Food scarcity: the timebomb setting nation against nation

Guardian: Brandon Hunnicutt has had a year to remember. The young Nebraskan from Hamilton County farms 2,600 acres of the High Plains with his father and brother. What looked certain in an almost perfect May to be a "phenomenal" harvest of maize and soy beans has turned into a near disaster. A three-month heatwave and drought with temperatures often well over 38C burned up his crops. He lost a third and was saved only by pumping irrigation water from the aquifer below his farm. "From 1 July to 1 October...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/oct/14/food-climate-change-population-water
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/10/12/1350075097141/Dying-maize-plant-010.jpg

United States: Lake drained for LA water at center of dust lawsuit

NBC: The powerful Los Angeles Department of Water and Power sued air regulators Friday over demands to control dust from Owens Lake nearly a century after the exploding metropolis siphoned water to quench its growing thirst. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fresno, marks the latest salvo in a bitter back-and-forth over water rights in the arid region that was set in motion in 1913, when Los Angeles began diverting water from the lake 200 miles to its north. The lake went dry in 1926 and...

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49400998/ns/us_news-environment/
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/ap/california%20water%20wars-175000126_v2.grid-7x2.jpg

UN warns of looming worldwide food crisis in 2013

Guardian: World grain reserves are so dangerously low that severe weather in the United States or other food-exporting countries could trigger a major hunger crisis next year, the United Nations has warned. Failing harvests in the US, Ukraine and other countries this year have eroded reserves to their lowest level since 1974. The US, which has experienced record heatwaves and droughts in 2012, now holds in reserve a historically low 6.5% of the maize that it expects to consume in the next year, says the...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/oct/14/un-global-food-crisis-warning
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Columnist/Columnists/2012/10/13/1350144390702/Zimbabwe-peasant-farmer-008.jpg

Women Hit Hard by Natural Disasters

Inter Press Service: In the aftermath of a natural disaster, women are often the most vulnerable. Particularly in rural areas, women suffer disproportionately from inadequate shelter and poor sanitation facilities and are often tasked with rebuilding shattered homes. The theme for this year's international day of disaster reduction, led by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), is more relevant than ever: "˜Women and Girls: The [in]Visible Force for Resilience'. Across India, droughts and...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/10/women-hit-hard-by-natural-disasters/
Enclosure: http://ipsnews-net.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/Library/2012/10/6755927537_cfccf9f7c7_z-629x472.jpg

United States: A Grand Experiment to Rein in Climate Change

New York Times: Braced against a steep slope, Robert Hrubes cinched his measuring tape around the trunk of one tree after another, barking out diameters like an auctioneer announcing bids. "Twelve point two!" "Fourteen point one!" Mr. Hrubes's task, a far cry from forestry of the past, was to calculate how much carbon could be stored within the tanoak, madrone and redwood trees in that plot. Every year or so, other foresters will return to make sure the trees are still standing and doing their job. Such audits...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/science/earth/in-california-a-grand-experiment-to-rein-in-climate-change.html

GM food: we can no longer afford to ignore its advantages

Guardian: Given the crises facing the planet, with the population set to reach the 9 billion mark by 2050 and increasing strains being placed on water, energy and food supplies, it would be wrong to hope there could be a single solution to the storms that lie ahead. As the government's chief scientific adviser, Sir John Beddington, once put it in an Observer interview: "There will be no silver bullet." However, the population biologist added a crucial caveat. It would also be foolish not to make the maximum...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/13/gm-food-crops-genetic-modification
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/10/13/1350154889213/Fields-008.jpg

As gas price soar, city cycling more attractive

Associated Press: With an autumn chill in the air on a gray San Francisco morning, the five-member Ades family rubbed the sleep from their eyes, strapped on their bike helmets and rode right past their two cars to the kids' elementary school about a mile away. "It's good exercise, and there's an environmental aspect to it as well," said Stan Ades, of his decision to start his kids--ages 6, 8 and 10--bike commuting to school. Statewide, Californians are increasingly pumping air into the flat tires on their dusty...

URL: http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_21766429/gas-price-soar-city-cycling-more-attractive

Afghanistan to Strengthen Climate Change Defenses

Environment News Service: To strengthen Afghanistan's ability to withstand climate change, the government and United Nations partners today announced a US$6 million initiative, the first of its kind in the country's history. The program will be run by Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency, NEPA. It aims to reduce the vulnerability of communities to the effects of climate change, such as drought, floods and erosion, and to build the capacity of Afghan institutions to address climate change risk. NEPA...

URL: http://ens-newswire.com/2012/10/11/afghanistan-to-strengthen-climate-change-defenses/
Enclosure: http://ens-newswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121011_afghanistanpump.jpg

Pennsylvania Fracking Law Opens Up Drilling on College Campuses

Mother Jones: Last year, when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett suggested offsetting college tuition fees by leasing parts of state-owned college campuses to natural gas drillers, more than a few Pennsylvanians were left blinking and rubbing their eyes. But it was no idle threat: After quietly moving through the state Senate and House, this week the governor signed into law a bill that opens up 14 of the state's public universities to fracking, oil drilling, and coal mining on campus. For a system starved by budget...

URL: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/pennsylvania-fracking-law-opens-drilling-college-campuses
Enclosure: http://mjcdn.motherjones.com/preset_12/fracku.jpg

Researchers Show Glaciers Are Cracking In The Presence Of Carbon Dioxide

redOrbit: Our glaciers and ice caps are experiencing a little chemistry-based "good cop, bad cop" and it looks like the bad cop is going to make them crack under pressure. There is little doubt in the scientific community about the excessive presence at startling levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere and the effect it is having on our increasing global temperatures and our melting ice caps and glaciers. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) wanted to explore the...

URL: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112711923/glaciers-cracking-carbon-dioxide-101112/
Enclosure: http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2012/10/shutterstock_113827192-617x416.jpg

Anthropogenic Methane Traced Back 2,000 Years

Environmental News Network: A new study suggests that human have been producing traceable amounts of atmospheric methane earlier than thought. The results will challenge global warming predictions, because what was assumed to be 'natural' levels of methane, have in fact been inflated by human activities since Roman times. An international team of researchers looked at carbon isotopes in methane trapped in air bubbles from Arctic ice cores, to reveal the different levels and concentrations of methane. "With our research,...

URL: http://www.enn.com/climate/article/45070?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateChangeNews-Enn+%28Climate+Change+News+-+ENN%29

Arctic Sea Ice Shrunk to a Record Low, So Why Is Antarctica’s Setting Record Highs?

Atlantic: In the seas to our north, sea ice is melting at a perilous pace. This year crushed earlier records for the lowest sea-ice extent ever recorded in the Arctic. Some scientists predict that in four years, Arctic sea ice may collapse entirely during the summer months. It turns out that the northern pole is not the only one setting records with unusual ice patterns. But to the south, the story is different: record-setting sea-ice extent. That is to say: While the ice to the north is melting away, the...

URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/arctic-sea-ice-shrunk-to-a-record-low-so-why-is-antarcticas-setting-record-highs/263522/
Enclosure: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/spseaice_sss_2012270-615.jpg

Obama Administration Approves Roadmap for Solar Energy on Public Lands

Natural Resources Defense Council: Today Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed a record of decision establishing a brand new program for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that will provide a comprehensive framework for managing the solar resources found on public lands in six southwestern states. This is a remarkable accomplishment as few Interior Secretaries have established original initiatives without a prior congressional order. No overriding regulation mandated the establishment of this program--although it was dictated by...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/roadmap-solar-energy/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/TurtleMountain.jpg

Hearings Set on Renewing Indian Point Reactors’ Licenses

New York Times: The Indian Point nuclear plant is going on trial. On Monday, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission will open a hearing to determine whether opponents, among them the Cuomo administration, have valid arguments against a 20-year extension of operating licenses for the Westchester County site's reactors. Three administrative law judges from the commission will take up an unusually long list of issues at the hearing, which will take place at a hotel in Tarrytown, N.Y., on 12 days in October and...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/science/earth/hearings-set-on-renewing-indian-point-reactors-licenses.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/12/nyregion/Y-INDIANPOINT/Y-INDIANPOINT-articleLarge.jpg

Climate Change vs. Kiribati

CounterPunch: There is just a narrow 'defense line' of mangroves and coral bottom under the shallow water, right next to the coast. This is all that separates the stretched but narrow archipelago of Tarawa -- the most populated (and overcrowded) chain of the islands of the Republic of Kiribati – from the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. The mangroves were planted a few years ago. They were introduced near the airport and at several other areas along the coast. The rest of Tarawa Atoll appears to be exposed...

URL: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/12/climate-change-vs-kiribati/

Conservation groups sue to end trapping of wolverines in Montana

Reuters: Conservationists on Thursday asked a state judge to end trapping of wolverines in Montana at a time when fewer than 300 of the elusive animals roam the Northern Rockies and Northern Cascades. Montana is the only one of the lower 48 U.S. states that permits the harvesting of wolverines, carnivores that resemble small bears with bushy tails. They are sought for their fur. Allowing licensed sportsmen to kill woverines is a direct violation of Montana's state policy of maintaining or restoring...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/12/us-usa-wolverine-idUSBRE89B04420121012?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=20121012&t=2&i=662824891&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE89B1IBK00

United Kingdom: Third runway 'would treble air pollution deaths'

Guardian: Premature deaths from Heathrow pollution would treble by 2030 if a third runway is built, according to an academic study to be published next week. Even if the airport does not expand, increased numbers of flights will lead to a more than doubling in the number of deaths from pollution, the authors conclude. The research, which is sure to be seized on campaigners and politicians opposed to Heathrow expansion, is the first to analyse the health consequences of aircraft fumes at the major airports...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/12/heathrow-third-runway-air-pollution
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/5/26/1306448481929/Heathrow-airport-007.jpg

Occupy the Pipeline battles fracking threat in New York

Guardian: I saw an odd sight on a quiet, West Village street in New York City on Saturday 6 October. A group of about 30 young women and men – all naked or topless – were dancing about, with their flesh painted green. Patrick Robbins, a 26-year-old native of Brooklyn who works on sustainable development at Cooper Union, is the spokesperson for the group, Occupy the Pipeline. He explained the purpose of the protest-art show hybrid: "[We're] protesting the pipeline's construction on New York City's West...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/12/occupy-pipeline-battles-fracking-threat-new-york
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/4/23/1335198413389/fracking-obama-election-007.jpg

Stopping the Biggest Carbon Bomb on the Planet

EcoWatch: I haven`t written about the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline for a while, except to try and rally support for the brave people blockading construction along its southern portion. After more than two weeks in the trees of Texas, their dramatic action is drawing more and more attention, as they reveal the recklessness and heartlessness of a company like TransCanada--the kind that will call the cops to get a great-grandmother and arrest her for "trespassing" on her own land when she protests the pipeline...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/carbon-bomb/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/tarsands.jpg

United Kingdom: Heathrow third runway may triple number of early deaths from pollution, report warns

Telegraph: A third runway at Heathrow would triple the number of early deaths from pollution linked to the airport, a new study claims. In contrast, moving London's main airport to the Thames Estuary - a plan championed by London mayor Boris Johnson - would cut the number of deaths, the report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Cambridge University says. They say a third runway at Heathrow would increase deaths from air pollution linked to the airport from the current 50 a year to...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/aviation/9606491/Heathrow-third-runway-may-triple-number-of-early-deaths-from-pollution-report-warns.html

U.S. Forests Logged, Pelletized, Shipped Overseas in the Name of Renewable Energy

Dogwood Alliance: At a time when scientific evidence is mounting that burning trees for electricity will actually result in increased carbon emissions when compared to coal over the next 30 to 50 years, utilities in Europe are making a mad dash to convert coal burning power plants to wood, all in the name of "renewable energy." The recent explosion in the use of wood to generate electricity in Europe has resulted in the proliferation of new mills across the southern U.S. that are turning whole trees into wood pellets...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/forests-logged/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/pellet.jpg

Disney drops paper suppliers linked to deforestation

Mongabay: Disney this week announced sweeping changes to its paper-sourcing policy that will exclude fiber produced via the destruction of tropical rainforests. The policy comes in response to a campaign by the Rainforest Action Network, an environmental activist group that had targeted Disney for its failure to exclude paper produced by two controversial Indonesian suppliers: Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings (APRIL). The paper giants have been linked with destruction...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1012-disney-paper-policy.html
Enclosure: http://mongabay-images.s3.amazonaws.com/12/1012peat.jpg

Deepwater Horizon pipe 'responsible for new oil slick in Gulf of Mexico'

Guardian: Government scientists have definitively linked a new oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico to the BP oil spill disaster of 2010. A senior government scientist said the most likely source of the new oil is the mile-long length of pipe from the Deepwater Horizon rig, now lying in a crumpled loop on the ocean floor. At worst, he said, the pipe was thought to contain some 1,800 barrels of oil – a minuscule amount compared with the 4.9m barrels that gushed into the ocean from BP's well during the 2010...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/12/deepwater-horizon-oil-slick-gulf-mexico
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/10/12/1350057291460/BP-Deepwater-oil-spill--O-009.jpg

Carbon dioxide may damage glaciers

OurAmazingPlanet: A computer model of carbon dioxide in ice cracks has two MIT researchers speculating that the greenhouse gas could structurally weaken glaciers, which are already under pressure from global warming. Materials scientist Markus Buehler, a professor at MIT, studies the mechanical properties of fracturing in everything from spider silk to bones. He works on a nano-sized scale, looking at the bonds between molecules and atoms. Even an iceberg the size of Manhattan starts with a single broken bond,...

URL: http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/3626-carbon-dioxide-glacier-cracks.html
Enclosure: http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/images/i/1188/original/gulkana-glacier-101109-02.jpg?1320169040

Romney would have to fight for energy agenda

Politico: Mitt Romney would most likely have to dip into his political capital to meet his pledges to unravel President Barack Obama's energy agenda. It could mean rewriting long-standing laws, wading into court battles that have lasted through multiple administrations and pulling the plug on a deal that has drawn praise from U.S. automakers. The question: How hard is Romney willing to fight? To listen to the GOP nominee on the stump, he's dead serious — pledging to create millions of jobs and make...

URL: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82347.html
Enclosure: http://images.politico.com/global/2012/10/121003_mitt_romney_pointing_ap_328.jpg

Lawyer in climate science case may have broken ethics rules

Mother Jones: Last month, the University of Virginia won a legal battle to protect the private emails of one of its former researchers. The records had been requested by a group critical of the scientific consensus on global warming. The close of the 20-month public records fight brought interesting documents to light--including some suggesting that one of the group's lawyers had misrepresented his employment status, and had been fighting the case while working a federal job, a potential violation of ethics...

URL: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/10/virginia-foia-michael-mann-epa-lawyer

Northeastern Minnesota experiment to study effects of climate change

Northland's NewsCenter: Researchers are hoping that a first of its kind experiment in Northeastern Minnesota will provide new information on the effects of climate change. Construction is underway on the $50 million project, called SPRUCE (Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Climatic and Environmental Change). The project is located in the Marcell Experimental Forest, north of Grand Rapids. "This is a whole ecosystem experiment," said Randy Kolka, a soil research scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest...

