Solar Casa: 2012-07-01

Saturday, July 7, 2012

United Kingdom: Wind farms get go ahead as long as 'no more than 94 birds' killed per annum

Telegraph: In a decision that could have implications for future developments around the coast, Ed Davey, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, gave the go ahead to Race Bank and Dudgeon wind farms off Norfolk. Environmentalists have fought the decision for three years because of the risk to sandwich terns, a In a decision that could have implications for future developments, Ed Davey, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, gave the go ahead to Race Bank and Dudgeon wind farms off Norfolk. Environmentalists...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/9381700/Wind-farms-get-go-ahead-as-long-as-no-more-than-94-birds-killed-per-annum.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02269/sa_2269770b.jpg

Extreme weather threatening water supply in Central Kentucky

Herald-Leader: Jerry Hopkins never had a need for automated sprinklers, but this summer he wished he would've joined his neighbors on Bridgeport Drive in adding the watering system. As Hopkins, 76, used a hose to soak his impatiens for the second time Friday, he said his water bill has doubled. "Look at these flowers. The heat took them right down," he said. "It's really been bad." As temperatures once again soared into the triple digits and the drought continued, the state Energy and Environment Cabinet...

URL: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/07/06/2250413/water-shortage-watch-issued-for.html

Parts Of U.S. Still Gripping With Record Heat

National Public Radio: The heat is continuing to shatter records across the Midwest. Indiana is among the states being smothered by triple-digit temperatures and excessive heat warnings are in effect, but still many Hoosiers have to work out in the dangerous conditions. Sara Wittmeyer from member station WFIU reports on how people are coping during the heat wave and when they might see some relief.

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/07/07/156429859/parts-of-u-s-still-gripping-with-record-heat?ft=1&f=1025

After the storm: The haves and the have-nots

Mother Jones: The wild storm that hit the mid-Atlantic last weekend is still creating hardship for many, as nearly half a million people remain without power and temperatures are still hovering around 100 degrees. There's nothing like a disaster to bring class disparity into stark relief, as an email I received on Thursday morning shows. Rhonda Bush, 31, lives in Rainelle, West Virginia, about 30 miles northwest of where the Greenbrier Classic tournament is currently underway at a luxury golf resort despite...

URL: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/07/after-storm-haves-and-have-nots
Enclosure: http://mjcdn.motherjones.com/preset_16/poweroutage.jpg

US ethanol output falls to 10-month low, drought darkens outlook

Reuters: U.S. ethanol production dropped to its lowest level in 10 months last week as dwindling pre-harvest corn stocks crushed profit margins, while a deepening drought in the Midwest threatens to extend the pain into next year. Following the temporary closure of three U.S. ethanol plants in recent weeks, production plunged 3 percent, or 26,000 barrels per day, to 857,000 bpd in the week ending June 29, the Energy Information Administration said. It was the lowest output and the sharpest decline in...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/05/usa-ethanol-idUSL2E8I573020120705

Heat wave: Midwest plain 'out of whack' as records shatter

LA Times: It's not that the Midwest hasn't been extremely hot before, and it's not that it hasn't been incredibly dry. But it's unusual for a vast swath of the Midwest to be so very hot and so very dry for so very long -- particularly this early in the summer. The current heat wave -- which is spurring comparisons to the catastrophic heat of 1936 -- is "out of whack," meteorologist Jim Keeney said Friday in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. "Even on the East Coast today, temperatures are 100...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-midwest-heat-relief-20120706,0,5668282.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-4ff74301/turbine/la-na-nn-midwest-heat-relief-20120706-001/600

Heat Wave Peaks After Breaking Thousands of Records

Climate Central: The June to July heat wave finally began to ebb on Saturday, but not before breaking thousands of warm temperature records across the country. In many cases, records that had stood since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s have been equaled or exceeded, and this event is likely to go down in history as one of America's worst-ever early summer heat waves. It is also shining a spotlight on the role that human activities may be playing in this event, since studies have shown that manmade global warming...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/heat-wave-starts-to-ebb-after-breaking-thousands-of-records?utm-source=feedburner&utm-medium=feed&utm-campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/7-7-12_surfacetempsruc1-450x450.gif

Worries about drowning come with heat in US as more people may be flocking to water

Associated Press: As heat across a big chunk of the U.S. drives people into pools and lakes to cool off, public health officials are worried about a heightened risk of drowning. Minnesota has had more drowning deaths so far this year than any time in the past decade, and officials in Illinois and Michigan are seeing an uptick in some areas, too. Drowning deaths historically go up in the summer months, but the intensely hot weather may also be putting even more people at risk as they flock to water for relief, some...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/midwests-hot-sticky-days-give-way-to-equally-stifling-nights-offering-no-relief/2012/07/06/gJQABnVARW_story.html

Canada: Potential coal train terminals raise Vancouver residents' concerns

Oregonian: Activists, Clark County residents and environmental and health organizations opposing the possibility of six additional train terminals being built in Northwest ports are beginning to combine forces. The prospective terminals would export coal to Asia and are raising concerns citywide about the effects of increased train traffic on the Vancouver area. Laura Stevens is a Sierra Club organizing representative working in southwest Washington and supporting the efforts of the Southwest Washington...

URL: http://www.oregonlive.com/clark-county/index.ssf/2012/07/in_vancouver_potential_coal_tr.html

Australia: Under the pump on sales target for ethanol

Sydney Morning Herald: THE state government increased its support for ethanol fuel this week amid ongoing concerns that its mandates for the amount of ethanol that must be sold in NSW are unachievable. The acting Premier and Nationals leader, Andrew Stoner, said the state fleet of 27,890 vehicles would be required to use their fuel cards to buy E10 and biodiesel blends this week, a measure he said would save nearly half a million dollars a year and cut emissions. The announcement was made at a Woolworths petrol station...

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/under-the-pump-on-sales-target-for-ethanol-20120706-21mek.html

Thermometer may rampage near record on Saturday

Washington Post: Driven by a merciless sun blazing in a near cloudless sky and by a hot wind, which eddied up from the burning pavements, the official thermometer in Washington rampaged upward yesterday to a new all-time heat record. Neither heat nor hyperbole is new to this town. The heat that drove a scribe in 1930 to write the top of the news article you just read may repeat itself Saturday. Only cool-headed editors will determine whether the same sort of overheated prose reappears, too. The temperature...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/thermometer-may-rampage-near-record-on-saturday/2012/07/06/gJQAO02sSW_story.html?hpid=z3
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/07/06/Web-Resampled/2012-07-06/hot1_1341600960--606x404.jpg

Friday, July 6, 2012

Ongoing Heat Wave in U.S. Rivals Events of Dust Bowl Era

Climate Central: Tens of millions of Americans continue to sweat out one of the most intense heat waves on record since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s, with heat watches and warnings in effect yet again from the Plains to the Mid-Atlantic states. As happened during the Dust Bowl, the heat is helping to dry soils, increasing the extent and severity of drought conditions across the country and threatening this year's corn crop. During the past 30 days, a stunning 6,439 warm temperature records were set or tied in...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/heat-wave-rivals-events-of-dust-bowl-era?utm-source=feedburner&utm-medium=feed&utm-campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/7-6-12_andrew_swelteringheatnoaa_vis-500x282.png

Protest in China leads to cancellation of copper smelter

Mongabay: A massive protest triggered cancellation of a controversial copper smelter local communities feared would lead to air pollution, reports The New York Times. Outcry also led to the release of jailed protesters who had demonstrated against the project. The smelter, which would have cost $1.6 billion, had been pushed by the local government as part of a plan to boost the economy in an area devastated by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. But the government announced Wednesday the project would not proceed...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0706-china-protest-copper-smelter.html

Scientists Find That Climate Change Stalls Reef Growth

Time: A study published Thursday says our coral reefs could be in danger. Toth and her co-writers say in the study that El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) caused reef ecosystems in the tropical eastern pacific to collapse thousands of years ago, and pollution combined with global warming changes could now repeat the process. The sea temperature changes associated with El Niños are the main cause for the coral reefs dying off from bleaching. Around 4000 years ago reef growth began to shut down. The...

