeks Survival Through Carbon Credits

Inter Press Service: Less than 45 years ago, the Paiter-Suruí, an indigenous people living deep inside the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, had never been in contact with the outside world. Today they hope to ensure their survival through the complex mechanisms of the carbon market. Inhabitants of the Sete de Setembro territory, an area of around 250,000 hectares stretching between the states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso near the border with Bolivia, the Paiter-Suruí have experienced a tumultuous history over the past...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107970
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107970-20120530.jpg

Natural Gas Boom May Halt Renewable Energy Growth, IEA Warns

Yale Environment 360: A surge in natural gas supplies worldwide could halt any meaningful growth in the renewable energy sector over the next two decades if governments don't take action, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns. New technologies to extract natural gas, primarily from shale formations using a technique known as hydraulic fracturing, could triple production of unconventional gas globally between 2010 to 2035, to about 1.6 trillion cubic meters, according to a new IEA report. These new sources of supply...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/natural_gas_boom_may_halt_renewable_energy_growth_iea_warns/3486/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Geothermal energy could meet a fifth of UK's power needs – report

Guardian: The UK could meet a fifth of its power needs – the equivalent of nine nuclear power stations – by exploiting geothermal power, a new report into the technology has found. But the report found that the current subsidy regime does not provide sufficient incentive to develop the technology in the UK - even as Charles Hendry, minister of state at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, flew to Iceland on Wednesday afternoon to discuss a possible new interconnector that could be used to import...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/30/geothermal-energy-uk-power
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/5/30/1338386166878/Geothermal-energy--Constr-006.jpg

Groundwater Depletion Threatens Future U.S. Food Supplies, Study Says

Yale Environment 360: The rapid depletion of groundwater resources in key U.S. agricultural regions could portend future vulnerabilities in growing the nation's food, according to a new study. In an assessment of water supplies in California's Central Valley and the High Plains of the central U.S. -- which runs from northwest Texas to southern Wyoming and South Dakota -- University of Texas researchers found that in many places water is being used faster than it can be replenished, and that some regions may be unfit for...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/water_depletion_threatens_future_us_food_supplies_study_says/3487/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29
Enclosure: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/05/24/1200311109.abstract?sid=a0454585-baea-48aa-a1fb-96732c979d40

Even in coal country, the fight for an industry

New York Times: For generations, coal has been king in this Appalachian town. It provided heat, light and jobs for the hundreds of people who worked in the nearby coal mines and the smoke-coughing Big Sandy power plant that burned their black bounty. But now, coal is in a corner. Across the United States, the industry is under siege, threatened by new regulations from Washington, environmentalists fortified by money from Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of New York City, and natural gas companies intent...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/business/energy-environment/even-in-kentucky-coal-industry-is-under-siege.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/05/30/business/energy-environment/COAL/COAL-articleLarge.jpg

Europe’s a mess, but it’s meeting its climate goals

Washington Post: These days, the news about Europe tends to be unrelentingly negative, so here's something slightly different. The European Union is still on track to meet its climate-change goals under the Kyoto Protocol, according to new data released Wednesday. Under the Kyoto treaty, 15 European Union countries committed to reducing their overall greenhouse gases 8 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. (The other countries have individual targets, save for Malta and Cyprus.) Even though the continent's emissions...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/europes-a-mess-but-its-meeting-its-climate-goals/2012/05/30/gJQAN8Wh1U_blog.html
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/ezra-klein/StandingArt/europe%20kyoto%20emissions%20targets.JPG?uuid=f2g9bKpjEeGEwasb3-EEcg

Amazon in dire threat as Brazil finalizes forest bill shaped by lobbyists for agricultural industry

LA Times: The Brazilian government is pressing forward with controversial legislation that critics say will lead to widespread destruction of the Amazon rain forest. After months of heated discussion, President Dilma Rousseff on Monday presented a final version of the bill that was heavily influenced by the country's powerful agricultural lobby. The update to the country's 1965 Forestry Code would reduce both the amount of vegetation landowners must preserve and the future penalties paid for those who...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-brazil-forests-20120529,0,2383595.story
Enclosure: http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2012-05/70178548.jpg

Ormat Technologies: Shame About the Price

![][1] Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) reported a great quarter last week, beating analyst expectations for both earnings and revenues.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/30/1332-ormat-technologies-shame-about-the-price.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/ormat-technologies-shame-about-the-price?cmpid=rss

Can the Weather Provide Insurance for the Wind and Solar Industries?

