Arab activists take over

Peninsula: Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been unusually quiet during the first week of the UN Climate Change Conference in Doha, the first to take place in the Middle East. Banners and megaphones seem to be something limited to previous conferences such as Cancun (2010) and Durban (2011). Traditionally active organizations like Greenpeace or World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have said that a lack of representatives in this small country of the Gulf has made it difficult to implement actions similar to...

URL: http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/latest-news/216374-arab-activists-take-over-.html
Enclosure: http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/images/stories/Year2012/Dec%2001/Young-Activists-001.jpg

US government announces opening of Atlantic coast for offshore wind farms

Guardian: The Obama administration has for the first time opened up large areas off the Atlantic Coast for offshore wind farms. The department of the interior said it was proposing to offer competitive lease sales on some 278,000 acres, or about 432 square miles, off the coasts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia. The sale is expected to go ahead in the first half of 2013. "Wind energy along the Atlantic holds enormous potential, and today we are moving closer to tapping into this massive domestic...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/01/us-government-offshore-wind-farms-atlantic
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2010/10/10/1286736334935/Burbo-Bank-Wind-Farm-006.jpg

America's carbon tax offers a lesson to the rest of the planet on fighting climate change

Guardian: Eighteen months ago, an American named Gus Speth, described by Time as the "ultimate insider" for his string of public and academic appointments, was arrested in Washington DC at a protest against the Keystone XL pipeline, which will carry Canadian crude oil to America's oil refineries. From jail he said: "I've held numerous positions and public office in Washington, but my current position feels like one of the most important." A year later, delegates at the Republican party convention roared...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/02/carbon-tax-america-climate-change
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/12/1/1354355307030/Hurricane-Sandy-Henry-Por-010.jpg

United Kingdom: Osborne to offer tax breaks for shale gas

Independent: George Osborne is expected to use his Autumn Statement this week to announce tax breaks for companies that carry out controversial fracking, arguing that boosting the shale gas industry is vital to economic growth. Despite fears from environmental groups and local communities, the Government will publish a gas strategy paper, which will give the green light to shale gas extraction, alongside the Chancellor's economic update. With the cost of fuel soaring, Mr Osborne is expected to say that giving...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/osborne-to-offer-tax-breaks-for-shale-gas-8373865.html

Crop Yields May Be Lessened Due To Carbon Dioxide

RedOrbit: Atmospheric carbon dioxide content continues its climb, heating up the climate. For plants, however, the gas is a necessary part of their survival. It provides the carbon needed to produce glucose and other important substances, leading scientists to question if more carbon dioxide is better. The answer isn`t as simple as that, unfortunately. The plants used for our most basic food supply today have not been bred for vertical growth. Rather, they were bred for short stalks and a high yield of...

URL: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112739946/rice-grain-crop-yield-carbon-dioxide-ir8-120112/
Enclosure: http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2012/12/shutterstock_113018533-617x416.jpg

Why global fuel prices will spark the next revolutions

Time: While the demonstrators that have mobbed the streets of Amman for two weeks now are demanding the overthrown of King Abdullah -- a criminal offense in Jordan -- it`s not the demand for democracy that sparked their protests. Instead, thousands of Jordanians have been spurred to act by a more basic issue: the rising price of gas after the government withdrew its subsidies. Jordanians are hardly alone in their anger. Governments across the world are attempting to wean their citizens off subsidized...

URL: http://world.time.com/2012/11/28/why-global-fuel-prices-will-spark-the-next-revolutions/
Enclosure: http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/int-jordan-fuel-1127.jpg?w=720&h=480&crop=1

The Obama administration axes the CIA's Climate Change and National Security Center

Living on Earth: As one of the hottest years on record comes to a close, the CIA has decided to shutter its Center on Climate Change and Security. Joe Romm, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, discusses the closure of the center and the future of environmental security with host Steve Curwood. Transcript CURWOOD: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios in Boston, this is living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. The annual U.N. climate talks are underway in Doha, as delegations from around the world...

URL: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=12-P13-00048&segmentID=1
Enclosure: http://www.loe.org/content/2012-11-30/d-cia-climate.mp3

U.S. seeks to protect 66 kinds of coral

LA Times: The federal government on Friday proposed protecting 66 kinds of corals under the Endangered Species Act, an acknowledgment that these reef-building animals are suffering so many insults they are threatened with extinction. The proposal, which covers corals in the Pacific and the Caribbean, lists 19 ways that corals are under assault. They include overfishing, pollution, heat-stroke, disease and dissolving in seawater that is turning more acidic. A team of scientists from the National Marine...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1201-endangered-corals-20121201,0,6170665.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-50b96ed7/turbine/la-113051.fg.0822.slime.palmyra.rl.jpg-20121130/600

Baby steps expected at Doha climate meeting

Mother Jones: You're forgiven if you haven't heard that US negotiators are back at the table discussing global climate policy, this time in Doha, Qatar. The 18th Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (or, more simply, COP18) hasn't received nearly the attention of its predecessor in Copenhagen in 2009, or even the past two years in Cancun, Mexico, and Durban, South Africa. I've been at the past three COPs, but won't be traveling to Doha this year, for the...

URL: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/11/baby-steps-expected-doha-climate-meeting
Enclosure: http://mjcdn.motherjones.com/preset_12/doha.jpg

Information Is Power, But Is it Powerful Enough to Halt Climate Change?

Huffington Post: In a world where almost one billion people are chronically hungry and the current and future state of food security is beset by challenges such as climate change, knowledge and information are powerful. Powerful in terms of understanding the problems, in terms of deriving solutions and in terms of advocating where, how and when decision makers need to act. A new briefing paper written to complement Sir Gordon Conway's book One Billion Hungry: Can We Feed the World?, presents an array of often...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/professor-sir-gordon-conway/information-is-power-but-_b_2224772.html

Sweden: The land of the rising coastline

Reuters: A Stone Age camp that used to be by the shore is now 125 miles from the Baltic Sea. Sheep graze on what was the seabed in the 15th century. And Sweden's port of Lulea risks getting too shallow for ships. In contrast to worries from the Maldives to Manhattan of storm surges and higher ocean levels caused by climate change, the entire northern part of the Nordic region is rising and, as a result, the Baltic Sea is receding. The uplift of almost a centimetre a year, one of the highest rates in the...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/sweden-the-land-of-the-rising-coastline-8373787.html

Senators say Sandy poses severe challenge to climate skeptics

ClimateWire: Senate Democrats believe the wreckage from Superstorm Sandy could hasten a "turning point" in the public's blurred perception of climate change and spur a bipartisan effort to build dunes and sea walls to protect Americans. Lawmakers from stricken coastal states pleaded for an ambitious response yesterday to help victims of last month's storm build new homes, repair businesses or, at least, get the heat turned on. They also pressed for a much larger effort to fortify coastlines, transportation...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2012/11/30/1

OPEC member Qatar says to start embracing solar energy

Reuters: Qatar aims to raise the share of solar power in electricity generation to 16 percent by 2018, an official said on Saturday in a rare example of an OPEC nation embracing renewable energy. Qatar, the world's top exporter of liquefied natural gas, has the world's highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Like other OPEC nations, it has been wary of a global shift to renewable energy, fearing it will hit demand for oil and gas. "We are working on a project to develop 1,800 megawatts of solar...

URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-climate-qatar-talksbre8b00a7-20121201,0,248225.story

Obama pipeline decision may preview energy policy

Associated Press: It's a decision President Barack Obama put off during the 2012 campaign, but now that he's won a second term, his next move on a proposed oil pipeline between the U.S. and Canada may signal how he will deal with climate and energy issues in the four years ahead. Obama is facing increasing pressure to determine the fate of the $7 billion Keystone XL project, with environmental activists and oil producers each holding out hope that the president, freed from the political constraints of re-election,...