URL: http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2012/07/05/scientists-find-that-climate-change-stalls-reef-growth/
Enclosure: http://timeecocentric.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/136003395.jpg?w=600&h=400&crop=1

Researches find threat from biodiversity loss equals climate change threat

Canadian Press: The accelerating loss of plant and animal species around the planet is becoming as great a threat to global health and prosperity as climate change, concludes a newly published review of hundreds of research studies. "We should be just as worried about biodiversity loss," said Diane Srivastava, a University of British Columbia zoologist who helped write the paper, which appeared this week in the prestigious journal Nature. "One of the intents of this paper is to really demonstrate ... what...

URL: http://www.brandonsun.com/lifestyles/breaking-news/researches-find-threat-from-biodiversity-loss-equals-climate-change-threat-157847545.html?thx=y

United Kingdom: Wind farm scrapped over fears for birds

Guardian: A £1.5bn wind farm that could have powered almost 400,000 homes has been rejected by the government because it might kill 90 small birds a year. Over £10m, and three and a half years of planning, have been wasted on the 540 megawatt Docking Shoal offshore wind farm near the Lincolnshire and north Norfolk coast which was turned down by the Department of Energy and Climate Change on Friday. "It appears to come down to 94 sandwich terns," said a spokesman for Centrica, the parent group of British...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/06/wind-farm-scrapped-fear-birds
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/7/6/1341599376904/wind-farm-doacking-shoal-008.jpg

Climate change is getting harder and harder to ignore

Wisconsin State Journal: Evidence supporting the existence of climate change is pummeling the United States this summer, from the mountain wildfires of Colorado to the recent "derecho" storm that left at least 23 dead and 1.4 million people without power from Illinois to Virginia. The phrase "extreme weather" flashes across television screens from coast to coast, but its connection to climate change is consistently ignored, if not outright mocked. If our news media, including -- or especially -- the meteorologists, continue...

URL: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/amy_goodman/amy-goodman-climate-change-is-getting-harder-and-harder-to/article_fabcaf8c-c6b7-11e1-ad6c-0019bb2963f4.html

South Africa: 'Developing nations frustrated'

SAPA: Developing countries are frustrated by having to limit industrial expansion to avoid pollution, International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said on Thursday. "There is a fundamental unfairness to the climate change problem," she said. She was speaking in Pretoria at the announcement of the public enterprises department's climate change policy framework for state-owned companies, and the signing of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). "Countries with high standards of living...

URL: http://business.iafrica.com/news/804318.html

Top 20 cities with billions at risk from climate change

Bloomberg: By 2050, more than 6 billion humans are expected to live in cities, according to the United Nations. Ports, which constitute more than half the world's largest cities, will face unique challenges as their populations swell. More than 130 port cities around the world are at increasing risk from severe storm-surge flooding, damage from high storm winds, rising and warming global seas and local land subsidence. Poorly planned development often puts more people in vulnerable areas, too, increasing risk....

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2012-07-06/top-20-cities-with-billions-at-risk-from-climate-change.html
Enclosure: http://www.bloomberg.com/image/ip5_P2twXUFg.jpg

Top U.S. Science Official: ‘Climate Change is Having Consequences in Real Time’

Grist: One of America's top science officials says the current onslaught of extreme weather in the U.S. is raising awareness of climate change among Americans. Speaking at a university forum today in Australia, Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Americans are increasingly connecting the dots between climate change and the severe heat, drought, wildfires, and storms hitting the country. The Associated Press reported on her comments, made at the University...

URL: http://grist.org/climate-change/top-u-s-science-official-climate-change-is-having-consequences-in-real-time/
Enclosure: http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/jane-lubchenco-flickr-nasa-hq.jpg?w=250&h=186

Climate: “Extreme” events will focus minds — NOAA boss

Seattle Post Intelligencer: "Extreme weather" and "extreme climate-related events will finally focus minds on climate change, the head of America`s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told a conference Friday in Australia. "We are no longer at a point where we are questioning whether climate change is happening, although some continue to," Jane Lubchenco, a former Oregon State University oceanographer told the conference. Lubchenco spoke on a day when mid-American cities were experiencing a record stretch...

URL: http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2012/07/06/climate-extreme-events-will-focus-minds-noaa-boas/

US corn belt bakes, wheat heats up in Europe

Wall Street Journal: A change in the weather is enough to recreate the world, wrote Marcel Proust. Global grain markets are being transformed by extreme heat and dryness in a key U.S. growing region. Fields in the Midwest are baking under relentless sunshine, raising concern over crops in the country's corn belt. Led by corn, grain prices have soared. In July, the bulk of the corn crop will pollinate, a critical phase of growth that leaves the plants highly sensitive to heat. If the weather worsens this month,...

URL: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304141204577508150171481354.html
Enclosure: http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-TQ521_0705eu_DV_20120705145420.jpg

Heat wave, fires have climate change supporters on offensive

The Hill: Record-breaking heat across the country and catastrophic wildfires in Colorado are giving environmentalists a rare opening to regain the political offensive on climate change. While scientists caution against chalking up specific weather events to climate change, they say generally that heatwaves, wildfires and other extreme weather is expected with increasing frequency and intensity in a warming world. Skeptics of climate change often point to winter blizzards as evidence that the planet is...

URL: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/236391-heat-wave-fires-leave-some-climate-change-supporters-looking-to-go-on-offense

Officials worry that 'megafires' becoming 'new norm' for American West

Christian Science Monitor: Alaska reeling from sudden death of revered Eagle elder and renaissance man Polynesian community searches for answers after police shooting deaths Veepstakes: Why Sarah Palin will choose Romney's vice president The worst has passed in Colorado, which recently faced the most destructive in wildfires in state history, but this is only a pause, according to the National Inter-Agency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho. Federal agencies in charge of fighting fires are turning their attention to...

URL: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/officials-worry-megafires-becoming-new-norm-american-west

Tokyo and Washington on Fukushima

New York Times: A special investigative commission in Japan has issued a report that praises, explicitly or implicitly, several elements of nuclear safety regulation in the United States. But a few hours after the report was released on Thursday, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, who is about to step down, declared that the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns revealed a major gap in the American safety program. To whit: what happened at Fukushima technically did not violate American safety standards...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/tokyo-and-washington-on-fukushima/
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/07/07/business/fuku/fuku-blog480.jpg

Activists Aim to Melt Climate Change Denial in D.C

Yahoo!: There's always a lot of hot air in Washington DC, but this weekend promises to just be downright sweaty in the nation's capital. Temperatures are forecast to climb to 106 degrees yet again, as the stifling heat wave that began last month drags on. So what do you do when it's unbearably hot and Republicans are focusing on the failure of federally backed renewable energy companies like Solyndra and Abound to undermine a shift away from a fossil fuel economy? If you're the environmental advocacy group...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/activists-aim-melt-climate-change-denial-d-c-224707340.html

Navy moves ahead on biofuels despite congressional ire

Reuters: The Pentagon is pushing ahead with a $420 million effort to build refineries to make competitively priced biofuels, despite anger in Congress over the price the Navy paid for alternative fuel to test a carrier strike group this month. The government plans provide $210 million in matching funds to help firms build three refineries, each able to produce at least 10 million gallons of biofuel a year for military jets or ships, according to documents released this week. The Navy would supply $170...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/06/us-usa-greenfleet-idUSBRE86513S20120706?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Climate Change Affected Coral Reefs In Ancient Times

redOrbit: Climate change has historically affected the growth of coral reefs, with some reefs experiencing a long-term growth stoppage around 4,000 years ago, according to newly published research in the journal Science. An international team of scientists, who used radiocarbon dating and other research techniques, said that the growth stoppage they identified in eastern Pacific reefs took 2,500 years to recover from. "We were shocked to find that 2,500 years of reef growth were missing from the frameworks,"...