URL: http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/video/Northeastern-Minnesota-Experiment-Hopes-to--173971751.html

Fish feces fight climate change

Discovery: Millions of tiny fish pooping out even tinier turds may have a big impact on climate change. The fish, such as anchovies, feed on single-celled algae that live on the ocean's surface. A study in Scientific Reports found that the fish feces sink rapidly to the bottom of the ocean, carrying with it the carbon from those algae. Fish feces travel fast. Grace Saba of Rutgers University and Deborah Steinberg of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science found that anchovies' dung drops approximately 2,500...

URL: http://news.discovery.com/earth/fish-feces-fights-climate-change-121012.html
Enclosure: http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef017d3ca96fc0970c-800wi

Tracking The Ozone Hole, As It Waxes And Wanes

National Public Radio: IRA FLATOW, HOST: This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. 21 years ago this week, way back in October of 1991 on the first ever episode of SCIENCE FRIDAY, one of our show topics was the ozone hole, that bite out of the Earth's ozone layer caused by chemicals in our refrigerators, air conditioners, cans of hairspray. Our guest that day was the late Sherwood Rowland, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize for his work on the ozone hole. Two decades later, the ozone hole is still there, hovering...

URL: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=162790778&ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=162790778&m=162790756

Summer Weather Disasters Change Americans' View of Climate Change

PBS: After a summer of heat waves, droughts and severe storms, the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication released a study this week reporting that a growing majority of Americans see climate change at work in the weather. Seventy Four percent of Americans said that they believe climate change is affecting weather in the United States, a five percentage point increase from the group's previous survey in March 2012. The study also found that 61 percent of Americans say that the weather in the...

URL: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/10/new-study-shows-more-americans-believe-in-climate-change.html
Enclosure: http://newshour.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/2012/07/17/20120717_corn_blog_main_horizontal.JPG

Rural Women in Peru Cope “Where Life Is Very Sad”

Inter Press Service: When the crops in her rural highlands community in southern Peru were covered with a thick layer of ice one night, Felícitas Quispe, 43, organised her neighbours to make an effort to keep people from starving to death. It's been two years since the 2010 freeze left her and dozens of families without corn, potatoes or beans to cover their needs, and without pasture to graze their animals in the rural town of Chare, more than 3,500 metres above sea level in the Andean department of Cuzco. "There...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/10/rural-women-in-peru-cope-where-life-is-very-sad/
Enclosure: http://ipsnews-net.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/Library/2012/10/Peru-women-small1.jpg

Q&A: Disaster Resilience Starts with Grassroots Women

Inter Press Service: Women and girls can be powerful agents of change, but they are disproportionately affected by disasters because of social roles, discrimination and poverty. The International Day for Disaster Reduction on Saturday this year celebrates the theme of "˜'Women and Girls -- the [in]Visible Force of Resilience''. IPS correspondent Julia Kallas sat down with three women -- Josephine Castillo, grassroots community leader and organiser with DAMPA in Manila, Philippines; Haydee Rodríguez, president...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/10/qa-disaster-resilience-starts-with-grassroots-women/
Enclosure: http://ipsnews-net.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/Library/2012/10/women_disaster_resilience_640-629x469.jpg

Natural gas producers open up in joining leak study

Fuel Fix: After months of insistence from natural gas producers that methane leaks are not a concern, nine energy companies are supporting research that may prove the opposite. The move could signal a more head-on approach from the industry to tackling public concern over oil field operations. The companies, including some of the largest natural gas producers in North America, announced earlier this week that they`re joining with the Environmental Defense Fund to support a University of Texas study of...

URL: http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/10/12/natural-gas-producers-open-up-in-joining-leak-study/

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Don't blame Obama for green failures

Politico: Instead, environmentalists should turn their anger on Congress, which scuttled carbon cap and trade legislation, said Kennedy, the founder of the Waterkeeper Alliance and son of the slain U.S. senator. "His principal environmental initiatives, like all of his other initiatives, had been shut down by a Republican Congress,' he said. "For example, cap and trade, which passed [the House] ... was killed by the oil lobby in the U.S. Senate and by Republicans who say, 'If Obama's for it, we're gonna...

URL: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82339.html

'Solar energy zones' created on federal land

Associated Press: Federal officials on Friday approved a plan that sets aside 285,000 acres of public land for the development of large-scale solar power plants, cementing a new government approach to renewable energy development in the West after years of delays and false starts. At a news conference in Las Vegas, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the new plan a "roadmap ... that will lead to faster, smarter utility-scale solar development on public lands." The plan replaces the department's previous first-come,...

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49393980/ns/us_news-environment/
Enclosure: http://on.doi.gov/SWf5y1

Democrats in coal states diverge on Obama policies

Associated Press: Friends of coal are certain they know the enemy. They fault President Barack Obama and his Environmental Protection Agency for new clean air rules they deride as a devastating blow to a multibillion-dollar industry that has been the lifeblood of Appalachia for generations. The agency standards imposed earlier this year tightened limits on existing coal powered-plant emissions while guidelines on restricting greenhouse gases could affect new plants as early as 2013. Along the rolling hills of...

URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5izbylBhaMbJanNybbyddUFNaHUBw?docId=35da2fee809f4f8e89a52bb17b234024

Antarctic Sea Ice Hits Record ... High?

National Geographic: Despite frequent headlines about a warming planet, melting sea ice, and rising oceans, climate analysts pointed to a seeming bright spot this week: During Southern Hemisphere winters, sea ice in the Antarctic, the floating chunks of frozen ocean water, is actually increasing. In fact, in late September, satellite data indicated that Antarctica was surrounded by the greatest area of sea ice ever recorded in the region: 7.51 million square miles (19.44 million square kilometers), the U.S. National...

URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/10/121013-antarctica-sea-ice-record-high-science-global-warming/
Enclosure: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/601/cache/antarctic-sea-ice-hits-new-maximum-record_60149_600x450.jpg

Protesters Gather at Keystone XL Site in Texas

New York Times: Deep within the oak and pine forests that blanket this stretch of East Texas, the chug of machinery drones on late into the day, broken only by the sounds of a band of activists who have vowed to stop it. Here, among the woods and farmland, what might be one of the last pitched battles over the Keystone XL oil pipeline has been unfolding for weeks now, since construction of the controversial project's southern leg began in August. As bulldozers and diggers churn up a 50-foot-wide path for the pipeline...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/13/us/protesters-gather-at-keystone-xl-site-in-texas.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/13/us/13pipeline_337/13pipeline_337-articleLarge.jpg

State of the Earth: Still Seeking Plan A for Sustainability

Scientific American: The state of the planet is grim, whether that assessment is undertaken from the perspective of economic development, social justice or the global environment. What's known as sustainable development—a bid to capture all three of those efforts in one effort and phrase—has hardly advanced since it was first used in the 1980s and the world is hardly closer to eradicating extreme poverty, respecting the dignity and rights of all peoples or resolving environmental challenges, whether climate change or...

URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=planet-seeks-plan-for-sustainability
Enclosure: http://stateoftheplanet.org/

Combatants start 'huge, multidimensional chess game' over Northwest exports

Greenwire: Garrett Thompson is waiting for a train, but he's not going anywhere. As a line of empty freight cars approaches, Thompson moves to an air pollution monitor on the pedestrian overpass near Richmond Beach State Park and begins recording spikes in soot and dust as the train rumbles by. While he's primarily looking for coal haulers, even empty trains are helping build a database aimed at assessing a link between airborne particulates and coal trains. "In maybe a two- to four-minute time span I'll...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/10/12/1

Solar Management Needs Depend On Uncertain Factor Climate Sensitivity

redOrbit: When you want to protect your skin from the harmful rays of the Sun, you employ some sort of sun block. It might be a lotion or a cream; it might even be a shirt or an umbrella to filter the effects. But what would you use to protect the entire planet from the Sun? Apparently that is the question that an increasing number of scientists are trying to answer; ways to temporarily reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth to stave off some of the worst effects of climate change. No one sees...