URL: http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_22105105/pressure-mounting-obama-over-pipeline-decision

Exposing the logic of climate change denial

Oregonian: According to the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, 14 percent of Americans deny that climate change is occurring. Because it persists in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, such denial might best be understood as an act of will, loyalty or something worse. Is there any logic to this? Actually, there is. Consider the logic by which people reach policy decisions. Any argument reaching a conclusion about what we ought to do will have two premises. The first premise lays...

URL: http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/12/exposing_the_logic_of_climate.html
Enclosure: http://media.oregonlive.com/opinion_impact/photo/11934046-large.jpg

Canada won't budge on environment, Peter Kent insists

Globe and Mail: Environment Minister Peter Kent arrives at the United Nations climate summit in Qatar this weekend with a target on his back, representing the only government that has withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol and taken a hard line on the need for emerging-market countries to make binding commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. In an interview before leaving Ottawa, Mr. Kent made it clear that Canada would not deviate from its contentious path or sacrifice economic growth to cut emissions. "We...

URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-wont-budge-on-environment-peter-kent-insists/article5872465/

Megastorms could drown massive portions of California

Scientific American: The intense rainstorms sweeping in from the Pacific Ocean began to pound central California on Christmas Eve in 1861 and continued virtually unabated for 43 days. The deluges quickly transformed rivers running down from the Sierra Nevada mountains along the state's eastern border into raging torrents that swept away entire communities and mining settlements. The rivers and rains poured into the state's vast Central Valley, turning it into an inland sea 300 miles long and 20 miles wide. Thousands...

URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=megastorms-could-down-massive-portions-of-california
Enclosure: http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/megastorms-could-down-massive-portions-of-california_1.jpg

Experts' review of NY fracking soon to be complete

Associated Press: Experts reviewing the health effects of shale gas development in New York are among the nation's most prominent in environmental health, giving opponents hope but the industry concern that reviewers will warn against drilling operations that use hydraulic fracturing. The state has had a moratorium on "fracking" for shale gas since the Department of Environmental Conservation started an environmental impact study in 2008. The department released proposed new regulations Wednesday stemming from...

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/Experts-review-of-NY-fracking-soon-to-be-complete-4083487.php

Qatar's first climate change march urges Arab states to act

AlertNet: Several hundred climate activists, including members of a fledgling Arab youth movement, waved banners and called for Arab governments to take the lead in tackling climate change on Saturday, in Qatar's first-ever environmental march. Following a 1.3 km route along the Doha waterfront, near rows of towering buildings, they urged politicians attending the U.N. climate talks in Qatar to make commitments to reduce emissions from fossil fuels, use more renewable energy, and provide fresh funds to...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/qatars-first-climate-change-march-urges-arab-states-to-act
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/9ef057d0-a134-4a4c-a795-af0fb6ad6de3/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201212011643

Polar melting is accelerating, so is sea-level rise

ClimateWire: Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are shrinking three times faster than they were in the 1990s, and their contribution to global sea level rise is growing, according to a new study by many of the world's top ice experts. Melting of the two massive polar ice sheets raised the world's oceans 11.1 millimeters between 1992 and 2011, or just under half an inch, accounting for about one-fifth of the total sea level rise during that period. The study represents a major scientific advance that could...

URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=polar-melting-is-accelera
Enclosure: http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/polar-melting-is-accelera_1.jpg

New Zealand: Climate change increasing freak weather

Stuff: Climate change is increasing far faster than the world has been willing to admit, and New Zealand could face increased flooding and drought while large areas of coastline could be inundated by the rising sea and coastal erosion. As another round of global climate talks began last week in Doha, a member of the generation that will face the effects of climate change, 18-year-old Ben Dowdle, believes those with the power to do something are not concerned about his future. Dowdle was a Unicef youth...

URL: http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/8024620/Climate-change-increasing-freak-weather
Enclosure: http://static.stuff.co.nz/1354357222/658/8024658.jpg

Qatar Hosting Climate Talks Spotlights Carbon-Data Void

Bloomberg: Middle Eastern companies lag behind those in the rest of the world in reporting carbon-dioxide emissions. They mirror governments in a region that for the first time is hosting global talks to limit climate change. Five of 2,199 publicly traded companies in the Middle East reported their CO2 output last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Those that did report, which included National Bank of Oman SAOG (NBOB) and Strauss Group Ltd. (STRS) of Israel, were 0.2 percent of the total. That...

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-29/qatar-hosting-climate-talks-spotlights-carbon-data-void.html
Enclosure: http://www.bloomberg.com/image/iyjRWRNeAppc.jpg

Will SolarCity IPO Offer Hope for Renewable Energy Investors?


SolarCity, a solar panel installation and finance company, is one of the more promising stories for alternative energy investors this year. SolarCity filed details of its initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday, making it one of the few alternative energy company IPOs that investors are optimistic about. This article explains what type of business SolarCity is, lays out details of its stock rollout, and reveals important pluses and minuses for investors.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/will-solarcity-ipo-offer-hope-for-renewable-energy-investors?cmpid=rss

Enbridge Bid to Dismiss Landowners' Lawsuit Fails, Pipeline Case to Continue

Inside Climate News: A lawsuit against pipeline company Enbridge Inc [3]. was returned to Michigan state court on Tuesday, after a judge ruled that a group that is trying to stop work on the company's 210-mile pipeline replacement project could not pursue the case in federal court. The ruling didn't address the merits of the case. POLAR (Protect Our Land And Rights) [4], the nonprofit group that filed the suit, is seeking an injunction against Enbridge, claiming the Canadian company hasn't obtained all the necessary...

URL: http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20121129/enbridge-6B-pipeline-michigan-indiana-polar-lawsuit-tar-oil-sands-kalamazoo-river-cleanup-dilbit-canada-landowners?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+solveclimate%2Fblog+%28InsideClimate+News%29

No Keystone XL? Big Oil will just take the train

Grist: It looks like Keystone pipeline protesters are having an impact - though not the one they intend. Thanks in part to anti-pipeline activism, oil in North America is increasingly being shipped by train. So far this trend has been little noticed by the environmental community, but it`s big news in the rail world. From Railway Age: "Railroads are booming, and [the reason] is oil," reports the well-known and highly respected stock market news and financial analysis website Seeking Alpha. "Railroad...

URL: http://grist.org/climate-energy/no-keystone-xl-big-oil-will-just-take-the-train/

California Oyster Farm Must Go

New York Times: Ken Salazar, the secretary of the interior, announced on Thursday that he would not extend the lease of an oyster farm in the Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California, allowing the estuary there to become a wilderness area. In a statement, the secretary said, "We are taking the final step to recognize this pristine area as wilderness." Not long after the park was created, Congress in 1976 mandated that part of it be designated wilderness; the section included Drake's Estero, a rich marine...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/california-oyster-farm-must-go/

Activists Arrested, Launch Hunger Strike in Protest of Keystone XL Pipeline

EcoWatch: Longtime Gulf Coast activists Diane Wilson and Bob Lindsey Jr., locked their necks to oil tanker trucks destined for Valero's Houston Refinery in solidarity with Tar Sands Blockade's protests of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline. Valero Energy Corp. is among the largest investors in TransCanada's toxic tar sands pipeline that will terminate near the community of Manchester, located in the shadow of Valero's refinery. Not only did Wilson and Lindsey blockaded the Valero refinery, the two lifelong...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/activists-arrested-launch-hunger-strike/
Enclosure: http://tarsandsblockade.org/

Solar panels are getting cheaper — time to make the rest of solar power cheap, too

Grist: The installed cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) power continues its precipitous decline, mostly due to falling prices for PV panels. Pushing solar forward in coming years will involve driving down the other costs - the non-panel costs. Those are a couple of the insights to be found in the fifth annual report on solar PV [PDF] from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), which digs into "project-level data for more than 150,000 individual residential, commercial, and utility-scale PV systems,...