URL: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112651471/climate-change-affected-coral-reefs-in-ancient-times/
Enclosure: http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2012/07/science-070612-005-617x416.jpg

Official: More in US convinced of climate change

Associated Press: Increasingly common experiences with extreme climate-related events such as the Colorado wildfires, a record warm spring and preseason hurricanes have convinced many Americans climate change is a reality, the head of a U.S. scientific agency said Friday. Many Americans had previously seen climate change as a "nebulous concept" removed from them in time and geography, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco. "Many people around the world are beginning to appreciate...

URL: http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2012/07/06/official_more_in_us_convinced_of_climate_change/

Coral Reef Systems Collapsed During Earlier Changes to Climate

Yale Environment 360: An increase in ocean temperatures that occurred 4,000 years ago triggered a collapse of coral reef systems in the eastern Pacific that lasted for about 2,500 years, according to a new study. In an analysis of 17-foot core samples taken from the frameworks of coral reefs off the Panama coast, scientists from the Florida Institute of Technology found that the reefs stopped growing during a period that coincided with the start of a period of dramatic swings in the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, including...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/coral_reef_systems_collapsed_during_earlier_climate_change_periods/3538/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

McConnell dismisses climate change science

Courier-Journal: With reputable scientists describing the crazy weather conditions of the last year as what climate change looks like, Sen. Mitch McConnell told a Louisville Rotary audience yesterday he's not convinced. Courier-Journal reporter Chris Kenning reports that the Senate minority leader from Louisville was asked by a member of the audience about global warming, noting the recent record setting heat and forest fires out West. "As recently as 30-35 years ago we were worried about the globe getting too...

URL: http://blogs.courier-journal.com/watchdogearth/2012/07/06/mcconnell-dismisses-climate-change-science/

United Kingdom: Heavy rain causes flooding chaos

Press Association: Torrential rain led to flooded homes, road closures and havoc on public transport across parts of the country today. Dozens of flood warnings and alerts were in place as the latest downpours continued to fall on ground already saturated after three months of record-breaking rainfall across the UK. Almost 100 properties were flooded, the M50 was among a number of roads closed by the bad weather and flooding and landslips caused delays on major rail routes. Six people had to be rescued from...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/heavy-rain-causes-flooding-chaos-7920587.html

Want cheap food? Don't let the climate change

New Scientist: Tuck in now, everyone. The era of cheap food may come to an end within decades, thanks to the depredations of climate change. US consumers face rising food prices in the next few months, because a drought in the Midwest has pushed up the cost of corn. But that is just a taste of things to come. A new report suggests that by 2050 many UK consumers will be unable to afford current staples like meat, - and the same pressures will apply globally. Farmers around the world will face two challenges,...

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22025-want-cheap-food-dont-let-the-climate-change.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
Enclosure: http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn22025/dn22025-1_300.jpg

Just step outside: More Americans convinced of climate change after extreme weather

Yahoo!: Every summer it seems like a different kind of out-of-control weather pattern decides to strike. In the past month alone, we've experienced deadly Colorado wildfires, early-season heat waves and a wind-whipping hurricane, convincing formerly dubious Americans that climate change is actually real, according to the Associated Press. "Many people around the world are beginning to appreciate that climate change is under way, that it's having consequences that are playing out in real time and, in the...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/just-step-outside-more-americans-convinced-climate-change-213455838.html

Plug-in vehicles taking the slow road to one million in sales

Christian Science Monitor: The goal of putting 1 million plug-in electric vehicles on America's roads is apparently going to take longer than some – including President Obama – had hoped. Given current trends in sales and barring some unforeseen major event, that number will be attained in 2018, according to a new report by Pike Research, a Boulder, Colo.-based clean-energy market research firm. Mr. Obama, when he first campaigned for president in 2008, vowed to get the nation on the road to energy independence by putting...

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0705/Plug-in-vehicles-taking-the-slow-road-to-1-million-in-sales
Enclosure: http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/0705-plug-in-vehicles/13062364-1-eng-US/0705-plug-in-vehicles_full_380.jpg

Natural climate change shut down Pacific reefs: study

Agence France-Presse: A period of intense, natural changes in climate caused coral reefs in the eastern Pacific to shut down thousands of years ago, and human-induced pollution could worsen the trend in the future, scientists said Thursday. The study in the US journal Science points to sea temperature fluctuations -- brought on by the same phenomenon that causes El Nino and La Nina events every several years -- as the main cause for the coral die-off near the Panama coast. The reef shutdown began 4,000 years ago...

URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jQVsi01BvQX8MSP_RKk9-0OHts8A?docId=CNG.f8866013158cafd9502d8a9b38f83e6e.131

Historic heat wave marches on as drought expands

Climate Central: Much of the U.S. continues to be in the grip of unrelenting and dangerous heat, and the records just keep falling. During June alone, more than 3,200 daily high temperature records were set or tied, and more records have been set during the first week of July as well. Heat warnings, watches, and advisories were in effect for more than two dozen states as of midday Thursday, stretching from Nebraska to New Jersey. The heat wave is also exacerbating a growing drought problem in the nation's heartland...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/historic-heat-wave-marches-on-as-drought-expands/
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/uploads/news/7-5-12_andrew_jetstreamjuly5.gif

Drought reaches record 56 percent of USA

LiveScience: The United States is parched, with more than half of the land area in the lower 48 states experiencing moderate to extreme drought, according to a report released today (July 5). Just under 56 percent of the contiguous United States is in drought conditions, the most extensive area in the 12-year history of the U.S. Drought Monitor. The previous drought records occurred on Aug. 26, 2003, when 54.79 percent of the lower 48 were in drought and on Sept 10, 2002, when drought extended across 54.63...

URL: http://www.livescience.com/21419-drought-record-weather.html

Australia: Carbon pricing here for long term, say emitters

Sydney Morning Herald: EVEN if the carbon price is repealed, a majority of big greenhouse gas emitters and climate change experts believe Australia will have a scheme in the long run, a survey has found. The latest study of expectations about climate change laws, by the Australian National University's Crawford School of Public Policy, found 40 per cent of liable companies, carbon financiers and scheme experts believed they would be repealed by 2016. Among big emitters, 53 per cent thought they would be repealed....

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/carbon-pricing-here-for-long-term-say-emitters-20120704-21hm2.html
Enclosure: http://images.smh.com.au/2012/07/04/3428975/carbon-generic-420x0.jpg

UN talks, water matter most to Cyprus: minister

Reuters: Cyprus will focus on shoring up European Union water supplies and on preparation for U.N. climate talks in Doha as the green priorities for its six months at the EU helm, its environment minister said on Friday. Just before beginning its first stint as holder of the rotating EU presidency on July 1, Cyprus asked for 10 billion euros ($12.4 billion) in emergency funding for its financial sector. For a nation scarred by a severe drought that forced the import of water from Greece in 2008, its...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/06/us-eu-cyprus-idUSBRE8650P820120706?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

New issues prompt rethinking of Columbia River treaty

Spokesman-Review: Nearly 50 years ago, Canada and the United States shook hands over a groundbreaking accord that altered life in the Northwest. The Columbia River Treaty turned the 1,200-mile-long river and its tributaries into an electrical powerhouse, producing more kilowatts than any other North American river system. As a result of the treaty, three large storage dams in British Columbia and Montana's Libby Dam were built to boost downstream hydropower production, fueling the Northwest's supply of cheap...