![][1] The wind and solar industries are continuing to mature, stakeholders are getting savvier about the risks and rewards inherent to these markets, and more capital is being invested to deploy these technologies than ever before. So, it is only natural that as more money becomes tied up in these industries, more investors, developers, and owners will be looking for advanced risk management techniques to protect their assets and secure revenue streams.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/30/1332-can-the-weather-provide-insurance-for-the-wind-and-solar-industries.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/can-the-weather-provide-insurance-for-the-wind-and-solar-industries?cmpid=rss

'Golden age of gas' threatens renewable energy, IEA warns

Guardian: A "golden age of gas" spurred by a tripling of shale gas from fracking and other sources of unconventional gas by 2035 will stop renewable energy in its tracks if governments don't take action, the International Energy Agency has warned. Gas is now relatively abundant in some regions, thanks to the massive expansion of hydraulic fracturing – fracking – for shale gas, and in some areas the price of the fuel has fallen. The result is a threat to renewable energy, which is by comparison more expensive,...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/29/gas-boom-renewables-agency-warns?newsfeed=true
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/5/29/1338306694024/Gas-boom-may-end-support--008.jpg

Report: Tariffs' Impact on Solar Project Costs Will Be Small

![][1] A new set of tariffs on Chinese silicon solar cells could hike the costs of solar panels shipped to the United States by 10-12 percent, but the tariff will only add a small amount to the price a developer will pay for building a solar project, according to market research firm IHS on Tuesday.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/29/1332-report-solar-projects-and-electricity-pricing-impact-will-be-small.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/report-solar-projects-and-electricity-pricing-impact-will-be-small?cmpid=rss

Asia Report: China's Solar Giants Unite to Confront Tariff Ruling

![][1] For those keeping score, there's one more alliance that's sprouted up in response to ongoing U.S.-China trade disputes.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/29/1332-asia-report-china-s-solar-giants-unite-to-confront-tariff-ruling.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/asia-report-chinas-solar-giants-unite-to-confront-tariff-ruling?cmpid=rss

Germany's Day in the Sun: Solar Hits 22 GW Mark

![][1] With the sun beaming overhead and the nation hard at work, Germany turned to solar like never before last Friday and Saturday as the nation's PV installations fed 22 gigawatts of electricity into the grid at one point, providing nearly half of the country's energy needs.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/29/1332-germany-s-day-in-the-sun-solar-hits-22-gw-mark.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/germanys-day-in-the-sun-solar-hits-22-gw-mark?cmpid=rss

Australia Out-installs Germany in sub 10 kW System Size.... again!

![][1] It may come as a surprise to many, but Australia installed more solar power in the under-10 kW system size than Germany did in 2011. Australia set a similar accomplishment in 2010 too, and looks on track to do so again in 2012. So why aren't we hearing more news about this fast growing segment of the Australian solar market? Well, as far as headli

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/29/9543-australia-out-installs-germany-in-sub-10-kw-system-size---again.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/05/australia-out-installs-germany-again?cmpid=rss

Bankruptcy Fears for China's LDK Solar Due to Market Downturn

![][1] Chinese photovoltaics leader LDK Solar is headed for bankruptcy according to industry observers within China, due to its immense debt burden and a global downturn in the solar energy market.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/29/1332-bankruptcy-fears-for-china-s-ldk-solar-due-to-market-downturn.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/bankruptcy-fears-for-chinas-ldk-solar-due-to-market-downturn?cmpid=rss

US Government Should Trust the Free Market for Green Energy Investment

![][1] The loan guarantee program should be retired permanently. The path to commercialization requires brains, discipline and grit. It is rarely aided, and often impeded, by government involvement. Our government should trust the free market forces that have made America great.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/29/1332-us-government-should-trust-the-free-market-for-green-energy-investment.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/us-government-should-trust-the-free-market-for-green-energy-investment?cmpid=rss

Geothermal Power to The People: Forget Iceland, Hot Rocks Are Everywhere

![][1] When British geologist Ryan Law lined up to meet the Queen in Exeter, England, earlier this month, he did something not everyone would do: He showed her a drill bit.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/23/1332-geothermal-power-to-the-people-forget-iceland-hot-rocks-are-everywhere.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/geothermal-power-to-the-people-forget-iceland-hot-rocks-are-everywhere?cmpid=rss

Wind farms considering detection systems to prevent bird deaths

LA Times: Just before daybreak, a group of naturalists don parkas to blunt the frosty wind blowing down a narrow canyon in the Tehachapi Mountains north of Los Angeles. They mount spotting scopes and cameras on tripods, and wait. "Showtime," one of them whispers at the first rays of light. The silence is broken by thousands of brightly colored birds the size of Christmas ornaments pouring north through the canyon on whooshing wings, just a few yards above ground. Kern County bird expert Bob Barnes stands...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-condor-radar2-20120528,0,2831784.story
Enclosure: http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2012-05/70167786.jpg

New solar power generation world record set in Germany

Guardian: German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity – equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity – through the midday hours of Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank has said. Germany's government decided to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, closing eight plants immediately and shutting down the remaining nine by 2022. They will be replaced by renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and bio-mass....