URL: http://grist.org/climate-energy/solar-panels-are-getting-cheaper-time-to-make-the-rest-of-solar-power-cheap-too/
Enclosure: http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/solar-panel-in-shopping-cart.jpg?w=250&h=166

Susan Rice Has Stake in Keystone Pipeline

New York Times: Should Susan E. Rice, the United Nations ambassador, be nominated for Secretary of State, one issue likely to arise during confirmation hearings, aside from the lethal attack on the American Mission in Benghazi, Libya, is her large stock holdings in TransCanada, the company seeking an American permit to build the proposed the Keystone XL pipeline. According to financial disclosure documents filed in May, Ms. Rice owns from $300,000 to $600,000 worth of stock in the Canadian pipeline company (See...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/stake-in-keystone-pipeline-is-potential-conflict-for-susan-rice/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Troubled waters: Farmers and scientists work together to save oysters

Grist: Terry Sawyer is on a mission to rescue oysters from newly hostile seas. Sawyer has been farming these briny bivalves for almost 30 years in Tomales Bay, north of San Francisco, at Hog Island Oyster Company. The business he co-owns sells $9 million worth of Sweetwaters, Kumamotos, and Atlantic oysters a year at the company`s two local oyster bars, at nearby farmers markets, and direct from the farm to hungry consumers who can`t seem to get enough of this sustainable shellfish. But Sawyer`s seafood...

URL: http://grist.org/food/troubled-waters-farmers-and-scientists-work-together-to-save-oysters/
Enclosure: http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/oyster_seeds_jon_rowley.jpg?w=166&h=250

Investors shouldn't ignore financial risk of environmental damage

Mongabay: Environmental damage poses a long-ignored risk to sovereign bonds, according to a new report by the UNEP FI (The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative) and the Global Footprint Network. The report, E-RISC Report, A New Angle on Sovereign Credit Risk, finds that the overuse of natural resources and their degradation has put considerable, and largely unrecognized, risk against national economies. "We see some simple similarities with the current credit debt crisis where we borrowed...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1129-hance-investment-risk.html
Enclosure: http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay/sabah/600/sabah_2148.jpg

Another GreenBuild Down

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The exhibit hall and educational sessions were disappointing, but I enjoyed networking

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After missing GreenBuild 2011 in Toronto, I was excited to be back this year in San Francisco, a city I visit so frequently that I consider it my second home. GreenBuild is a big conference, with attendence in the range of 30,000, down slightly from a few years ago, but still very impressive. It was held in the Moscone Center, well located in downtown San Francisco.

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-curmudgeon/another-greenbuild-down

Protesters target tanker truck in effort to stop Canadian oil

KTRK: It is latest bit of protest news for TransCanada, the pipeline company trying to connect Houston to Canadian tar sands. Valero wants the Canadian oil. They've said so before. But it's not coming anytime soon. Remember, the president still hasn't approved the pipeline. Nonetheless, protesters on Thursday set out to embarrass a pipeline customer in hopes to make the whole project unattractive. It was at best an indirect target. The Houston Valero refinery is huge sure, but it's not owned by the...

URL: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/in_focus&id=8902742
Enclosure: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=8902743&pid=8902742

Renewables Industry Welcomes UK Energy Bill


The UK government's Energy Bill has received a warm welcome from renewable industry players and representatives.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/renewables-industry-welcomes-uk-energy-bill?cmpid=rss

Arab youth activists seek 'ambitious' plans on climate change

BDlive: ARAB Youth Climate Movement (AYCM) regional co-ordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, Reem al-Maella, 24, first heard about climate change when she was 19, she told journalists at the United Nations climate change talks in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday morning. Qatar is the first Middle Eastern country to host the climate change talks, and saw one of its first protests over climate change at about 1pm on Thursday, when AYCM members staged a mock soccer match in which Qatar scored a goal by...

URL: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFGZ_2kbRQmNCDJbPuDDL0kLrmyaA&url=http://www.bdlive.co.za/world/2012/11/29/arab-youth-activists-seek-ambitious-plans-on-climate-change
Enclosure: http://www.bdlive.co.za/incoming/2012/11/21/pollution-climate-change-us-xxx.jpg/ALTERNATES/crop_400x250/pollution+climate+change+US+XXX.jpg

'Exporting deforestation': China is the kingpin of illegal logging

Mongabay: Runaway economic growth comes with costs: in the case of China's economic engine, one of them has been the world's forests. According to a new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), China has become the number one importer of illegal wood products from around the world. Illegal logging-which threatens biodiversity, emits carbon, impoverishes local communities, and is often coupled with other crimes-has come under heavy pressure in recent years from the U.S., the EU, and Australia....

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1129-hance-china-illegal-logging.html
Enclosure: http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay-images/12/Logs-smuggled-across-the-land-border-from-Myanmar-into-Yunnan-province,-China,-April-2012-(c)-EIA.568.jpg

Rebuilding Cities After Sandy: 3 Keys to Climate Resilience

World Resources Institute: As negotiators in Doha move toward a new global climate agreement this week, politicians and planners in the United States are still busy absorbing the lessons of Hurricane Sandy. With half of all Americans living near the ocean, Hurricane Sandy provides a wake-up call for state and municipal authorities in coastal areas nationwide. New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo is leading the way, pledging a new generation of storm-resistant infrastructure and forming three commissions to explore how the state...

URL: http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/11/rebuilding-cities-after-sandy-3-keys-climate-resilience

Frac-Sand Mining: Is British Columbia the Gas Industry’s Next Wisconsin?

EcoWatch: Stikine Gold Mining Corp. will provide unconventional gas producers with British Columbian silica sand for fracking operations if the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations approves the company`s open pit frac-sand mine project application. According to the Ministry`s website the project, located 90 kilometers north of Prince George, is in pre-application status with the Environmental Assessment Office. If granted approval, Stikine could gouge a 5 kilometer wide and 200 meter...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/frac-sand-mining-british-columbia/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/wiscsand.jpg

No success for REDD+ in Doha until links between carbon, biodiversity & people better understood

CIFOR: While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to forest loss and degradation, the management of forests under REDD+ schemes must be adapted to local contexts to ensure both carbon and biodiversity goals are attained, say scientists. Christoph Wildburger and John Parrotta from the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) and co-authors of a new study that explores the relationship between forests, biodiversity and people, spoke with Forest News on the sidelines of the UN Climate...

URL: http://blog.cifor.org/12663/doha-no-success-for-redd-until-we-understand-local-links-between-carbon-biodiversity-and-people/#.ULh0hHg9eXk
Enclosure: http://blog.cifor.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/child-monkey-500x332.jpg

Pledges to fight global warming inadequate, U.S. off track - study

Reuters: Major nations' policies are inadequate to limit global warming and the United States is off track even in carrying out its weak pledge to limit greenhouse gas emissions, a scientific scorecard showed on Friday. The Climate Action Tracker report, issued on the sidelines of talks among almost 200 countries in Doha about climate change, said a toughening of policies was still possible to avert damaging floods, heat waves and rising seas. Major emitters China, the United States, the European Union...