URL: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/jul/05/dam-treaty-to-be-revisited/

Renewable advocates battle oil industry over energy policy

USA Today: Big oil and natural gas companies may vastly outspend and outman the renewable fuels industry on Capitol Hill but the general gridlock in Washington gives advocates of wind, ethanol and other new-age sources the upper hand in the growing battle to overhaul the country's energy policy. "This Congress"¦seems unable to make a national energy policy," said Bruce Babcock, an Iowa State University economist. "The renewable fuels have an advantage in that they are part of current law, and it's always...

URL: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-07-02/renewable-fuels-oil-congress/55987052/1

Global energy solutions: Going all in

Atlantic: Climate scientists call it the Greenhouse Gamble, and the question is this: how long can we continue contributing to climate change before climate change takes on a life of its own? Because, eventually, it will. As indicated in the stunning photography of the Rivers of Ice project presented at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival, ancient glaciers are receding and doing so at an alarming rate. The newly exposed earth in turn absorbs heat from the sun, which the ice otherwise would reflect back into the...

URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/shell-solutions/archive/2012/07/global-energy-solutions-going-all-in/259490/

Midwest can't get relief from oppressive heat

Associated Press: The temperatures in Casimir Brandon's basement bedroom were so stifling that the exhausted 56-year-old Madison man began riding city buses in the morning, from one end of the line to the other, so he could grab a few hours of air-conditioned sleep. Brandon is among those searching for any kind of relief as oppressive heat slams the middle of the country with record temperatures that aren't going away after the sun goes down. So when the city of Madison transformed a vacant convention center into...

URL: http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2012/07/05/midwest-cant-get-any-relief-from-oppressive-heat

Disorganized control room to blame for Enbridge U.S. pipeline spill: records

Edmonton Journal: A disorganized control room and bullying of inexperienced staff are allegedly to blame for a three-million litre oil spill in a Michigan River from a pipeline operated by Alberta-based Enbridge, says newly released records among hundreds of pages of evidence from a U.S. government investigation. The evidence includes testimony from a senior Enbridge employee who suggests the energy company, now promoting new projects in Canada such as the multibillion dollar Northern Gateway pipeline from Edmonton...

URL: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/energy-resources/Disorganized%20control%20room%20blame%20Enbridge/6883907/story.html
Enclosure: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/energy-resources/5981062.bin

Hotter summers could be a part of Washington's future

Washington Post: As relentless heat continues to pulverize Washington, the conversation has evolved from when will it end to what if it never does? Are unbroken weeks of sweltering weather becoming the norm rather than the exception? The answer to the first question is simple: Yes, it will end. Probably by Monday. The answer to the second, however, is a little more complicated. Call it a qualified yes. "Trying to wrap an analysis around it in real time is like trying to diagnose a car wreck as the cars are still...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/hotter-summers-could-be-a-part-of-washingtons-future/2012/07/05/gJQALW4bQW_story.html
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/07/05/Local/Images/phheat1_1341517201.jpg

Too Good to Fail: What's Wrong with the Electric Grid?

![][1] The temperature is 100 degrees and we have no air conditioning, no running water, no telephone and no Internet. It's been 60 hours since our household lost electricity because of the super derecho, a rare surprise storm that swept ten U.S. states and the nation's capital on June 29. About 5 million of us suddenly are living in conditions of a centu

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/6/body-too-good-to-fail-whats-wrong-with-the-electric-grid.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/07/too-good-to-fail-whats-wrong-with-the-electric-grid?cmpid=rss

Argentina Plans Biggest Wind Project With $3 Billion China Loan

![][1] An Argentinean renewable-energy developer is planning Latin America's biggest wind-power project, saying it expects to obtain $3 billion in financing from China Development Bank Corp.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/6/body-argentina-plans-biggest-wind-project-with-3-billion-china-loan.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/argentina-plans-biggest-wind-project-with-3-billion-china-loan?cmpid=rss

Suzlon Plans Turbine-parts Plant in Brazil as Wind Loans Blocked

![][1] Suzlon Energy Ltd., India's biggest wind-turbine maker, agreed to build a components factory in Brazil as the country's state development bank suspended loans to developers buying the machines from foreign companies.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/6/body-suzlon-plans-turbine-parts-plant-in-brazil-as-wind-loans-blocked.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/suzlon-plans-turbine-parts-plant-in-brazil-as-wind-loans-blocked?cmpid=rss

Can Russian Hydro Solve China's Power Shortfall?

![][1] As industrialisation and urbanisation enable the Asian economy to develop faster than ever before, the centre of world consumption is quickly shifting east to Asia. Among the Asian economies, China has emerged as the largest energy consumer given its tremendous development in manufacturing and infrastructure. Today, China's share in the world's energy consumption has reached 30% and continues to grow. This growth needs to be supported not only by resources from within China, but also by efficient energy solutions provided by China's neighbours.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/6/body-the-last-word-can-russian-hydro-solve-chinas-power-shortfall.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/the-last-word-can-russian-hydro-solve-chinas-power-shortfall?cmpid=rss

Legal action threatened over UK wind subsidies

![][1] Trade association RenewableUK says it may consider taking legal action against the government if wind power subsidies are cut by more than 10%.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/6/body-uk-wind-subsidies-come-under-political-fire.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/uk-wind-subsidies-come-under-political-fire?cmpid=rss

New Green Building Products

Subtitle:

A housewrap that encourages drainage, a new liquid-applied water-resistive barrier, polystyrene inserts to improve the R-value of ICFs, and a better way to install manufactured stone veneer

Images:

[![][1]][2]

[![][3]][2]

[![][4]][2]

[![][5]][2]

[![][6]][2]

[![][7]][2]

[![][8]][2]

[![][9]][2]

Once again, the "in" box on my desk is beginning to fill up with a stack of brochures describing interesting new products.

I've selected four products to review in this latest roundup: an insert panel to improve the thermal performance of insulated concrete forms (ICFs); a new wall system for manufactured stone veneer; and two new water-resistive barriers (WRBs).

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/new-green-building-products-2

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Fukushima Disaster ‘Man-Made’ and ‘Avoidable’

Climate Central: A report released by a panel from the Japanese parliament declared that the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was avoidable. Following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March of 2011, the plant suffered damage and radioactivity was subsequently discharged into the areas surrounding the power plant. The New York Times said that before releasing its 641-page report, the panel, called the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation, had upwards of 900...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/fukushima-disaster-man-made-and-avoidable?utm-source=feedburner&utm-medium=feed&utm-campaign=Feed%253A+climatecentral%252FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/blogs/CC_Fukushima-450x254.jpg

Heat wave bakes eastern half of the US but is climate change to blame?

Guardian: It's hot in the eastern United States. For those that live here, sweaty shirts and panting have become the norm. For those that don't, let me just tell you that for everyone, except air conditioning salespeople, it is a rather unpleasant experience. But just how hot is it? There have been no fewer than 40,113 high temperature records set or tied this year already, compared to only 5,835 low records. With more weather stations recording data than ever, that stat might be somewhat misleading, but...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/05/heat-wave-us-climate-change

United Kingdom: Agency warns over severe flood risk

Independent: A severe flood warning was issued last night as forecasters said up to a month's rain could fall over 24 hours. The Environment Agency urged communities in the north and east of England, the Midlands and much of Wales to be prepared for flooding as two bands of very heavy rain were set to cross the UK today and into Saturday. The agency said the risk of flooding was expected to be the highest of a so-far wet year with properties and transport in some parts of the country likely to be hit. Yorkshire,...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/agency-warns-over-severe-flood-risk-7917931.html

Decline in clean energy investment continues

BusinessGreen: Global renewable energy investment looks set to remain sluggish after a marked drop in levels of project finance, venture capital, and private equity funding during the second quarter of this year. Rather than improving on a poor start to the year, the latest figures from analyst firm Clean Energy Pipeline show a decline in activity to some the lowest levels seen since the economic downturn. Uncertainty around subsidies and financial turmoil in the Eurozone combined to send project finance...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2189604/decline-clean-energy-investment-continues?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Decline+in+clean+energy+investment+continues

Australia: Carbon tax talk about the cash, not the climate

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: So - it's happened. Australia has put a price on carbon emissions, and depending on who you are, you'll be marking this first business day of costlier CO2 by doing anything from panic-stockpiling distilled water and beef jerky to ignoring the event completely. Tony Abbott will be "crossing the length and breadth of Australia" - whether he will be doing this in the orthodox Abbott style, on a bike, or projecting a suitably carbon-defiant vibe by engaging a fleet of Hummers, none can yet say - to...