URL: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112712131/earth-solar-dimming-climate-change-101212/
Enclosure: http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2012/10/science-101212-004-617x416.jpg

NRC report says Diablo Canyon able to withstand Shoreline fault

Reuters: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said its latest analysis of seismic faults near PG&E Corp's Diablo Canyon nuclear station in California showed the coastal plant could withstand an earthquake generated by an offshore fault identified in 2008, according to a statement on Friday. The NRC's report focuses on the latest identified earthquake source, called the "Shoreline fault," just offshore from the plant in San Luis Obispo County, about 183 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Diablo Canyon operator...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/12/us-utilities-nuclear-pge-idUSBRE89B1CU20121012?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Counting transport losses in Nigeria as flood ravages more states

This Day: That the flood that has ravaged many communities across the country has caused enormous loss to Nigerians is an understatement. In fact, the direct and indirect loss arising from the flood is so enormous that it is virtually impossible to calculate it in naira and kobo. Houses and other properties, farmlands, food and cash crops have been ravaged by the flood. Besides, many peoples' means of livelihood has been destroyed or hampered by the ravaging flood. Thousands of people, if not millions, have...

URL: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/counting-transport-losses-as-flood-ravages-more-states/127466/
Enclosure: http://serving.thisdaylive.com/0bef99d6-acf5-4e2c-9779-8fa02ba3fcd4/assets/121012N.Lokoja-Flood.jpg?maxwidth=400&maxheight=540

First photos of Shell's Arctic rig add perspective to drilling debate

Daily Climate: Oregon-based photographer Gary Braasch flew to Alaska, chartered a plane in the town of Deadhorse, far above the Arctic Circle, and flew out to the rigs. His photographs provide, for the first time, a sense of perspective of the Kulluk rig in its environment, 12 miles offshore of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "The location has been published for years in Shell's permits," he said in a phone interview. "We just went out there and, sure enough, there it was. But having the landscape just...

URL: http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2012/10/arctic-drilling-rig-photos
Enclosure: http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2012/10/10fotos/Kulluk1-414T.jpg/image_large

United Kingdom: Ecology Building Society passes £100m milestone

BusinessGreen: Ecology Building Society has racked up savings balances exceeding £100m for the first time in its 31-year history, as consumers increasingly look for alternatives to traditional banks. Interim results to be released today will show asset growth of just over three per cent to £106.62m, while account openings were up by a third on 2011. Paul Ellis, Ecology's chief executive, attributed the growth to the society's pledge to only fund projects and properties that are good for people and the planet...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2216813/ecology-building-society-passes-gbp100m-milestone?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Ecology+Building+Society+passes+%C2%A3100m+milestone

Big Data Not Required: The Benefits Of A Less Complex Model Of Climate Change

Forbes: When we think about climate change, we think big. Big problem, big impasse, big data. What could be more complex than the climate of the entire world and how it changes chaotically? And, as usual, when faced with too many dimensions of information to compute, we simplify. We focus on the amount of carbon burned, or the rise of surface temperatures, catastrophic storms or sea levels. Or, conversely, we deny that any of these things are other than "natural change." What is often missing in the...

URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/10/12/big-data-not-required-the-benefits-of-a-less-complex-model-of-climate-change/?ss=strategies-solutions
Enclosure: http://www.constructal.org/en/art/Climate_change_%20in_the_framework_of_the_Constructal_Law.pdf

Them pests!

IRIN: While a lot of attention has been devoted to the effects of a changing climate on food crops in Africa, relatively little has been given to the effects on crop-destroying pests like cereal aphids, fruit flies, armyworms and locusts. Munene Macharia, an entomologist with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, reported at the Wheat for Food Security Conference that outbreaks of pests such as cereal aphids, which suck sap from plants like wheat and transmit viruses, have become increasingly common...

URL: http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96539/CLIMATE-CHANGE-Them-pests
Enclosure: http://www.irinnews.org/images/2009/200908181503000578.jpg

Fukushima operator must learn from mistakes, new adviser says

Reuters: Tokyo Electric Power Co must adopt measures used in other Japanese industries to reform after acknowledging that it failed to anticipate and tackle the Fukushima disaster, the utility's newly installed outside adviser said on Saturday. Tokyo Electric, also known as Tepco, acknowledged for the first time on Friday that it failed in its response to the radiation crisis in March 2011 when three reactors melted down at its Fukushima Daiichi plant after it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami. Dale...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/13/us-japan-nuclear-idUSBRE89B0XK20121013?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=20121013&t=2&i=662991734&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE89B16X200

Some climate scientists, in a shift, link weather to global warming

LA Times: The worst drought in half a century has plagued two-thirds of the nation, devastating farms and stoking wildfires that scorched almost 9 million acres this year. Withering heat blanketed the East Coast and Midwest, killing scores of people and making July the hottest month ever recorded in the U.S. And in the Arctic this summer, polar snow and ice melted away to the smallest size ever observed by man. Extreme events like drought, heat waves, intense rainfall, flooding and fires have prompted many...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-weather-climate-change-20121013,0,2353619.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-5078f434/turbine/la-drought-severity-jpeg-07bf0.jpg-20121012/600

As Arctic melts, business as usual

Asia Sentinel: Record melting of Arctic ice has alarmed climate scientists, but the extraction industry and shippers are thrilled at new business prospects. Having drained the world of most accessible oil, companies see in the Arctic Circle a most striking source for long-term fossil-fuel development. Shipping companies plan direct routes to Asia. It's high time governments wake up to real danger. A recent UN report projects Arctic summer ice to be non-existent by 2020. Climate researchers warn that the rapidly...

URL: http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4893&Itemid=189
Enclosure: http://www.asiasentinel.com/images/stories/artic.jpg

Hottest year so far for Philadelphia

Philadelphia Inquirier: 2012 is on pace to be the warmest on record in more than 100 U.S. towns and cities, including Philadelphia, and for the continental United States as a whole, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Philadelphia has certainly seen some extremes in recent years. 2011 was Philadelphia's wettest year on record, with precipitation equalling 64.33 inches of water. The winter of 2009-10 had the most snow ever, 78.7 inches. For the first nine months of 2012, Philadelphia's...

URL: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20121012_Hottest_year_so_far_for_Philadelphia.html
Enclosure: http://media.philly.com/images/600*552/temp_us_regions_map_350.jpg

Small fish can play a big role in the coastal carbon cycle

Terra Daily: A study in this week's issue of Scientific Reports, a new online journal from the Nature Publishing Group, shows that small forage fish like anchovies can play an important role in the "biological pump," the process by which marine life transports carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and surface ocean into the deep sea-where it contributes nothing to current global warming. The study, by Dr. Grace Saba of Rutgers University and professor Deborah Steinberg of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science,...

URL: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Small_fish_can_play_a_big_role_in_the_coastal_carbon_cycle_999.html
Enclosure: http://www.spxdaily.com/images-lg/fish-fecal-pellets-lg.jpg

Researchers find links between Arctic melting and summer floods and fires

ClimateWire: A new weather pattern that sends blasts of warm southern air into the Arctic each June has fueled the recent, dramatic decline of the region's sea ice, according to a new government-funded study. But that is not all it has done, the analysis suggests, linking the shifting summer winds to record thaws of the Greenland ice sheet, unusually wet European summers and Rocky Mountain wildfires. Researchers say the switch from light, variable east-west winds to stronger, warmer blasts of southern air...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2012/10/11/1

Climate war looms over US coal exports to China

New Scientist: PLANS for mega exports of US coal are poised to become the next flashpoint in the battle over climate change. The industry wants to massively increase shipments of coal to China and other energy-hungry Asian nations. Such a move would undo the environmental benefits of weaning US power plants off the carbon-rich fuel and lock developing countries into decades of dirty power. So far, protests about the proposed exports have mostly been local affairs, led by those living along the railroads that will...