URL: http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/pledges-fight-global-warming-inadequate-u-off-track-114720185.html
Enclosure: http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/gHQeueOHEwxG12thproF.w--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0zMDA7cT04NTt3PTQ1MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2012-11-30T114720Z_1_CDEE8AT0WR100_RTROPTP_2_USA.JPG

Governments must get serious about 'Loss and Damage' caused by climate change inaction

WWF: Developed country governments meeting at the UN climate conference in Qatar need to stop fiddling and start dealing with the severe losses and unprecedented damage which are devastating poor and vulnerable communities and ecosystems as a result of climate change. Where mitigation - reducing emissions - and adaptation efforts are too little or too late, the developed world must now take responsibility for the consequences, CARE, ActionAid and WWF say in a new report. The destruction wrought...

URL: http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/news/?uNewsID=206889

Australia: Bloody Ocean: Not Exactly The End of Days

National Geographic: It looks like something straight out of Dr. Seuss's world, but this is no imaginary scene. A form of algae has been spreading across Australia's eastern coast since Tuesday, turning the water an alarming shade of red and forcing at least ten beaches, including Sydney's popular Bondi Beach, to close. Known as an algae bloom or "red tide," the event occurs when unicellular organisms-in this case dinoflagellates from the genus Noctiluca-find optimal conditions (including sunlight and nutrients) and...

URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/121129-algae-bloom-australia-science/
Enclosure: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/616/cache/algae-turns-sydney-australia-beaches-red_61677_600x450.jpg

Pledges to fight global warming inadequate, US off track -study

Reuters: Major nations' policies are inadequate to limit global warming and the United States is off track even in carrying out its weak pledge to limit greenhouse gas emissions, a scientific scorecard showed on Friday. The Climate Action Tracker report, issued on the sidelines of talks among almost 200 countries in Doha about climate change, said a toughening of policies was still possible to avert damaging floods, heat waves and rising seas. Major emitters China, the United States,...

URL: http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/pledges-fight-global-warming-inadequate-us-off-track-112932471--business.html

AAA calls for suspension of E15 gasoline sales

Reuters: Leading road travel group AAA on Friday called on the U.S. government to suspend the sale of gasoline with a higher blend of ethanol fuel, the latest opposition against increasing the use of biofuels in transport. A lack of public awareness about the risks of using 15 percent ethanol, known as E15, in older cars could cause problems for motorists, according to an AAA study published Friday. The current standard is 10 percent, or E10. The Environmental Protection Agency approved E15 in 2011...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/30/us-usa-gasoline-idUSBRE8AT0JF20121130?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Fracking, Climate Change, And What Gets Lost In The Shuffle

Seeking Alpha: Today as I pen these notes natural gas is trading at $3.89 per million BTU, down about 4 percent from Friday's close. The news driving the commodity lower is not a sudden increase in production but forecasts of a warmer December than previously expected. Still, despite the drop natural gas is trading today at a higher price than its average over the past four years, or to be more precise, since the beginning of 2009. Why pick 2009? Because it was the beginning of the surge in unconventional...

URL: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1035441-fracking-climate-change-and-what-gets-lost-in-the-shuffle

UN climate boss: No support for tough climate deal

Associated Press: The United Nations climate chief is urging people not to look solely to their governments to make tough decisions to slow global warming, and instead to consider their own role in solving the problem. Approaching the half-way point of two-week climate talks in Doha, Christiana Figueres, the head of the U.N.'s climate change secretariat, said Friday that she didn't see "much public interest, support, for governments to take on more ambitious and more courageous decisions." "Each one of us needs...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/un-climate-boss-no-support-tough-climate-deal-123816100.html
Enclosure: http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/SBf2ctKch..PUCQ31fgknw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MjYwNztjcj0xO2N3PTMzOTA7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTQ3MjtxPTg1O3c9NjE0/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/5e433e0a4d75fb21210f6a7067001e31.jpg

Arctic sea ice larger than U.S. melted this year

CBS News: An area of Arctic sea ice bigger than the United States melted this year, according the U.N. weather agency, which said the dramatic decline illustrates that climate change is happening "before our eyes." In a report released at U.N. climate talks in the Qatari capital of Doha, the World Meteorological Organization said the Arctic ice melt was one of a myriad of extreme and record-breaking weather events to hit the planet in 2012. Droughts devastated nearly two-thirds of the United States as well...

URL: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57556153/arctic-sea-ice-larger-than-u.s-melted-this-year/

Melting Ice Added 11 Millimeters to Seas Over Two Decades

Bloomberg: Oceans worldwide rose by an average of about 11 millimeters (0.43 inches) from 1992 to 2011 as ice sheets near both poles melted, according to an article to be published tomorrow in the journal Science. Researchers evaluated multiple sets of satellite data from the past 20 years to measure the effect of melting ice near the Earth's poles, said Ian Joughin, a professor at the University of Washington and an author of the article. The results paint a more accurate picture of climate change than studies...

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-29/melting-ice-added-11-millimeters-to-seas-over-two-decades.html
Enclosure: http://www.bloomberg.com/image/irQWjJe5uZQ8.jpg

Tearful Gillibrand Leads Senators Seeking Aid After Sandy

Bloomberg: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was near tears when she told colleagues about a Staten Island family's tragedy in Superstorm Sandy as she and other lawmakers appealed for federal aid. An assistance package could be introduced in Congress as early as tomorrow. Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, haltingly recounted the experience of a mother whose two young children were swept from her arms in a flood as they left their home heading for safety with relatives in Brooklyn. Appearing at a Senate Environment...

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-29/tearful-gillibrand-leads-senators-seeking-aid-after-sandy.html

Japan, Russia Under Pressure to Renew Climate Vows, De Boer Says

Bloomberg: Japan, Russia and Canada face "significant pressure" to extend carbon-reduction pledges, and their refusal would jeopardize the Kyoto Protocol, the UN's former climate chief Yvo De Boer said. The three nations, which agreed to legally binding cuts in greenhouse gases under the 1997 accord, have indicated they won't sign up for extended obligations after their initial commitments end this. They did agree at last year's climate talks to work toward a new deal that would take effect in 2020 and include...

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-29/japan-russia-under-pressure-to-renew-climate-vows-de-boer-says.html

Climate change, disaster risk: Asian action critical

Philippine Daily Inquirer: THE JURY may still be out on the link between climate change and natural disasters. But one thing is clear: Weather-related disasters are increasing in both frequency and intensity. Witness the string of severe recent floods across Asia--from Pakistan, to Thailand, to the Philippines--and Hurricane "Sandy" in the United States, which have vividly shown us how extreme weather events can bring entire countries to a virtual standstill. Volatile weather extremes are hitting Asia and the Pacific more...

URL: http://opinion.inquirer.net/41755/climate-change-disaster-risk-asian-action-critical

Climate Change: Polar Ice Sheets Melting Faster, Raising Sea Levels

Time: Superstorm Sandy, which made landfall on the East Coast a month ago yesterday, wasn`t a particularly powerful storm. But what it did have was water--lots of it. Sandy pushed record storm surges in places like lower Manhattan, and it was the flooding triggered by those surges--much more than the winds accompanying the storm--that caused the tens of billions of dollars in damages attributed to the Superstorm. But our coastlines were already primed for those kinds of catastrophic floods, thanks in...

URL: http://science.time.com/2012/11/30/climate-change-polar-ice-sheets-melting-faster-raising-sea-levels/
Enclosure: http://timeecocentric.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/shepherd3hr.jpg?w=360&h=240&crop=1

Polar Ice Sheets Shrinking Worldwide, Study Confirms

National Geographic: The polar ice sheets are indeed shrinking-and fast, according to a comprehensive new study on climate change. And the effects, according to an international team, are equally clear-sea levels are rising faster than predicted, which could bring about disastrous effects for people and wildlife. Rising seas would increase the risk of catastrophic flooding like that caused by Hurricane Sandy last month in New York and New Jersey. Environmental damage may include widespread erosion, contamination...

URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/11/121129-global-warming-climate-change-ice-sheets-science-environment/
Enclosure: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/617/overrides/ice-sheets-shrinking-worldwide-science_61710_600x450.jpg

World has lost half its wetlands

Mongabay: Half of the worlds wetlands have been destroyed in just the last 100 years, says a new report. Published by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), the report found that of the 25 million square kilometers of wetlands that existed in 1900 just 12.8 million square kilometers now remain. The rate of destruction varies geographically with notable loses in East Asia running at 1.6 per cent per year. In places where aquaculture, over-exploitation (e.g. unsustainable harvesting of fish) and...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1129-handley-wetlands.html
Enclosure: http://travel.mongabay.com/brazil/600/brazil_1314.jpg

Keystone XL Protesters Arrested After Chaining Themselves to Tanker Trucks

Houston Chronicle: Two environmental activists were arrested Thursday after locking themselves to oil tanker trucks near the Houston Ship Channel, organizers said. The protesters were acting in coordination with the Tar Sands Blockade group that has staged a series of demonstrations throughout Texas to inspire opposition to TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, which is currently under construction. The controversial pipeline would stretch from Canada to the Gulf Coast and bring 700,000 barrels of oil to Gulf Coast...

URL: http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/11/29/keystone-xl-opponents-arrested/

A Three-Part Roadmap to Energy Independence


Energy independence is not a theoretical discussion. It will strengthen our national security and will boost our domestic economy. As a former member of Congress, Governor of New Mexico, and Secretary of Energy, I have looked at the issue of energy independence from many perspectives and can tell you that its need is more critical now than ever. As he enters his final term, I urge President Obama to take three specific steps to help move the nation toward energy independence.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/a-three-part-roadmap-to-energy-independence?cmpid=rss

Focus of Doha climate talks

China Daily: The 18th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is under way in Doha, Qatar. This is the first time that the UN climate change conference has been held in a Gulf country. The State of Qatar is rich in gas and oil. In particular, it has the world's third-largest reserves of natural gas resources, accounting for about 13.5 percent of the world's total. The urban and suburban areas of Doha are a desert oasis, demonstrating once again the ability of humans...

URL: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-11/30/content_15972804.htm

Bid to streamline Doha talks could herald emissions progress

BusinessGreen: Delegates at Doha are reportedly trying to streamline the negotiating process in an attempt to accelerate progress towards a global agreement to cut emissions. The different positions taken by developed and developing countries at the 2007 Bali Summit resulted in a two-track process with one set of talks concentrating on extending the Kyoto Protocol once its binding emissions targets expired in 2012, and another, the Long-term Cooperative Action (LCA) track, discussing new measures that would...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2228652/bid-to-streamline-doha-talks-could-herald-emissions-progress?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Bid+to+streamline+Doha+talks+could+herald+emissions+progress

United States: Sandy's warning was clear - 'Climate change is here, Now move out of the way'

NJ.com: This is a very difficult article to write. We have just suffered through one of the worst storms in the history of the state. More than 8.5 million people were without power, and even more important, thousands of homes and business were damaged or destroyed. Although I have recently written about our need to adapt to climate change, even I was not prepared for the destruction this storm brought. Climate change is here. Its effects are being felt today. "Anyone who says there is not a dramatic change...

URL: http://www.nj.com/times-opinion/index.ssf/2012/11/opinion_sandys_warning_was_cle.html
Enclosure: http://media.nj.com/star-ledger/photo/2012/10/11789686-large.jpg

How will climate change impact on fresh water security?

Guardian: Fresh water is crucial to human society – not just for drinking, but also for farming, washing and many other activities. It is expected to become increasingly scarce in the future, and this is partly due to climate change. Understanding the problem of fresh water scarcity begins by considering the distribution of water on the planet. Approximately 98% of our water is salty and only 2% is fresh. Of that 2%, almost 70% is snow and ice, 30% is groundwater, less than 0.5% is surface water (lakes,...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/30/climate-change-water
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/2/1/1328098524108/Drought-in-Mexico--A-man--007.jpg

Mongolia: Mining Saps a Thirsty Desert

Inter Press Service: The Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in the southern Gobi desert in Mongolia has become a symbol of a looming crisis: a limited water supply that could be exhausted within a decade, seriously threatening the lives and livelihoods of the local population. Oyu Tolgoi is one of the largest copper deposits in the world and has attracted major investors over the years, from Robert Friedland of Ivanhoe Capital Corporation, to the mining giant Rio Tinto, which now holds a majority stake in the investment,...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/11/mining-saps-a-thirsty-desert/

Scientists say 15% carbon emissions cut needed

Agence France-Presse: The chances of hitting the UN's global warming target are diminishing, but the goal can still be met if greenhouse-gas emissions fall by 15 percent by 2020, scientists said on Friday. In a study issued at the world climate talks in Doha, they cautioned against mounting pessimism that the UN's objective of curbing warming to a safer two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) is now out of reach. "Limiting global warming below 2C, or even to below 1.5C, remains technically and economically...

URL: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/scientists-15-carbon-emissions-cut-needed-122726245.html

Gender-smart responses help women duck worst climate impacts

AlertNet: Ducks swim; chickens do not. In frequently flooded areas of Bangladesh, recognizing this has helped over a thousand women prosper and better adapt in the face of climate change. Chameli Begum of Katihara, Bangladesh, is one of these women. As climate shifts create more frequent and powerful floods in her country, households like Begum's have found it hard to adapt, not least because culture-based gender inequalities limit women's social and physical mobility. But aid organization CARE International...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/gender-smart-responses-help-women-duck-worst-climate-impacts
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/669cc198-c0f5-4147-9cd0-0756c8568a65/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201211301055

5 Industries that Threaten the Globe and How We are Going to Save It


As our knowledge of how to clean up and prevent pollution increases and scientists slowly discover why we get certain illnesses and diseases, the world becomes more conscious of creating ways to make work environments safer; not only for the laborers, but for the entire human race. The goal is not necessarily to shut the processes down, but to reroute the toxic chemicals emitted in order to capture their vapors from releasing into the ozone. It's a new generation of wind, tidal and solar energy generators providing the world with its power. Continents are rapidly expanding their renewable energy resources, budgets and plans in order to eliminate dependency on these medieval practices that shortens the future of a healthy humanity.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/5-industries-that-threaten-the-globe-and-how-we-are-going-to-save-it?cmpid=rss

UN climate boss: No support for tough climate deal

Associated Press: The United Nations climate chief is urging people not to look solely to their governments to make tough decisions to slow global warming, and instead to consider their own role in solving the problem. Approaching the half-way point of two-week climate talks in Doha, Christiana Figueres, the head of the U.N.'s climate change secretariat, said Friday she didn't see "much public interest, support, for governments to take on more ambitious and more courageous decisions." Figueres said "each one...