URL: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-02/crabb-carbon-tax-begins/4104002
Enclosure: http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/2800112-3x2-340x227.jpg

Smaller volcanoes could cool climate

ScienceDaily: A U of S-led international research team has discovered that aerosols from relatively small volcanic eruptions can be boosted into the high atmosphere by weather systems such as monsoons, where they can affect global temperatures. The research appears in the July 6 issue of the journal Science. Adam Bourassa, from the U of S Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies, led the research. He explains that until now it was thought that a massively energetic eruption was needed to inject aerosols past...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120705194132.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

Colorado's perfect firestorm

LA Times: Last week, my parents had to pack their belongings and flee as the Waldo Canyon fire barreled toward their house in Colorado Springs. They were among 32,000 people forced from their houses by the fire, which has destroyed nearly 350 homes. My parents were lucky. Despite the trauma and fear of having to evacuate, they didn't lose their home. But the fire emphasized something of a long-running debate between my father and me: the reality and politics of climate change. I am a political scientist...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-lubell-colorado-fires-and-climate-change-20120706,0,1751544.story

Green businesses line up to support Australian carbon tax

BusinessGreen: A group of over 300 leading Australian firms have hit back at suggestions the business community is united in condemnation of the country's new carbon tax, which came into effect yesterday, publicly declaring their support for the controversial levy. The group, dubbed ''Businesses for a Clean Economy'', contains a host of high-profile international and Australian brands, including AGL, Westpac, Alstom, GE, Fujitsu, IKEA, Unilever and Infigen Energy. It yesterday released a statement that is...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2188424/green-businesses-line-support-australian-carbon-tax?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Green+businesses+line+up+to+support+Australian+carbon+tax

Australia's carbon-price future clouded as Gillard trails in polls

Bloomberg: Australia's price for carbon emissions will survive whatever happens in elections due next year, the government says. Power markets aren't so sure. Australian electricity futures markets after 2014 indicate doubts that carbon prices will remain in force, according to Westpac Banking Corp. The nation started yesterday charging about 300 of its largest polluters a fixed rate of A$23 ($23.50) a metric ton for greenhouse gases under the law Prime Minister Julia Gillard pushed through Parliament last...

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-02/carbon-price-future-clouded-as-gillard-trails-in-polls-2-.html

World leaders accused of backsliding on women's rights

Guardian: Women's rights are under the greatest attack for almost 20 years after a failure of world leaders to continue to support reproductive rights, according to Mary Robinson, the first female president of Ireland. Her comments come amid fears that religious conservatives are eroding support for family planning around the world. Objections from the Vatican and other states removed specific support for reproductive rights, such as family planning, from an international agreement reached in Rio de Janeiro...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/05/world-leaders-backsliding-womens-rights
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/7/5/1341507987901/Mary-Robinson-former-pres-008.jpg

U.S.’s Largest Solar Factory Halted in Face of Dropping Prices

Yale Environment 360: General Electric has halted construction of what would have been the largest solar factory in the U.S. due to the falling price of photovoltaic modules globally and says it will focus instead on developing the next generation of cadmium-telluride thin-film technologies for the developers of solar plants. Construction of the 400-megawatt factory in Aurora, Colo, which had been announced after GE purchased Primestar Solar in April 2011, will be put on hold for at least 18 months, company officials...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/uss_largest_solar_factory_halted_in_face_of_dropping_prices/3537/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Four hundred million more plastic bags handed out in supermarkets last year

Independent: Four hundred million more plastic bags were handed out by supermarkets last year as the campaign to reduce their use went backwards, official figures from the waste reduction body Wrap showed today. Shoppers in the UK used 7.96 billion single-use bags in 2011, a rise of 5.4 per cent on the previous year - with each person taking 10 throwaway carriers a month. Plastic bag use rose steeply across most of the UK but in Wales, which introduced a 5p charge per bag last October, it fell by 22 per...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/four-hundred-million-more-plastic-bags-handed-out-in-supermarkets-last-year-7917787.html

United States: District by District, Climate Change in Los Angeles

New York Times: Last year, as part of a series about planners mapping out adaptations to climate change, I wrote about how the city of Chicago was expecting that its climate would be comparable to that of Baton Rouge today by the end of the century. Chicago based its predictions on global climate models that had been adjusted to use data from local weather stations and to take into account the moderating effect of Lake Michigan. Still, the model was described as little more than a schematic evaluation of the...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/district-by-district-climate-change-in-los-angeles/?partner=rss&emc=rss
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/07/03/science/la/la-blog480.jpg

Toronto latest battleground for war on plastic bags

BusinessGreen: The global battle to make single-use plastic bags a thing of the past has intensified further this week, after Toronto repealed its mandatory bag tax, only to replace the levy with an outright ban on free plastic bags. The mandatory five cent bag tax was eliminated with effect from this Sunday, but in a vote earlier this month the council confirmed it would instead ban plastic carrier bags from January 2013 The move means many large retail chains will continue to levy a charge on plastic bags,...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2188525/toronto-battle-ground-war-plastic-bags?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Toronto+latest+battleground+for+war+on+plastic+bags

United Kingdom: 'Choice between green or growth is a false one'

Guardian: The UK's large and fast-growing green economy delivered a third of the nation's growth in the last year and is set to add 0.5% to GDP if the government untangles the "gnarly mess" of its policy, the director general of the CBI said on Thursday. "The government has to end the political ping-pong," John Cridland said. "The so-called 'choice' between going green or going for growth is a false one. With the right policies in place, green business will be a major pillar of our future growth." The...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/05/green-growth-false-choice-cbi
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2012/7/5/1341501285253/Little-Cheyne-Court-windf-008.jpg

U.N. Calls for Tax on Ultrarich to Boost Development

Inter Press Service: What if billionaires the world over are asked to shell out at least one percent of their wealth as an international tax for development? The question arises in a new U.N. survey, which bemoans the fact that many donor nations continue to shy away from fulfilling their pledge to finance development goals by providing 0.7 percent of their Gross National Product (GNP). "It is time to look for other ways to find resources to finance development needs and address growing global challenges, such...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/07/u-n-calls-for-tax-on-ultrarich-to-boost-development/

Heat wave sets more all-time temperature records

Climate Central: With widespread power outages still plaguing a multistate swath from Indiana to Virginia after the severe "derecho' event on Friday night, the late June heat wave continues to make headlines. Numerous all-time high temperature records were set on Saturday, with additional records expected to be set during the first few days of July. Climate Central Record Tracker map showing some of the record temperatures set or tied on June 30, 2012. Atlanta set an all-time high temperature record on Saturday...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/heat-wave-sets-more-all-time-temperature-records/
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/uploads/blogs/7-1-12_andrew_recordtracker.jpg

River life 'at risk' from water firms

Telegraph: Water voles, otters and kingfishers are among the wildlife threatened by the draining of rivers to supply homes and businesses. The Government is looking at implementing new rules in the Water White Paper to try to stop water companies draining rivers dry. But a report by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee said the tough rules would not take effect quickly enough to save some salmon and trout rivers. The cross-party group also criticised the Government for failing to ensure...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/9377442/River-life-at-risk-from-water-firms.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01205/otter_1205307c.jpg

Australia: Almost 300 businesses back carbon price

AAP: ALMOST 300 businesses including Westpac, AGL, Unilever and GE have signed a joint statement backing a price on carbon. The $23 per tonne price on carbon emissions started on Sunday, impacting directly on 294 electricity generators and other companies. The federal government is aiming to cut carbon emissions by five per cent by 2020, with the carbon tax shifting to an emissions trading scheme in 2015. The Businesses for Clean Energy consortium members say a carbon price will underpin the...