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628864.300-climate-war-looms-over-us-coal-exports-to-china.html
Enclosure: http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg21628864.300/mg21628864.300-1_300.jpg

Solyndra Sues Suntech Over Claims of Solar Antitrust Conspiracy


Solyndra LLC, the bankrupt solar- panel maker that received a $535 million U.S. government loan guarantee, accused Suntech Power Holdings Co. and other Chinese companies of destroying it by running an illegal cartel.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/solyndra-sues-suntech-over-claims-of-solar-antitrust-conspiracy?cmpid=rss

Vestas Cuts U.S. Jobs by 20 Percent Awaiting Tax Credit Decision


Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world's biggest maker of wind turbines, has cut about a fifth of its U.S. jobs as it waits for lawmakers to decide whether to extend a tax credit for the industry.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/vestas-cuts-u-s-jobs-by-20-percent-awaiting-tax-credit-decision?cmpid=rss

Clean Energy Primed to Replace Nuclear Power Plant

EcoWatch: In just the last year, New York State began developing at least 25 percent of the alternative electricity sources necessary to replace the Indian Point nuclear power plant, according to a new report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Riverkeeper. The report provides a detailed roadmap for fully and cost-effectively replacing the aging nuclear facility's power with equal investments in energy efficiency and renewable power sources alone, with no impact to the reliability...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/clean-energy-replace-nukes/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IndianPoint.jpg

How a Green Fuel Turned Slimy

New York Times: How did the oil industry and the Environmental Protection Agency end up with a system for tracking the production of biodiesel that was vulnerable to fraud? As I report in The Times, the agency is working on new rules to rescue the program after a yet-to-be-determined number of swindlers manufactured over 100 million credits tied to the manufacture of biodiesel that did not actually exist. This was possible, it appears, because the structure of the market for "RINs," or renewable identification...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/how-a-green-fuel-turned-slimy/

United Kingdom: Owen Paterson: True blue countryman putting wind up green campaigners

Guardian: The little orphaned badgers Bessie and Baz, one-time pets of the new environment secretary, Owen Paterson, are enjoying a surprising posthumous fame thanks to his new role overseeing the imminent cull in England, which could result in a third of the population being shot dead. "I was perhaps about 10 years old when a local farmer rang us up to say he had found a young badger and would we take it in," Paterson reminisced in 2004. "So we did; it was a female called Bessy and she lived in the boiler...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/oct/11/owen-paterson-environment-guardian-profile?newsfeed=true
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2012/10/3/1349275946198/Owen-Paterson-MP-008.jpg

Top Ten U.S. States for Renewable Energy Installed Capacity


The figures, the most current from the EIA, paint a picture of a grid in transition. Hydroelectric power represents almost 8 percent of the nation's overall capacity and is a mainstay, particular in Northern and Western states. But wind is creeping onto the grid in states like Texas and Iowa and now represents almost 4 percent. Solar is still less than 1 percent of the capacity but it too is gaining steadily.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/red-white-and-renewable-the-top-ten-u-s-states-for-alternative-energy?cmpid=rss

Sydney to London on Plastic Fuel: Pilot to Power Flight with Household Trash


Move over Flight of the Bumblebee. Hello Flight of the Butter Tubs. That's what you could call the daring 12,000 mile journey that Australian pilot Jeremy Rowsell is planning for early next year, when he will fly a single engine plane from Sydney to London on fuel that's neither gasoline, kerosene nor any other traditional aircraft propellant.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/sydney-to-london-on-plastic-fuel-pilot-to-power-flight-with-household-trash?cmpid=rss

Will Higher Heat Content in Trash Help Waste-to-Energy Stocks?


The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently published an article describing an increase in the energy content of municipal solid waste (MSW). The reason for this increase is an increase in the percentage of waste from "non-biogenic" sources (i.e. plastics) as compared to biogenic sources (paper, cardboard, wood, food and yard waste, etc.) Biogenic waste has an average heat content of 11 MMBtu/ton, as compared to 23 MMBtu/ton for non-biogenic waste.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/will-higher-heat-content-in-trash-help-waste-to-energy-stocks?cmpid=rss

Indians believe govt needs to tackle climate change: Study

Indian Express: A Yale Foundation study has found that Indians understand and respond to the idea of climate change affecting their lives and their future prospects, and have faith in science to tackle it. Called 'Climate Change in the Indian Mind', the study conducted interviews with 4,031 Indian adults, both rural and urban, to find out their responses, awareness, behaviour and approach to climate change. When first asked about it, only 7 per cent said they knew "a lot" about global warming, while 41 per...

URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/indians-believe-govt-needs-to-tackle-climate-change-study/1015554/

Wind Power Adds Jobs and Increases Wealth in Rural Communities


The first study to use detailed econometric methods to measure the economic development impacts of wind power installations in a 12-state region between 2000 and 2008 shows a positive net annual increase on county-level personal income and jobs.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/study-shows-county-level-increase-in-income-and-jobs-due-to-wind-installations?cmpid=rss

Carbon trading in China could secure global climate deal

BusinessGreen: China's forthcoming carbon trading pilot scheme could dovetail with other global platforms, paving the way for a global climate change agreement coming into force in 2020, according to a new report launched today. Australian research organisation The Climate Institute yesterday unveiled a report prepared by project developer Climate Bridge examining the potential impact of China's future emissions trading scheme. The world's biggest producer of carbon dioxide (CO2) is to launch seven pilot...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2216669/carbon-trading-in-china-could-secure-global-climate-deal?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Carbon+trading+in+China+could+secure+global+climate+deal

Wildlife studies in mid-Atlantic seen as crucial to offshore wind industry's future

Greenwire: Each fall, the blackpoll warbler flies about 1,800 miles over the Atlantic -- potentially nonstop -- from the northeast United States to its winter home in South America. Around the same time, the critically endangered right whale migrates from the Gulf of Maine, where it feeds, as far south as Florida to give birth. The problem for biologists gathered at a conference here on offshore wind is not where the wildlife begins or ends its journeys -- it's how it gets there. The mystery could spell...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/10/11/2

Obama, Romney asked to debate climate change

Agence France-Presse: More than 120 Floridians who either serve on official bodies on sea level or hold advanced degrees on the issue signed a letter to the two candidates ahead of their third and final debate October 22 in the coastal city of Boca Raton. The letter asked Obama and Romney to explain policies they would take to reduce the risks of a future rise in sea levels and adapt to the impact, as well as how they would work with other nations on climate change. The experts said that the sea level has risen...

URL: http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2012/10/12/obama-romney-asked-to-debate-climate-change
Enclosure: http://www.timeslive.co.za/Feeds/Reuters_Images/2011/07/20/18-07-2011-21-07-02-978mdf61239.jpg/ALTERNATES/crop_630x400/18-07-2011-21-07-02-978mdf61239.jpg

Electric cars aren’t the future of car sharing – yet

Fast Company: On the surface, carsharing services seem like an ideal place for electric cars: They let people test out the vehicles without committing to buying them, carsharing users often take short trips that work well with electric vehicles' limited range, and the cars are always parked after each trip at a spot outfitted with a dedicated charging station. The reality is a little more complicated, despite the proliferation of EVs in carsharing fleets--and in carsharing services that only feature EVs, like...

URL: http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680708/electric-cars-arent-the-future-of-car-sharing-yet

How Grid Parity (Among Other Fallacies) Almost Killed The Solar Industry...