URL: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20121130_ap_unclimatebossnosupportfortoughclimatedeal.html
Enclosure: http://media.philly.com/images/526*395/113012_climate_600.jpg

Climate aid assurances fail to convince African nations

AlertNet: African negotiators and climate activists are demanding that rich nations provide a concrete commitment at U.N. talks in Doha to increase funding for developing states to adapt to a warmer world and grow in a cleaner way, despite reassurances from donors that aid is not about to dry up. Rich governments say they have delivered on a 2009 pledge to provide some $30 billion in "fast start" finance from 2010 through 2012. They also have promised to mobilise $100 billion a year in public and private...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/climate-aid-assurances-fail-to-convince-african-nations

Invest in food on climate change risk: Baring

Reuters: Farmland in Brazil, soybeans and agricultural equipment makers are among ways to play the global risks of climate change and population growth, Baring Asset Management's chief investment officer said on Thursday. Melting ice at the North Pole is affecting weather patterns in the northern hemisphere, just when the world will have more mouths to feed, particularly in Africa, Marino Valensise, chief investment officer of Baring Asset Management, told the Reuters Global Investment Outlook 2013 Summit....

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/30/us-investment-summit-baring-idUSBRE8AS0YO20121130

Senate panel Democrats bash climate change deniers

Politico: Senate Democrats used an emotionally charged hearing Thursday on the effects of Hurricane Sandy to make an aggressive attack on climate change deniers in and out of Congress. At a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing featuring sometimes tearful reports from lawmakers representing East Coast states, some panel Democrats suggested putting customary congressional collegiality on the back burner to push more forcefully for mitigating climate change. "There is a new normal of new...

URL: http://www.politico.com/story/2012/11/senate-panel-democrats-bash-climate-change-deniers-84412.html

Pacific food security threatened by climate, economic changes: scientist

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: One of Australia's leading experts on climate change says Pacific nations are facing serious challenges when it comes to food security. Mark Howden, from Australia's national science agency the CSIRO, says climate change, rising sea levels and the cost of shipping food to outer islands, are all factors to be considered over the next few decades. Dr Howden is leading the food security chapter of a forthcoming United Nations report on climate change. He says population growth in the Pacific...

URL: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-30/an-pacific-food-security-challenges/4401598
Enclosure: http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/3720254-3x2-700x467.jpg

Is the World Bank turning up the heat?

Al Jazeera: Is the World Bank turning up the heat? - Inside Story Americas - Al Jazeera English News Programmes Video Blogs Opinion In Depth Business Sport Weather Watch Live Africa Americas Asia-Pacific Central & South Asia Europe Middle East Inside Story Witness Listening Post People & Power 101 East The Stream More Focus Features In Pictures Interactive Spotlight Briefings Your Views Counting the Cost News Inside Story Americas Is the World Bank turning up the heat? Bank warns...

URL: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestoryamericas/2012/11/20121130614818404.html
Enclosure: http://aje.me/Vis3L2

Britain on the 'Cusp of an Energy Renaissance'


UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey Wednesday said "we are on the cusp of a renaissance in British energy" after unveiling the government's long-awaited Energy Bill.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/britain-on-the-cusp-of-an-energy-renaissance?cmpid=rss

Solar Leasing One Step Closer In Georgia


On Tuesday the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) took a big step forward to encourage more solar power in the state. The PSC acts on behalf of telecommunications, electric power, and natural gas consumers in Georgia and ensures safety, reliability, and affordability. Georgia Solar Utilities Inc., a company launched in Macon, GA earlier this y

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/11/solar-leasing-one-step-closer-in-georgia?cmpid=rss

On the Jobsite with Foamglas

Subtitle:&nbsp_place_holder;

What we learned using Foamglas instead of polystyrene to insulate our basement slab and foundation walls

Images:&nbsp_place_holder;

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/jobsite-foamglas)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/jobsite-foamglas)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/jobsite-foamglas)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/jobsite-foamglas)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/jobsite-foamglas)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/jobsite-foamglas)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/jobsite-foamglas)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/jobsite-foamglas)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/jobsite-foamglas)

In my role with [Environmental Building News](http://www.buildinggreen.com/news/index.cfm) and our [GreenSpec Product Database](http://www.buildinggreen.com/menus/), I get plenty of opportunities to research and write about innovative building products. That's one of the really fun aspects of my job.

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/jobsite-foamglas

Real M&A: Western Wind Seen Luring Bids to Top Priciest Offer


Traders are betting that Western Wind Energy Corp.'s executives will persuade suitors to top what's already the most expensive valuation for an alternative- energy takeover on record.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/real-m-a-western-wind-seen-luring-bids-to-top-priciest-offer?cmpid=rss

Yingli Solar Order: Sunnier Days Ahead?


Struggling solar panel maker Yingli (NYSE: YGE) is trying the good news-bad news approach to distract investors from its latest downbeat earnings, announcing its biggest-ever new order on the same day it released its dismal third-quarter results. Based on shareholder reaction, the approach has been quite successful, with Yingli's stock surging more

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/11/yingli-solar-order-sunnier-days-ahead?cmpid=rss

Who Needs Third-Party Finance? Loan Programs Offer Low-Cost Direct Ownership Opportunities


Direct ownership of solar systems offers an array of benefits generally not available to third-party finance. And new loan programs are making it easier to achieve that goal.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/who-needs-third-party-finance-loan-programs-offer-low-cost-direct-ownership-opportunities?cmpid=rss

Fight Climate Change like a German


The in-progress Doha Climate Change Conference presents the perfect opportunity to read Global Cooling: Strategies for Climate Protection by Hans-Josef Fell. Green parliamentarian Fell is one of the fathers of Germany's Renewable Energy Law, the seminal legislation guiding the country's Energiewende. Fell refutes the tired line that saving the plan

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/11/fight-climate-change-like-a-german?cmpid=rss

MHI and SSE Partner to Bring Cargo Container Battery Storage to Orkney Islands Power Grid


Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has announced a partnership with SSE plc, an electric utility company located in Scotland, for an energy storage demonstration project that will use two 40-foot cargo containers full of thousands of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries to store as much as 800 kWh of generated clean energy, with a maximum power output capacity of 2 megawatts. The recipient of the joint effort will be Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution plc, the arm of the SSE that's responsible for distributing power in Scotland.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/mhi-and-sse-partner-to-bring-cargo-container-battery-storage-to-ornkey-islands-power-grid?cmpid=rss

Why clean energy isn’t enough: ‘Carbon Zero,’ chapter 2

Grist: Before we get on with the business of reimagination, though, we have to pause for some clarification on the matter of energy. The first response many of us have to the climate crisis is simple: We need cleaner energy. This is not illogical. Most of the emissions warming the Earth come from burning dirty fossil fuels. So, we think, replacing those dirty power sources with clean energy sources should solve the problem. When we first ponder the challenge of making carbon zero cities, most of us fly...

URL: http://grist.org/cities/why-clean-energy-isnt-enough-carbon-zero-chapter-2/

To what extent could planting trees help solve climate change?

Guardian: Forests play an important an important role in climate change. The destruction and degradation of forests contributes to the problem through the release of CO2. But the planting of new forests can help mitigate against climate change by removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Combined with the sun's energy, the captured carbon is converted into trunks, branches, roots and leaves via the process of photosynthesis. It is stored in this "biomass" until being returned back into the atmosphere, whether through...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/29/planting-trees-climate-change
Enclosure: http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/sres/land_use/index.php?idp=0

NGOs demand Doha cancellation of carbon credit surplus

BusinessGreen: More than 150 NGOs from across the globe have called on environment ministers and diplomats at the Doha Climate Summit to cancel surplus carbon credits that are blamed for undermining international efforts to cut emissions. Estimates put the glut of Assigned Amount Unit (AAU) credits countries use to meet their carbon goals at more than 13 billion, equivalent to 13 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2, primarily caused by a drop in production during the global economic slowdown. The concern is that this...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2228313/ngos-demand-doha-cancellation-of-carbon-credit-surplus?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=NGOs+demand+Doha+cancellation+of+carbon+credit+surplus

UN agency: Climate change occurring 'before our eyes'

Detroit Free Press: An area of Arctic sea ice bigger than the U.S. melted this year, according the United Nations weather agency, which said the dramatic decline illustrates that climate change is happening "before our eyes." In a report released at UN climate talks in the Qatari capital of Doha, the World Meteorological Organization said the Arctic ice melt was one of a myriad of extreme and record-breaking weather events to hit the planet in 2012. Droughts devastated nearly two-thirds of the U.S. as well as western...