URL: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/companies/almost-300-businesses-back-carbon-price/story-fndfr3g3-1226414087277

A New Net-Zero Community

Subtitle:

Two builders team up for subdivision in southern Maine that will feature net-zero-ready houses at moderate prices

Images:

[![][1]][2]

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Two southern Maine builders have teamed up with Kaplan Thompson Architects on a subdivision that will include as many as 26 houses built to net-zero standards.

The first of the houses in a Wells, Maine, subdivision called Brackett Estates, is a 1750-sq. ft., three-bedroom model called the Appledore, which was completed in mid-June. The two-story, all-electric house includes double-stud walls insulated to R-40, triple-glazed windows, and a roof insulated to R-60 with dense-pack cellulose. It's on the market for $429,000, or just under $250 a sq. ft.

Among its other energy features:

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Net-Zero 4.jpg (Net-Zero in Maine)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-blog/new-net-zero-community
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Net-Zero 3.jpg (First-floor interior)
[4]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Net-Zero 2.jpg (Splayed window opening)
[5]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Net-Zero 1.jpg (Builder Jesse Ware)

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-blog/new-net-zero-community

United Kingdom: Set clear targets for water meters, urge MPs

Press Association: The Government must set clear targets for increasing the number of homes with water meters as part of efforts to better manage England's water supplies, MPs urged today. Current plans to reform the regime for taking water from rivers by the mid to late 2020s will not take effect swiftly enough given that rivers are already running dry, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee said. The committee's report into the Government's plans for conserving scarcer water resources in the face...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/set-clear-targets-for-water-meters-urge-mps-7912859.html

El Nino may begin in 3rd quarter of 2012 : CPC

Reuters: The feared El Nino weather phenomenon could strike as early as the third quarter of 2012, raising prospects of wreaking weather havoc from North and South America to Asia, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said on Thursday. "Overall, the forecaster consensus reflects increased chances for El Nino beginning in July-September 2012," the agency said in a monthly update. The monthly report is the strongest prediction yet about when the El Nino weather phenomenon could emerge this year. Last...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/05/us-weather-elnino-idUSBRE8640N120120705?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Zimbabwe: As piped water dries up, city dwellers turn to carrying water

AlertNet: Samukeliso Tshuma, a 33-year old mother of four, lives in one of Bulaway's teeming high density urban townships, but these days gets her water the same way rural dwellers do -- from a borehole well. This is "something I never imagined I would be doing,' said Tshuma, who formerly relied on city-provided piped water. Spare rainfall has hit water levels at dams supplying Zimbabwe's second largest city with piped water, raising fears among municipal offers that supplies may soon run out, and leading...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/as-piped-water-dries-up-city-dwellers-turn-to-carrying-water
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/8349cc55-fe0c-47a1-b7bd-50492d0748bf/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201207051328

Drought caused big drop in Texas portion of Ogallala

Texas Tribune: The historic Texas drought caused the Ogallala Aquifer to experience its largest decline in 25 years across a large swath of the Texas Panhandle, new numbers from a water district show. The 16-county High Plains Underground Water Conservation District reported this week that its monitoring wells showed an average decline last year of 2.56 feet -- the third-largest in the district's 61-year history, and three times the average rate over the past decade. Farmers pumped more water during the drought...

URL: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-environmental-news/water-supply/drought-caused-huge-drop-texas-portion-ogallala/
Enclosure: http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/OG2_jpg_800x1000_q100.jpg

Extreme weather events forecast storm over climate change denial

Guardian: Evidence supporting the existence of climate change is pummeling the United States this summer, from the mountain wildfires of Colorado to the recent "derecho" storm that left at least 23 dead and 1.4 million people without power from Illinois to Virginia. The phrase "extreme weather" flashes across television screens from coast to coast, but its connection to climate change is consistently ignored, if not outright mocked. If our news media, including – or especially – the meteorologists, continue...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/05/extreme-weather-forecast-storm-climate-change

Palm-oil boom raises conservation concerns

Nature: Palm oil was once touted as a social and environmental panacea -- a sustainable food crop, a biofuel that could help to cut greenhouse-gas emissions and a route out of poverty for small-scale farmers. In recent years, however, a growing body of research has questioned those credentials, presenting evidence that palm-oil farming can cause damaging deforestation and reduce biodiversity, and that the oil's use as a biofuel offers only marginal benefits for mitigating climate change. But even as the...

URL: http://www.nature.com/news/palm-oil-boom-raises-conservation-concerns-1.10936
Enclosure: http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.5213.1341325761!/image/487014a.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/487014a.jpg

California Farm Bureau gets OK to sue over solar project

Fresno Bee: The California Farm Bureau has won approval to pursue its legal fight against solar development on Valley farmland. A Fresno County Superior Court judge ruled last week that the California Farm Bureau Federation can sue Fresno County for permitting a 90-acre solar plant on agricultural land near Interstate 5. County attorneys had argued that the farm bureau didn't have a local connection to the proposed solar project and therefore couldn't sue. Judge Donald Black set a hearing for the case...

URL: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/07/04/2898824/state-farm-bureau-gets-ok-to-sue.html

Doubts linger over Japan's nuclear future

Financial Times: High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ce753726-c5e2-11e1-a3d5-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1zlGlv4Xu When the world's appalled gaze turned to Japan's tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in March last year, few paid much attention to its sister atomic...

URL: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ce753726-c5e2-11e1-a3d5-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fce753726-c5e2-11e1-a3d5-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=
Enclosure: http://video.ft.com/v/1719928998001

United States: Helping U.S. Farmers Increase Production and Protect the Land

Yale Environment 360: In California, farmers can go online and access detailed data on evapotranspiration from a state network of weather stations, helping them calculate the optimal amount of water to apply on a given day to irrigated crops in their region. In a pilot study, growers using the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) reduced their water use by 13 percent while increasing their yields by 8 percent. Still, despite these benefits, farmers use CIMIS data on only 5 percent of irrigated cropland...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/helping_us_farmers_increase_production_and_protect_the_land/2549/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29
Enclosure: http://wwwcimis.water.ca.gov/cimis/infoGenCimisOverview.jsp

Fraud case shows holes in exchange of fuel credits

New York Times: Gary L. Miller knew something was afoot in the garage rented out behind his auto equipment business. Through an open door, Mr. Miller glimpsed piles of pipes, polyethylene tanks and pumps. But nothing was hooked up. Nothing was being made. So it came as a surprise — to say the least — when he learned that the tenant, Rodney R. Hailey, had told a federal agency that he would produce millions of gallons of biodiesel fuel there. "Not out of here. Not out of a few plastic tubes," Mr. Miller said, standing...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/us/biofuel-fraud-case-shows-weak-spots-in-energy-credit-program.html

Warming: Reality has arrived

Charleston Gazette: A major scientist from West Virginia is rushing to finish his landmark research before global warming wipes out his evidence. Dr. Lonnie Gene Thompson, born on a farm near Gassaway, went to Ohio State University to become a coal geologist -- but instead became intrigued by glacier ice that contains a frozen record of climate conditions dating back as far as 800,000 years. Since the 1970s, he has collected huge numbers of deep core drill ice samples containing dust, volcanic ash, water chemistry...