The photovoltaic industry is currently in a state of extreme contraction brought about by overbuilding, which was brought about by the belief that the feed-in tariff incentive model would continue expanding from region to region and which was exacerbated by decades of fighting for profits and incentives in a world that largely considered the PV industry either a science experiment or the lifestyle choice of hippies. The current infighting has made enemies of colleagues. Artificially low prices have encouraged governments to believe that enough progress has been made, and that incentives are no longer required.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/how-grid-parity-among-other-fallacies-almost-killed-the-solar-industry?cmpid=rss

Ryan admits seeking funding from 'green pork' package he attacked

BusinessGreen: Republican vice president candidate Paul Ryan attacked the White House's stimulus packages for green energy in last night's debate -- although was forced to admit he had sought funding under the programme for projects in his home state. Ryan attacked what he labelled as "$90bn in green pork to campaign contributors and special interest groups" as he took on incumbent Vice President Joe Biden in the televised contest in Kentucky. "The vice president was in charge of overseeing this," Ryan said,...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2216683/ryan-admits-seeking-funding-from-green-pork-package-he-attacked?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Ryan+admits+seeking+funding+from+%27green+pork%27+package+he+attacked

Rating Windows for Condensation Resistance

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Window shoppers are confused by the two rival methods for measuring condensation resistance

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Condensation forms on a surface when the temperature of the surface is below the dew point of the air. During the winter, when the coldest surface in a room is often the window, it's fairly common to see water droplets or ice on window glass — especially in a room with elevated indoor humidity.

Condensation is more likely to form when indoor relative humidity is high. That's why it's more common to see condensation on a bathroom window than a bedroom window.

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/rating-windows-condensation-resistance

The Pine Beetle Problem: Making Renewable Energy Lemonade from Biomass Lemons


At least one University of Washington chemical engineer is working on a thermo-chemical conversion technology that should make renewable energy "lemonade" from a particularly problematic batch of biomass "lemons."

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/the-pine-beetle-problem-making-renewable-energy-lemonade-from-biomass-lemons?cmpid=rss

Minnesota Lawmaker Aims to Roll Back EPA Regional Haze Powers

Greenwire: Minnesota Republican Rep. Chip Cravaack is pushing for legislation to roll back the EPA`s ability to promulgate federal air visibility guidelines. Cravaack`s H.R. 6507 would compel the agency to approve Minnesota Pollution Control Agency plans for dealing with regional haze. The agency would also temporarily be prohibited from pre-empting state standards. The legislation focuses on processing facilities for taconite, a certain type of iron deposit that helps fuel the economy in Cravaack`s northeastern...

URL: http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2012/10/11/minnesota-lawmaker-aims-to-roll-back-epa-regional-haze-powers/
Enclosure: http://www.midwestenergynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/taconite-plant-silver-bay-405x304.jpg

Nigeria: Ogoniland Oil Spills: Dutch Case Against Shell to Begin

BBC: The Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has rejected claims by four Nigerian farmers that it should pay compensation for damage to their land. The farmers are suing the company in a civil court in The Hague, claiming oil spills ruined their livelihoods. Shell's lawyers told the court it could not be held liable because most spills were caused by criminal damage. They said repairs were hard to carry out because of insecurity in the Niger Delta. Shell lawyer Jan de Bie Leuveling Tjeenk told the...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19905694
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/57941000/gif/_57941596_nigeria_oil_304.gif

U.S., OPEC cut global oil demand estimates

Reuters: Global oil demand is looking weaker than previously forecast as the slowing economy continues to weigh on consumption, according to monthly reports released on Wednesday by the U.S. government and OPEC. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries trimmed its forecast for growth in world oil demand in 2013 by 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 780,000 bpd and said the risk remains skewed to the downside. The producer group maintained oil supplies are adequate and pointed out this year's...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/11/us-opec-oil-idUSBRE8990JL20121011

Biofuels benefit billionaires

ScienceDaily: Biofuels will serve the interests of large industrial groups rather than helping to cut carbon emissions and ward off climate change, according to research to be published in the International Journal of Environment and Health this month. Simone Vieri of the University "La Sapienza" of Rome, Italy, explains that, in its policies to combat climate change, the European Union has planned to increase to 10% the share of fuel derived from biofuels on the market by 2020. It has focused attention on...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121011085340.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

Investment in UN's carbon scheme to 'dry up' as prices plunge

BusinessGreen: UN carbon credits could be worth just 50 euro cents by the end of the decade due to a huge oversupply of allowances, hitting investment in its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), analysts Thomson Reuters Point Carbon warned yesterday. The current surplus of Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits generated in the UN's CDM and Joint Implementation (JI) schemes, and used by companies to offset their emissions, could be as large as 1.43 billion for the period up to 2020, the company said. The...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2216163/investment-in-uns-carbon-scheme-to-dry-up-as-prices-plunge?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Investment+in+UN%27s+carbon+scheme+to+%27dry+up%27+as+prices+plunge

Are businesses ready for mandatory carbon reporting?

BusinessGreen: More than two thirds of the FTSE 350 are ready to meet new mandatory carbon reporting regulations that are due to come into effect next year, while over three quarters of mid-sized firms are also committed to delivering sustainability reports. Those are the findings of two major new reports published this week detailing how firms are preparing for the introduction of mandatory carbon emissions reporting requirements in six months' time. Under new regulations due to come in effect from April...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2216560/are-businesses-ready-for-mandatory-carbon-reporting?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Are+businesses+ready+for+mandatory+carbon+reporting%3F

U.S. Struggles to Rescue Green Program Hit by Fraud

New York Times: A Maryland man is awaiting sentencing for what may seem an unusual crime: selling bogus renewable energy credits and using the $9.3 million in illicit proceeds to buy jewelry and a fleet of luxury cars. In a similar case in Texas, a man has been indicted for selling a whopping $42 million in counterfeit credits. He bought real estate, a Bentley and a Gulfstream jet. As a result of such cases, the Environmental Protection Agency is scrambling to retool a program that relies on such credits to encourage...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/business/energy-environment/us-struggles-to-rescue-green-program-hit-hard-by-counterfeiters.html

Shocking Data Reveals Arctic Sea Ice Free Fall

Earth Policy Institute: The North Pole is losing its ice cap. Comparing recent melt seasons with historical records spanning more than 1,400 years shows summer Arctic sea ice in free fall. Many scientists believe that the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free in the summertime within the next decade or two, and some say that this could occur as early as 2016. The last time the Arctic was completely free of ice may have been 125,000 years ago. Between March 20 and Sept. 16, the Arctic lost ice covering 11.8 million square kilometers--an...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/arctic-ice-free-fall/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/highlights31_longterm.png

James Hansen, Climate Change Scientist, Suggests Price On Carbon

LiveScience: Prominent climate scientist James Hansen has been warning that humans have brought the planet to a tipping point, after which changes, such as melting ice, can pick up momentum with potentially devastating effects. At a discussion today (Oct. 11), Hansen suggested society has reached its own tipping point. "We are at a fork in the road. We can either continue with business as usual and addiction to fossil fuels, or we can put an honest price on carbon that makes fossil fuels pay their cost...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/james-hansen-climate-change-carbon_n_1959268.html?utm_hp_ref=green

Disney revamps paper buying to protect rainforests

Reuters: Walt Disney Co, the world's biggest publisher of children's books, said on Thursday it changed its purchasing policies to reduce paper use and avoid paper harvested from endangered forests. The new policy aims to eliminate paper made with "irresponsibly harvested fiber" and maximize use of products that come from areas approved by the Forest Stewardship Council, Disney said in a statement. It follows similar moves by other major publishers. Disney's guidelines also are meant to minimize paper...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/11/entertainment-us-disney-paper-idUSBRE89A1JV20121011?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=20121011&t=2&i=662464565&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE89A1MLU00

US confirms up to 250 per cent tariffs on Chinese solar imports

BusinessGreen: The US has imposed tariffs of up to 250 per cent on solar imports from China, after claiming the country's manufacturers had benefitted from government subsidies and "dumped" products on the American market at below the cost of production. The Commerce Department yesterday revised a preliminary decision to impose tariffs made in May following a complaint brought by the US arm of German manufacturer SolarWorld. It claimed China has sold solar cells in the US between 18 to 250 per cent below...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2216528/us-confirms-up-to-250-per-cent-tariffs-on-chinese-solar-imports?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=US+confirms+up+to+250+per+cent+tariffs+on+Chinese+solar+imports

How’s that big carbon-capture push going? Slowly. Too slowly.