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/28/solar-power-world-record-germany
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/5/23/1337787755998/Damian-in-Germany--Sustai-007.jpg

Climate Talks Stall As Bonn Meeting Ends

redOrbit: The latest round of climate talks stalled on Friday in Bonn, Germany as government delegates couldn't resolve how to share the burden of reducing man-made global warming, running the risk of weakening any progress made at last year's talks and possibly undoing a decades-long effort to control carbon emissions. Developing countries, spearheaded by China, say the industrialized world is responsible for much of the emissions seen and should face the burden of emissions cuts alone, but the developed...

URL: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112543223/climate-talks-stall-as-bonn-meeting-ends/
Enclosure: http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2012/05/science-052812-006-617x416.jpg

No silver bullet when it comes to saving forests

TrustLaw: WWF agrees with Tom Picken in "Why we need laws to save what's left of our forests' that strong laws and protections are needed to ensure the survival of the world's dwindling forests. But WWF would contend that getting the legislation right is not the only approach, given the probability of slipshod enforcement, poor resourcing and outright corruption in many of the world's frontier regions. WWF doesn't claim to have a silver bullet for saving forests either, but it has long seemed to us that...

URL: http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/blogs/anti-corruption-views/no-silver-bullet-when-it-comes-to-saving-forests

Britain's climate change policy is going up in smoke

Guardian: Energy policy in the United Kingdom looks like a jam factory hit by a meteorite: a multicoloured pool of gloop studded with broken glass. Consider these two press releases, issued by the Department of Energy and Climate Change last week. Tuesday: the government's new energy bill will help the UK to "move away from high carbon technologies". Wednesday: applications for new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea have "broken all previous records". This is "tremendous news for industry and for the...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/28/energy-policy-up-in-smoke
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/5/28/1338231397496/Daniel-Pudles-2805-008.jpg

Justice Department probes whether BP execs lied to Congress: WSJ

Reuters: The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether BP executives lied to Congress about how much oil leaked in the company's 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the investigation. According to the Journal, prosecutors are looking into statements the company made to members of Congress at a closed-door briefing of members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee by officials from BP, Halliburton Co. and Transocean Ltd. Dave...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/29/us-bp-probe-idUSBRE84S01L20120529?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20120529&t=2&i=612662297&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE84S052M00

Tuna carry Fukushima radiation to US

Associated Press: Across the vast Pacific, the mighty bluefin tuna carried radioactive contamination that leaked from Japan's crippled nuclear plant to the shores of the United States 6,000 miles away -- the first time a huge migrating fish has been shown to carry radioactivity such a distance. "We were frankly kind of startled," said Nicholas Fisher, one of the researchers reporting the findings online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The levels of radioactive cesium were 10 times...

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47592012/ns/us_news-environment/
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/120528-fukushima-330p.grid-6x2.jpg

‘Green Economy' - New Disguise for Old Tricks?

Inter Press Service: Though the current global economic and financial crises are undoubtedly devastating much of the world, they present the perfect opportunity for remodeling our economic system, according to participants at the ninth annual Terra Futura (Future Earth) exhibition of 'good practices' in social, economic and environmental sustainability held here from May 25-27. "What, how, how much and for whom to produce? Those are the questions we urgently need to answer," said Guido Viale, environmental economist...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107942
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107942-20120528.jpg

Pakistan: Climate change wiped out one of the world's first, great civilisations more than 4, 000 years ago

Daily Mail: The Indus River in Karakoram Range near Skardu, Pakistan, remains a lifeline even in the modern day Climate change led to the collapse of the ancient Indus civilization more than 4,000 years ago, archaeologists believe. The Indus civilization was the largest - but least known - of the first great urban cultures that also included Egypt and Mesopotamia. The empire stretched over more than a million square kilometers across the plains of the Indus River from the Arabian Sea to the Ganges, over what...

URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2151143/Climate-change-wiped-worlds-great-civilisations-4-000-years-ago.html?ITO=1490

Japan: Tuna record Fukushima pollution

BBC: Increased levels of radioactivity from last year's Fukushima accident have been found in Pacific Bluefin tuna caught off the coast of California. Scientists say the fish would have picked up the contamination while swimming in Japanese waters. The radioactivity is well within safe limits, but researchers say the case illustrates how migratory species can carry such pollution over vast distances, as Jonathan Amos reports.

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18245868#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

New Zealand: Fight over climate change in coalmining continues

The Press: The fight over whether climate change should be considered when applications are made for coalmining continues as a West Coast mine seeks to expand. The Environment Court ruled a month ago that climate change could not be considered when local authorities assessed applications for coal extraction, despite coal combustion releasing carbon dioxide, a known greenhouse gas. Instead, it was deemed a matter for central government. The West Coast Environment Network and Forest & Bird have appealed...

URL: http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/7005738/Fight-over-climate-change-in-coalmining-continues