URL: http://wvgazette.com/Opinion/Editorials/201207030264

Going green could add $31billion to UK economy by 2015

Reuters: The low-carbon products and services sector, often referred to as green business, could contribute 20 billion pounds ($31.16 billion) to Britain's economy by 2015, the country's leading business lobby said on Thursday. "Get our energy and climate change policies right, and we can add 20 billion pounds extra to our economy and knock 0.8 billion pounds off the trade gap, all within the lifetime of this Parliament," said John Cridland, director general of the Confederation of British Energy (CBI)....

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/05/us-britain-green-business-idUSBRE8640FB20120705?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Feeling the heat yet?

Miami Herald: Still don't believe in climate change? Then you're either deep in denial or delirious from the heat. As I write this, the nation's capital and its suburbs are in post-apocalypse mode. About one-fourth of all households have no electricity, the legacy of an unprecedented assault by violent thunderstorms Friday night. Things are improving: At the height of the power outage, nearly half the region was dark. The line of storms, which killed at least 17 people as it raced from the Midwest to the...

URL: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/05/2880449/feeling-the-heat-yet.html

Peru anti-mining protests escalate during state of emergency

Associated Press: A civilian was killed and a prominent anti-mining activist arrested in protests on Wednesday against Peru's biggest gold mining project, further inflaming tensions after the government declared a state of emergency. Peru's prime minister, Oscar Valdés, announced the civilian's death at a news conference in Lima but did not provide further details. It was the fourth protest-related death in two days. Marco Arana, a former Roman Catholic priest, was arrested hours earlier in Cajamarca, one of...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/05/peru-anti-mining-protests-escalate
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2012/7/5/1341486904213/Protesters-in-Cajamarca-P-008.jpg

UK Food Crisis Looms as Climate Change Threatens Staple Crops

International Business Times: Climate change could create a serious food crisis for the UK, research by the University of Manchester has warned. Rising temperatures will have a massive effect on the availability of food as crops die and meat prices soar. Staple food sources such as rice and wheat could be devastated. The research, carried out by the Sustainable Consumption Institute, warns that the current rate of climate change means foods that are taken for granted could disappear or simply become too expensive. Current...

URL: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/359511/20120704/uk-food-crisis-climate-change-agriculture-university.htm
Enclosure: http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2012/07/04/286051.jpg

Fukushima reactor meltdown was a manmade disaster, says official report

Guardian: Last year's accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was a manmade disaster caused by poor regulation and collusion between the government, the operator and the industry's watchdog, a report has said. In a highly critical assessment published on Thursday, a Japanese parliamentary panel challenged claims by the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), that the triple meltdown at the plant in north-east Japan had been caused solely by a 14-metre tsunami on 11 March last year....

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/05/fukushima-meltdown-manmade-disaster
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/7/5/1341479957272/Head-investigator-Kiyoshi-006.jpg

World facing biggest ever migration crisis, says new report

Ekklesia: Some 1 billion people will be forced from their homes by 2050 as climate change deepens an already huge global migration crisis, predicts an authoritative new report by Christian Aid - which shows that scapegoating immigrants is the wrong approach. At least 1 billion people will be forced from their homes between now and 2050 as the effects of climate change deepen an already burgeoning global migration crisis, predicts a new report by the UK-based international development agency Christian Aid....

URL: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/5282
Enclosure: http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/705caweekreport/human_tide.pdf

United Kingdom: What is the 'polluter pays' principle?

Guardian: The 'polluters pays' principle is the commonly accepted practice that those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it to prevent damage to human health or the environment. For instance, a factory that produces a potentially poisonous substance as a byproduct of its activities is usually held responsible for its safe disposal. This principle underpins most of the regulation of pollution affecting land, water and air. Pollution is defined in UK law as contamination of the land,...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/02/polluter-pays-climate-change

Japan nuclear crisis 'man-made'

BBC: The crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant was "a profoundly man-made disaster", a Japanese parliamentary panel has said in a report. The disaster "could and should have been foreseen and prevented" and its effects "mitigated by a more effective human response", it said. The report catalogued serious deficiencies in both the government and plant operator Tepco's response. It also blamed cultural conventions and a reluctance to question authority. While the report is highly critical of...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18718057#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/61371000/jpg/_61371887_plant_reu_may.jpg

US heatwave sets more temperature records

Guardian: With widespread power outages still plaguing a multistate swath from Indiana to Virginia after the severe "derecho" event on Friday night, the late June heat wave continues to make headlines. Numerous all-time high temperature records were set on Saturday, with additional records expected to be set during the first few days of July. Atlanta set an all-time high temperature record on Saturday of 106°F, beating the old record of 105°F set in 1980. Columbus, GA also set an all-time record, with 106°F,...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/02/us-heatwave-temperature-records
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/audio/video/2012/6/30/1341060907909/US-heatwave-Maryland-008.jpg

Nuclear plant protests in Japan - in pictures

Guardian: Protesters stage demonstrations across Japan as technicians at the Ohi nuclear facility on the country's west coast prepare to restart a reactor, the first to come back online since the Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed the earthquake and tsunami that hit the country last year. Restarting Japan's nuclear power stations will avert dire power shortages and sustain the economy, the prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, has said. But the issue has divided the country, resulting in an increasingly hostile...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2012/jul/02/nuclear-power-proests-japan-pictures
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/7/2/1341224887442/A-policeman-struggles-to--020.jpg

Australian minister Craig Emerson sings praises of carbon tax – video

Guardian: The trade minister, Labor's Craig Emerson, attempts to ridicule opposition claims that communities such as the South Australian mining town of Whyalla would be wiped off the map by the country's new carbon tax. A 30% tax on mining companies' profits was introduced on 1 July

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/jul/02/australian-minister-sings-carbon-tax-video
Enclosure: http://gu.com/p/38ym5

Gridlock in D.C. may give edge to renewables

Des Moines Register: Big oil and natural gas companies vastly outspend and outman the renewable fuels industry on Capitol Hill, but the general gridlock in Washington gives advocates of wind, ethanol and other new-age sources an edge in the growing battle to overhaul U.S. energy policy. "This Congress seems unable to make a national energy policy," said Bruce Babcock, an Iowa State University economist. "The renewable fuels have an advantage in that they are part of current law, and it's always easier to maintain...

URL: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/needlogin?type=login&redirecturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desmoinesregister.com%2Farticle%2F20120702%2FBUSINESS01%2F307020017%2FGridlock-in-D-C-may-give-edge-to-renewables%3FNews%26nclick_check%3D1

Heat Wave Continues As Storm Cleanup Drags On

Climate Central: A heat wave will drag on for yet another week in parts of the U.S., with more record warm temperatures likely in the Upper Midwest, High Plains, and the Carolinas. Meanwhile in the Mid-Atlantic, cleanup efforts are still underway after fierce thunderstorms ripped through the region on June 29, knocking out power to more than 3 million people and killing 17. Although the scorching heat that had set at least 155 all-time high temperature records across the country between June 24-30 retreated from...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/heat-wave-continues-as-storm-cleanup-drags-on?utm-source=feedburner&utm-medium=feed&utm-campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed

Australia: Opinion: Carbon tax: not everyone's worse off

Financial Review: The Opposition Leader says he will repeal the carbon tax if the Coalition wins the next federal election. The political process, through either a slow double dissolution or a faster but unlikely annihilation of Labor and the Greens in the Senate, has been widely canvassed in the media and elsewhere. Most of the coverage highlights support from the business community for Tony Abbott's plans. However, our research into the business response to climate change suggests this support may not be as...