URL: http://www.freep.com/article/20121129/NEWS07/311290171/UN-agency-Climate-change-occurring-before-our-eyes-
Enclosure: http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C4&Date=20121129&Category=NEWS07&ArtNo=311290171&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&UN-agency-Climate-change-occurring-before-our-eyes-

A Transitional Climate Summit in Doha

Council of Foreign Relations: As the annual United Nations climate negotiations get under way this week in Doha, Qatar, the mood is different from previous years. Delegates by and large remain seized by the challenge of global climate change, which threatens intensifying damages primarily in the future but requires strong action to curb emissions now. Each year, they gather to determine how international cooperation can best help achieve that end and help poorer countries adapt to whatever climate change occurs. The United States...

URL: http://www.cfr.org/climate-change/transitional-climate-summit-doha/p29542

East Africa pushes new public transport network

AlertNet: Mariam Kandege, 24, a worker at a fruit canning factory in the sprawling city of Dar es Salaam, wakes at 5 a.m. and hurries from her rented room in the Kimara suburb to a bus terminal, joining the scramble to get a seat on a daladala, a privately owned minibus, which quickly joins the bumper to bumper traffic jam into town. After changing buses several times, she finally reaches the factory in the Nyerere Road industrial area, 30 kms (20 miles) away, at 8 a.m., a journey that leaves her tired...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/east-africa-pushes-new-public-transport-network
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/a2902863-9225-4515-8322-40ce36cd7cbd/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201211291213

Poland set to host 2013 UN climate summit amid environmentalists' outcry

Xinhua: Poland, a EU member criticized for its climate policy, is set to host the 2013 UN climate summit, according to statements circulated Wednesday at the ongoing climate talks in Doha, Qatar. Without a contender, Poland became the selected host of the next UN climate talks on Wednesday right after it officially presented its offer at a plenary session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. "Poland is a good place to go," said the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat Christiana...

URL: http://www.mysinchew.com/node/80337?tid=37

Straw poll finds in favour of western Kenya's water and carbon solution

Guardian: Judy Sitati is going to a funeral. She is dressed in her best clothes and in her black handbag she carries a bottle of water. It is clear and safe – the product of a unique project financed by carbon credits. "I used to buy firewood to boil water. I would spend 150 shillings [about £1] a week. Now, I use the money to buy books, or sugar for tea, or soap," says Sitati, who stops to chat to volunteers from the carbon for water project on a rutted road in Kenya's Western Province. In April and...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/nov/29/straw-western-kenya-water-carbon
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/11/21/1353524636197/MDG--Lifestraw-filter--Ma-007.jpg

Haiti seeks $2bn to fight cholera outbreak blamed on UN soldiers

Guardian: Haiti is to call upon the international community for more than $2bn to fight cholera amid growing evidence that the world's worst epidemic was started by UN peacekeepers. The government's 10-year plan to improve sanitation and water provision will be unveiled with the backing of foreign aid groups and the UN, which is accused of one of the greatest failures in the history of international intervention. It follows reports of a recent spike in cholera cases in the wake of hurricane Sandy and...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/29/haiti-cholera-plan-un
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2012/11/20/1353435406933/Cholera-patients-admitted-010.jpg

China's emissions may keep rising until 2030 - report

Irish Times: China`s greenhouse gas emissions -- already the world`s highest -- may not peak until 2030 and by then they would amount to half of the "carbon budget" needed to limit global warming at 2 degrees Celsius. That`s the principal finding of a new report by the HSBC bank`s Climate Change Centre, released as delegates representing 194 countries meet in Doha, Qatar, for the UN`s 18th annual climate change conference. Wai-Shin Chan and Nick Robins, head of centre, said they believed China "is still...

URL: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/1129/1224327258191.html

Countering the new horsemen of the apocalypse

New Scientist: CALL them the modern horsemen of the apocalypse: nuclear war, climate change, doomsday viruses and out-of-control machines. These are the subjects of the proposed Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), which this week attracted much media attention. "We're talking about threats to our very existence stemming from human activity," says Martin Rees, a cosmologist at the University of Cambridge who wants to found the centre with philosopher Huw Price and Skype inventor Jaan Tallinn. These...

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628933.500-countering-the-new-horsemen-of-the-apocalypse.html?cmpid=RSS%7CNSNS%7C2012-GLOBAL%7Cclimate-change

How Climate Change is Affecting the Children of Bhutan

Huffington Post: Growing up in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, I would often see crows perched on nearby trees and on the rooftops of our homes. We would chase them as they tried to pick up food that was kept to dry out in the sun. Ten years on, it has become rare to hear the cawing of the crows, let alone see them. The people of Bhutan lack hard data to prove that climate change is occurring here, but we see its effects on a daily basis. For children growing up here today, the life and landscape of Bhutan is dramatically...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/sherpem-sherpa/climate-change_b_2209869.html

Senators push Obama to propose clean gasoline rules

Reuters: A group of Democratic senators on Thursday will urge the Obama administration to propose rules to cut smog-forming emissions from gasoline, regulations opposed by many Republicans. The lawmakers, led by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York, want the Environmental Protection Agency to propose rules that would slash the sulfur content in gasoline this year and to finalize them next year. "Tier 3 will substantially reduce harmful pollutants that are responsible for health-related ailments...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/29/us-usa-senators-diesel-idUSBRE8AS0FM20121129?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Lack of political consensus is stifling green investment in the UK

Guardian: Billions of pounds of investment in renewable energy is waiting to flow into the UK energy sector. Will the energy bill, published on Thursday, unlock it? Vestas is the world's leading manufacturer of wind turbines. We know what is needed to drive investment and what stymies it. Political consensus matters. Investors were beginning to seriously doubt the government's willingness and ability to deliver a workable energy policy for the UK. Last week's disclosure of details in the bill demonstrated...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/29/lack-political-consensus-stifling-green-investment
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/11/28/1354117146858/Vestas-Wind-Systems-Turbi-008.jpg

Forest reveals climate change's surprising damage to moose, maple syrup

Poughkeepsie Journal: Higher sea levels. More intense storms. Drought. These are the most common impacts associated with climate change. But what about pond algae? Or diseased moose? Or less maple syrup? In the December edition of the scientific journal BioScience, scientists detail how climate change has been affecting — and could further change — a forest ecosystem in New Hampshire. The study seeks to go beyond the most obvious impacts to understand how climate change is playing out at a unique location in...

URL: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/needlogin?type=login&redirecturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.poughkeepsiejournal.com%2Farticle%2F20121129%2FNEWS01%2F311290020%2FForest-reveals-climate-change-s-surprising-damage-moose-maple-syrup%3Fodyssey%3Dmod%257Cnewswell%257Ctext%257CPoughkeepsieJournal.com%257Cp%26nclick_check%3D1
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China at the centre of global illegal timber trade, NGO says

Reuters: China's insatiable appetite for timber is driving a growing illegal trade that is stripping forests in Africa and Asia and fuelling conflict, underscoring the urgency for Beijing to enact laws to crack down, an environment group said on Thursday. China is the world's top importer of illegal timber, with the trade worth about $4 billion a year, said the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Globally, Interpol estimates total trade in illegal timber is more than $30 billion....