Washington Post: If you ask the experts at the International Energy Agency how the world can avert drastic global warming, they'll say it will take lots of different solutions. We'll need more renewable energy. More efficient cars. More forests. But we'll also need to figure out how to capture some of our existing carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial facilities and bury them deep underground. So how's that going? A big new report from the Global CCS Institute takes stock of carbon capture...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/so-you-want-to-stash-your-carbon-emissions-underground/2012/10/11/b51ca9ac-13d6-11e2-9a39-1f5a7f6fe945_blog.html?wprss=rss_business

Oysters' future imperiled as oceans acidify

LiveScience: Oysters, those slimy mollusks whose juices are thought to boost sexual desire, may be losing their comfy sea homes. Only on NBCNews.com Ann Johansson for NBC News 'Pinktober' ignores late-stage breast cancer BP, Justice Dept. reportedly near spill deal NBC News NYC denizen shows how to live in tiny apartment Environmental nonprofit's donation tough to figure Hidden Planet: Church of the Resurrection Paying $2 million to get your kid into Harvard? Are private inspectors keeping food safe? The...

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49378149/ns/us_news-environment/

Maine Becomes New Front in Battle Over Canadian Oil Sands

Globe and Mail: The latest flashpoint is in Maine, where activists held a news conference on Wednesday to denounce an allegedly secret plan by Portland Pipe Line Corp. to open a new route to carry western crude by way of Ontario and Quebec through northern New England to the Atlantic coast. That prospect highlights the mismatch between abundant, low-cost western crude and the reliance of eastern refineries on premium-priced offshore imports. As the oil industry looks to spread eastward, governments in Quebec...

URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/the-oil-patch-opens-an-eastern-front/article4602808/

EPA Worried That Dilbit Still a Threat to Kalamazoo River, More Than 2 Years After Spill

Inside Climate News: The hidden, long-term effects of the 2010 pipeline accident that spilled more than a million gallons of heavy Canadian crude oil into Michigan's Kalamazoo River became public last week when the EPA revealed that large amounts of oil are still accumulating in three areas of the river. The problem is so serious that the EPA [3] is asking Enbridge Inc. [4], the Canadian pipeline operator, to dredge approximately 100 acres of the river. During the original cleanup effort, dredging was limited to just...

URL: http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20121011/epa-dilbit-enbridge-6b-pipeline-kalamazoo-river-cleanup-tar-sands-oil-sands-keystone-xl-landowners-environment?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+solveclimate%2Fblog+%28InsideClimate+News%29
Enclosure: http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/home_page_slideshow/DSC00024.JPG

CO2 May Fragment Glaciers, Driving Ice Into the Sea Faster

Climate Central: Scientists expect sea level to go up by 3 feet or so by the end of this century, thanks mostly to changes in the great ice sheets that dominate Greenland and Antarctica -- but they worry about unknown factors that might drive ice into the sea faster than projected. Now a pair of MIT scientists has identified what might, in theory, turn out to be one of these "unknown unknowns.' In a study released Wednesday in the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Zhao Qin and Markus Buehler show that carbon...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/co2-may-fragment-glaciers-driving-ice-into-the-sea-faster-15102?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://iopscience.iop.org/0022-3727

US corn ethanol cost poor nations $6.6 bln - study

AlertNet: Growing use of U.S.-produced corn for biofuel has added $6.6 billion to the food import bills of developing countries over the past six years, highlighting the need to rethink energy policies that are making food more expensive for poor people, says new research. The amount of U.S. maize that goes into ethanol equals around 15 percent of global corn production, and in recent years this has contributed to rising food prices around the world, says the study from Tufts University in Massachusetts....

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/us-corn-ethanol-cost-poor-nations-66-bln-study
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/ebe51cb0-7e7e-4ab8-a2e6-46c60ff10907/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201210111828

Germany Plans Cap on Renewables, Energy Switch to Save $736 Billion by 2050


German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government plans to cap renewable-energy subsidies when capacity reaches national targets as the administration seeks to cut the cost to consumers of its decision to phase out nuclear power.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/germany-plans-cap-on-renewables-energy-switch-to-save-736-billion-by-2050?cmpid=rss

EU carbon up 1 percent on hedging, sale delay

Reuters: European carbon edged up more than 1 percent on Thursday after a sale for nearly half of the 5 million permits expected by the market this week was postponed, spurring utilities to buy allowances. Front-year EU Allowance futures added 8 cents to 7.80 by 1541 GMT on light volume of 9.2 million units. "There's a little bit of demand, mainly utility hedging ... (but) carbon's struggling to go in either direction. A lot of people want to short this but others still want to buy it for hedging purposes,"...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/11/us-markets-point-carbon-idUSBRE89A13420121011?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Report calls for using ecosystems in disaster prevention

SciDevNet: More research is needed to understand how ecosystems can help reduce disaster risks around the world, according to a report launched in Brussels, Belgium, today. The World Risk Report 2012 says that human development activities have "massively raised the hazard potential". It cites the destruction of coral reefs and mangrove forests in South-East Asia -- which has reduced protection against flooding and tidal waves -- and increased deforestation, which has led to worsening soil erosion and the...

URL: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/news/report-calls-for-using-ecosystems-in-disaster-prevention.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
Enclosure: http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/habitats/oceanscoasts/howwework/world-risk-report-2012-pdf.pdf

Why did environmental nonprofit donate to conservative pro-coal group?

MSNBC: "Environmentalists punish companies without protecting people' is the headline of a column that appeared on the website of the American Action Forum a year ago. The group has called for increased domestic production of oil, coal and natural gas. Officials there have criticized President Barack Obama's "eagerness to speed our progression to a low-carbon economy' and argued that the administration is "regulating coal out of existence.' The American Action Forum is also connected with a nonprofit...

URL: http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/11/14364829-why-did-environmental-nonprofit-donate-to-conservative-pro-coal-group?lite

Solar Makes Up 83% of Clean Energy Projects Approved by Japan


The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan approved clean energy projects totaling 1,780 megawatts of capacity, with solar accounting for 83 percent, as of the end of September under a government incentive program.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/solar-makes-up-83-of-clean-energy-projects-approved-by-japan?cmpid=rss

Norway Proposes CO2 Tax Hike To Increase Climate Mitigation Funds

Yale Environment 360: Norway has announced plans to nearly double its carbon tax on the nation's offshore petroleum sector to create a £1 billion fund to help combat the effects of climate change, including in developing nations. In a draft budget released this week, government officials proposed a climate program that would increase the tax on oil companies from about £24 per ton of carbon dioxide to £45 (Nkr410) per ton. The plan would allocate about £1 billion (Nkr10 billion) to promote green energy initiatives, reduce...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/norway_proposes_co2_tax_hike__to_increase_climate_mitigation_funds/3660/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Drought persists, hits wheat growers hard - report

Reuters: Drought conditions in the United States grew even worse over the last week as historic drought conditions crept north and threatened new winter wheat planting in several states. September was the driest in 118 years of U.S. record keeping for North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana and was the third-driest September for Nebraska and Oregon, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the University of Nebraska's National Drought Mitigation Center. Farmers trying to plant the nation's new winter...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/11/us-usa-drought-idUSBRE89A13N20121011?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Global warming causing Antarctic ice to expand

Associated Press: The ice goes on seemingly forever in a white pancake-flat landscape, stretching farther than ever before. And yet in this confounding region of the world, that spreading ice may be a cockeyed signal of man-made climate change, scientists say. This is Antarctica, the polar opposite of the Arctic. While the North Pole has been losing sea ice over the years, the water nearest the South Pole has been gaining it. Antarctic sea ice hit a record 7.51 million square miles in September. That happened just...