URL: http://afr.com/p/opinion/carbon_tax_not_everyone_worse_off_sIOV84t4kGbVksqMAc9YFI

Indigenous tribes occupy Belo Monte dam for over 10 days

Mongabay: As of Tuesday, the occupation of Belo Monte dam by indigenous tribes entered its 13th day. Indigenous people, who have fought the planned Brazilian dam for decades, argue that the massive hydroelectric project on the Xingu River will devastate their way of life. According to a statement from the tribes, 17 indigenous villages from 13 ethnic groups are now represented at the occupation, which has successfully scuttled some work on the dam. The occupiers demand "that construction of the Belo Monte...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0703-hance-belo-monte-occupation.html

RWE Sees German Climate Goals Threatened by Offshore Grid Delays

![][1] RWE AG, Europe's biggest air polluter, won't reach clean-energy goals unless Germany ends delays linking offshore wind farms to the nation's transmission network.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/5/body-rwe-sees-german-climate-goals-threatened-by-offshore-grid-delays.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/rwe-sees-german-climate-goals-threatened-by-offshore-grid-delays?cmpid=rss

Community Wind Arrives Stateside

![][1] What would you imagine to be the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. wind industry today? It might not be what you'd think. According to the American Wind Industry Association's (AWEA) annual market report, the community wind segment is growing at a faster pace than commercial wind, capturing 5.6 percent of the overall wind market at the end of 2010 and projected to have roughly the same market share in 2011.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/4/body-community-wind-arrives-stateside.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/community-wind-arrives-stateside?cmpid=rss

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Africa's savannahs may change into forests before the turn of the century due to excess CO2

Daily Mail: A study suggests that some of Africa's savannahs - large areas sparse vegetation other than grass - may become forests by the end of the century. Research from The Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and the Goethe University Frankfurt suggests that a build-up of carbon dioxide in the soil will force an increase of tree cover throughout Africa. When CO2 in the air and soil reaches a certain density, it forces trees to increase their size and foliage, meaning the open-sky savannahs may...

URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2166470/Africas-savannahs-change-forests-turn-century-excess-CO2-atmosphere.html
Enclosure: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/06/29/article-0-12113990000005DC-800_634x379.jpg

Colorado Wildfires Threaten Water Supplies

National Geographic: Last week, aerial views of Rampart Reservoir, a critical water-storage facility for Colorado Springs, Colorado, showed spot fires billowing tentacles of smoke over the lake's forested shores. "It smelled like a big smelly cigar," said Andy Funchess, a water systems field operations manager for the Colorado Springs water utility. Funchess spends his workdays monitoring and maintaining the city's 25 reservoirs and hundreds of miles of pipeline and canals. As strong winds helped the Waldo Canyon...

URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/07/120703/colorado-wildfires-waldo-high-park-hayman-threaten-water-supplies/
Enclosure: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/559/overrides/freshwater-colorado-fires-drinking-water_55923_600x450.jpg

This US summer is 'what global warming looks like'

Associated Press: Is it just freakish weather or something more? Climate scientists suggest that if you want a glimpse of some of the worst of global warming, take a look at U.S. weather in recent weeks. Horrendous wildfires. Oppressive heat waves. Devastating droughts. Flooding from giant deluges. And a powerful freak wind storm called a derecho. These are the kinds of extremes experts have predicted will come with climate change, although it's far too early to say that is the cause. Nor will they say global warming...

URL: http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2012/07/03/this_us_summer_is_what_global_warming_looks_like/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Enclosure: http://ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX/

Climate change no longer tops US environment worries

Agence France-Presse: Cooling towers at the Scholven coal-fired power plant in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany. Americans no longer see climate change as the world's number-one environmental issue, according to a public opinion poll released Tuesday amid an ongoing heat wave in much of the United States. Americans no longer see climate change as the world's number-one environmental issue, according to a public opinion poll released Tuesday amid an ongoing heat wave in much of the United States. Twenty-nine percent cited...

URL: http://phys.org/news/2012-07-climate-longer-tops-environment.html

Heat wave expands again before retreating to the west

Climate Central: The grueling, protracted heat wave is still affecting much of the Upper Midwest and Plains on Tuesday, while utility crews have make progress restoring power to the Mid-Atlantic region after unusually severe thunderstorms tore across the region on June 29 in an event forecasters call a "derecho." According to a Weather Channel analysis of climate data provided by the National Climatic Data Center, the 190 reports of all-time warm temperature records during the June 25 to July 1 period was enough...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/heat-wave-expands-again-before-retreating-to-the-west/
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/blogs/blog_andrew_friday4cast1-425x340.gif

The Colorado wildfires: Is this what global warming looks like?

Yahoo!: Scientists have long predicted that rising temperatures could lead to extreme weather conditions, including wildfires, droughts, freak storms, and more "Horrendous wildfires. Oppressive heat waves. Devastating droughts. Flooding from giant deluges. And a powerful freak wind storm called a derecho," says Seth Borenstein forThe Associated Press. These are the kinds of extreme weather conditions that have assailed swathes of the country in recent weeks, from the raging wildfires in Colorado to a...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/colorado-wildfires-global-warming-looks-151500019.html

Scientists shed more light on sea level rise

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Tasmanian scientists say melting polar ice is now the main cause of rising sea levels. Ten years of peer-reviewed research has been compiled by scientists at the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre in Hobart. The report says melting polar ice is now contributing twice as much to rising sea levels as thermal expansion caused by ocean warming. One of the authors, oceanographer John Hunter, says some impact is irreversible and the report provides more impetus for action...

URL: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-04/scientsts-shed-more-light-on-sea-level-rise/4109312?section=tas
Enclosure: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-03/newest-research-released-on-sea-level-rise/4108306

Spain burns as global temperatures rise

Independent: The Spanish city of Valencia sits under a blanket of ash, as two converging fires continue to devour the eastern coast of the country. Since the blaze ignited last week, more than 45,000 hectares of land have been destroyed, forcing upwards of 2,000 people to flee their homes. The fires, which have not yet been controlled, are the worst the country has seen in more than a decade, and began as scorching temperatures made tinder of the earth. According to the Spanish environmental ministry one of...

URL: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/03/spain-burns-as-global-temperatures-rise/
Enclosure: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/147645027-300x170.jpg

United Kingdom: A month of rain to fall as more floods expected

Telegraph: The rain will start today (Thursday) across northern England with a severe weather warning from the south of Scotland down to Norfolk. Potentially there could be up 30mm (1.2 inches) in two hours during the outbursts of rain. The worst rain will sweep across northern and central England on Friday with downpours in East Anglia as far south as London. The deluge could affect the men's semi-finals at Wimbledon which are scheduled to take place on Friday. There could also be heavy rain in the South...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9376805/A-month-of-rain-to-fall-as-more-floods-expected.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02267/cover_2267755b.jpg

Wildfire, heat wave: Is it climate change?

Orange County Register: As wildfires devour acreage across the West and a heat wave broils in the East, the question seems natural: Are we feeling the effects of global warming? Scientists still answer cautiously. No single weather event, they say, can be linked directly to global climate change. But some researchers have begun to draw a broader connection between sweltering temperatures, tinder-dry forests and a warming planet. While direct links are still elusive, the statistics, they say, reveal climate change...

URL: http://sciencedude.ocregister.com/2012/07/03/wildfire-heat-wave-is-it-climate-change/173626/
Enclosure: http://sciencedude.ocregister.com/files/2012/07/NASAtempmap580.jpg

Scientists to predict sea-level rises more accurately

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: EMILY BOURKE: Scientists are piecing together the exact causes of rising sea levels, and they believe they now have an accurate model to predict future rises. With the bulk of Australia's population living on the coast, the new model could prove an invaluable tool in planning new communities. Martin Cuddihy reports. MARTIN CUDDIHY: Scientists have been telling us for decades that sea levels have been rising, but now they've quantified exactly how it's happening. It's mostly a combination...

URL: http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2012/s3538040.htm
Enclosure: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/twt/201207/20120703-twt12-sealevels.mp3