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/29/us-china-timber-idUSBRE8AS08D20121129?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
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GM to open China research center to focus on "new energy"

Reuters: General Motors Co is opening its latest global research center in China on Thursday, taking advantage of the country's vast supply of engineering graduates to drive its development of a new generation of electric vehicles. China's auto market has grown rapidly - it has been the world's largest since 2009 - and one of the new centre's primary roles is to ensure the requirements and preferences of consumers in China are integrated into GM's global product development. But the new facilities in...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/29/us-autos-china-gm-idUSBRE8AS09920121129?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Coal Is Doomed

Slate: Imagine I hand you the keys to an Apple Store. It's a big one, a warehouse-like, multiacre affair running floor-to-ceiling with Apple products in tightly packed rows. And it's yours to do with what you want. Obviously, you'd sell everything. And within an hour, you'd be making money hand over fist. You'd have some costs—staff, bags, whatever—but nothing big. Customers would be lined up out the door. Even if I charged you a $5 fee for every device you sold, it's a spectacular deal. After...

URL: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/coal/2012/11/clean_coal_future_economics_geology_and_public_health_will_doom_coal_industry.html
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How Cities Can Lead the Climate Fight

Grist: It`s not every day that the author of a new book - a sharp perspective on a topic that`s central to your work - approaches you and proposes that you make the entire thing available on your website. Usually, authors are more ... parsimonious with their work. So when Alex Steffen brought his Carbon Zero to Grist several weeks ago with this offer, I wanted to make absolutely certain I`d heard him right. I knew he`d already raised a little money on Kickstarter to write the book. And I knew he was...

URL: http://grist.org/cities/how-cities-can-lead-the-climate-fight-introducing-alex-steffens-climate-zero/

Paying the Price for Climate Change

Huffington Post: The climate is changing. Recent extreme weather events offer evidence that even the richest economies are not prepared. Despite the best efforts of international negotiators, we have not been able to agree on an effective binding regime to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And the eye-popping price tags associated with events such as Hurricane Sandy (up to U.S. $50 billion in damages) are generating momentum to change our approach to solve this vexing challenge. The year 2012 may be remembered...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-kerr/paying-price-climate-change_b_2206791.html

Migration not always a way to adapt

IRIN: As the impact of climate change unfolds, many have predicted forbidding scenarios of millions of impoverished people flooding into new, often affluent, countries. Yet a ground-breaking study released on 28 November reveals a more nuanced relationship between climate variability and migration, which could provide insight into how events might transpire in the coming years. The study, carried out by Care International and the UN University (UNU) in eight countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America,...

URL: http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96917/CLIMATE-CHANGE-Migration-not-always-a-way-to-adapt
Enclosure: http://www.irinnews.org/images/2010/201002231215470313.jpg

Developing world must act now to climate proof cities

BusinessGreen: Cities in developing countries need to act now to avoid locking themselves into "unsuitable and unsustainable" infrastructure that could increase their vulnerability to climate change. With around three-quarters of the world's population expected to be living in urban areas within 40 years, municipalities have no time to lose in working out how to protect themselves from climate hazards, resource scarcities, and damage to ecosystems, according to a major government-backed report published yesterday....

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2228151/developing-world-must-act-now-to-climate-proof-cities?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Developing+world+must+act+now+to+climate+proof+cities

United States: Acidifying water takes toll on Northwest shellfish

KUOW: Rescuing shellfish from the rising acidity in Puget Sound will require a wide-ranging response: Everything from curbing greenhouse gases and controlling water pollution to growing more seaweed and putting restaurant-discarded oyster shells into shallow bays. Those are among the recommendations in a long-awaited report on ocean acidification that was delivered today to Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire by a blue-ribbon panel. At a media event to unveil the report, the governor announced she...

URL: http://earthfix.kuow.org/water/article/acid-water-take-toll-on-puget-sound-shellfish/

20 Million Acres for Sale in Gulf for Offshore Drilling While U.S. Talks Big at UN Climate Summit

EcoWatch: Today as part of Obama's "All of the Above" energy strategy, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold an oil and gas lease sale that will make more than 20 million offshore acres available to oil and gas drilling in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. At the UN climate talks in Doha, the U.S. is claiming credit for "enormous" efforts on climate change. Jonathan Pershing, a senior negotiator for the U.S., said: "Those who don't know what the U.S. is doing may not be informed of...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/20-million-acres-for-sale/

Fracking Public Lands—Proposed Rules Threaten Drinking Water for Millions

EcoWatch: The George Washington National Forest in Virginia is currently a target for natural gas leasing, yet this area is home to the headwaters of the Potomac and James Rivers. The Department of the Interior`s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is in the process of developing new rules for fracking on more than 750 million acres of public and private land across the country. A final rule could be released as early as December. The current rules are woefully inadequate and need to be dramatically strengthened...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/fracking-public-lands/
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UK plans low-carbon energy cost breaks for industrials

Reuters: Britain plans to exempt industrial energy users from extra costs arising from its electricity market reform following complaints from industry that the costs will kill their international competitiveness. Details of the plan have not been decided, a spokesman for the energy ministry said. The government will launch a consultation next year. "It is important that the UK's energy intensive manufacturing industry remains competitive whilst significant investments are made in the UK's energy infrastructure,"...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/29/us-britain-energy-cost-idUSBRE8AS00920121129?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Plants and soils could accelerate climate's warming, study warns

InsideClimate News: When climate scientists try to estimate how much the Earth will warm due to increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a key consideration is the role of plants and soils. The more carbon they absorb, the more they reduce the global warming potential. But recent studies indicate that assumptions about plants' and soils' capacity in the so-called "carbon cycle" may be overly optimistic. If these studies are correct, even bigger cuts in greenhouse gas emissions will be needed to prevent...

URL: http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20121128/plants-soils-carbon-sink-global-warming-climate-change-carbon-dioxide-emissions-co2-photosynthesis-new-research
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Don’t Throw Wind Power Off the Fiscal Cliff—Renew the Wind Production Tax Credit

EcoWatch: As superstorm Sandy and its aftermath prompt more Americans to call for action tackling global warming, Environment America released a new report today showing how current power generation from wind energy prevents as much global warming pollution as taking 13 million cars off the road each year. With the fiscal cliff and the expiration of key tax credits for wind power quickly approaching, Environment America is urging Congress to extend critical federal incentives for wind power--the renewable...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/renew-wind-production-tax-credit/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/wind2.jpg

Rainfall shifts pushing rural poor to migrate - study

AlertNet: Migration driven by changing rainfall patterns is on the rise in poor rural communities, as farming families struggle to grow enough food amid worsening droughts and floods. And unless they are helped to cope, governments may face large-scale movements of destitute people in the future, new research says. To prevent this, the study by CARE International and the U.N. University recommends adjusting agriculture to new climate conditions and to finding alternative ways for rural communities to make...

URL: http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/rainfall-shifts-pushing-rural-poor-to-migrate-study
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/bb6500ce-b141-45eb-be7c-ee6e842af4d3/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201211290020

Secretary of State Candidate Has Major Financial Stakes in Canadian Tar Sands

EcoWatch: Susan Rice, the candidate believed to be favored by President Obama to become the next Secretary of State, holds significant investments in more than a dozen Canadian oil companies and banks that would stand to benefit from expansion of the North American tar sands industry and construction of the proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline. If confirmed by the Senate, one of Rice's first duties likely would be consideration, and potentially approval, of the controversial mega-project. Rice`s financial...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/stakes-in-canadian-tar-sands/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/susanrice_getty.jpg