URL: http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2012/10/11/antarctic-ice-global-warming-climate-change/1626795/

Group Calls for Swift Growth Of Carbon Capture-and-Storage Facilities

Yale Environment 360: An industrial group says that to avoid "dangerous climate change" an additional 55 facilities that capture carbon from power plants and store it underground must be built by 2020. The group, the Global CCS Institute, said that only one new carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) plant was built in the past year, bringing the current number to 75. The institute acknowledged that the goal of building 130 CCS plants by 2020 was unlikely, but argued that the technology is a proven method of reducing carbon...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/uk_institute_calls_for_growth_of_carbon_capture_storage_ccs/3659/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Run-off from Greenland may weaken carbon sink

New Scientist: More fresh water isn't always a good thing. The volume of fresh water gushing into the Atlantic from Greenland has increased in the past few decades. The water will interfere with Atlantic currents and may even reduce the ocean's ability to store carbon. "Greenland has been losing increasing amounts of mass," says Jonathan Bamber of the University of Bristol in the UK. What had been unclear was how much of that was due to losing water to the ocean, as opposed to factors like reduced snowfall....

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22374-runoff-from-greenland-may-weaken-carbon-sink.html?cmpid=RSS%7CNSNS%7C2012-GLOBAL%7Cclimate-change
Enclosure: http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn22374/dn22374-1_300.jpg

New World Bank Head Wants to Address Climate Change

Science: Jim Yong Kim, the new president of the World Bank, said in Tokyo today that dealing with climate change will be one of his priorities. "Since becoming president of the World Bank, I have looked deeply into the data on climate change, and I have to say I was surprised that even in last 6 months to a year, the data has become ever more frightening," he said. "As a scientist, I feel a moral responsibility to be very clear in communicating the dangers of climate change." Kim, a public health specialist...

URL: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/10/new-world-bank-head-wants-to-add.html

The Latest Science from Europe—Safe Fracking is a Fairy Tale

Natural Resources Defense Council: There are a few new reports from Europe on fracking that provide a lot of valuable information: A joint report from Germany`s Federal Environment Agency and Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety was released in September. Among the conclusions about the environmental impacts of fracking: Fracking technology can lead to groundwater contamination. There are current gaps in knowledge about environmental risks. Germany should use a step-by-step approach...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/safe-fracking-a-fairy-tale/
Enclosure: http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/uba-info-presse-e/2012/pe12-028_tight_restrictions_on_hydraulic_fracturing_required.htm

Shifts in Arctic wind could lead to greater sea ice loss, affect southern weather

Alaska Dispatch: When Arctic sea ice dipped to a new record low earlier this year, scientists began to look harder than ever at the possible reasons why the northern ice cap has seen such marked declines. Now, a new study released Wednesday suggests that shifting wind patterns in the world's far north might be to blame -- and could also be wreaking havoc on weather systems in the U.S. and Europe. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which helped lead the study with researchers from...

URL: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/shifts-arctic-wind-could-lead-greater-ice-loss-affect-southern-weather

As US presidential election nears, a new debate over 'clean coal'

StateImpact: Imag­ine a chart track­ing U.S. green­house gas emis­sions since 2005. Do you imag­ine a line head­ing up, or down? It's down actu­ally. Emis­sions are decreas­ing, thanks to the weak econ­omy, more use of wind and solar power, and the sud­den influx of cleaner burn­ing nat­ural gas. So where does that leave Pennsylvania's for­mer energy titan, king coal? If you're watch­ing TV or rid­ing down the turn­pike, you'll notice the coal indus­try is work­ing hard to pol­ish its reputation. The clean...

URL: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/10/10/the-clean-coal-debate/
Enclosure: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/files/2012/10/WHYY-Image2-IMG_1360-620x348.jpg

Report: Low carbon cars can drive 100,000 jobs in Europe

BusinessGreen: Investing in the development of fuel efficient technologies could create over 100,000 manufacturing jobs across Europe, according to a new report published today by campaign group Transport and Environment (T&E). The research, conducted by Dutch consultancy CE Delft, rejects automakers' claims that reducing emissions from cars would lead to job losses and diminished competitiveness. It also highlights how consumers saving money through using less fuel increase their spending in other parts...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2216401/report-low-carbon-cars-can-drive-100-000-jobs-in-europe?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Report%3A+Low+carbon+cars+can+drive+100%2C000+jobs+in+Europe

Fiscal woes, fears spur waste-to-energy debate in NYC

City Limits: In the years since a tugboat nosed the last barge full of garbage into the massive Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island when it was officially closed back in March of 2001, the tax burden and environmental impact of dealing with New York City's trash have increased dramatically. City officials estimate that in a single year, tractor-trailers log 40 million miles to haul 3 million tons of trash from the five boroughs to out-of-state landfills, mostly in Pennsylvania and Virginia. The flat cost of...

URL: http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/4638/fiscal-woes-long-held-fears-spur-waste-to-energy-debate

The new 'golden age of oil' that wasn't

Al Jazeera: Last winter, fossil-fuel enthusiasts began trumpeting the dawn of a new "golden age of oil" that would kick-start the American economy, generate millions of new jobs, and free this country from its dependence on imported petroleum. Ed Morse, head commodities analyst at Citibank, was typical. In the Wall Street Journal he crowed, "The United States has become the fastest-growing oil and gas producer in the world, and is likely to remain so for the rest of this decade and into the 2020s." Once this...

URL: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/201210792539521312.html

UK tidal power potential estimated at 153GW

BusinessGreen: The UK has the potential to install tens of gigawatts (GW) of tidal and wave power capacity, according to a new report from the Crown Estate designed to help predict the future growth of the marine energy industry. The Crown Estate today unveiled the findings of a new study into the UK's potential marine energy resource, which show that there is the potential to harness up to 153GW of tidal power capacity in the UK, using three types of technology. The report predicts tidal stream devices could...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/11/uk-tidal-power-estimate
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2009/7/15/1247691926933/Wave-and-tidal-energy-001.jpg

Oil sheen near Deepwater Horizon site from Macondo, U.S. says

Reuters: An oil sheen spotted on the Gulf of Mexico near the site of the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig matches samples from BP Plc's ill-fated Macondo well, the U.S. Coast Guard said. BP reported a sheen on September 16 in block 252 of the Mississippi Canyon, about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. Test samples indicate that "the sheen correlates to oil that originated from BP's Macondo Well", the Coast Guard said in a statement late on Wednesday. Swiss-based Transocean Ltd owned the Deepwater Horizon...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/11/us-bp-oilspill-sheen-idUSBRE89A11620121011?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

@BarackObama tweets on Climate Change

Huffington Post: The Obama-Biden reelection campaign has sent out a tweet on climate change issues: "Climate change is not a hoax. More droughts and wildfires are not a joke. They're a threat to your future."--President Obama -- Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 9, 2012 This quote from the President's DNC speech was the second most applauded line in the speech and, when given, raised hopes that the campaign would end the climate silence. Sadly, "climate change" has not (yet...) emerged as a major element...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/a-siegel/barackobama-tweets-on-cli_b_1958041.html