|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By Sarah Stillman
$19.90
$40.00
$17
|
|
|
|
Flickr / otodo
|
G8 summit participants have all agreed to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent over the next four decades. Enough to keep Florida above water? The world leaders involved have to keep their promises first, as do successive governments over the next 41 years. Then there are the developing nations that could just absorb all that outsourced pollution. Nice start, though.
|
|
By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — That some highly vulnerable Democrats in the House were willing to face tens of thousands of dollars worth of Republican attack ads as the price of supporting a bill to curb global warming is the untold story of what, so far, is the year’s most dramatic legislative showdown.
|
Flickr/Ed Yourdon
|
The House of Representatives has passed a climate change bill by a vote of 219 to 212. The bill, which was a top priority for President Obama, largely resembles California’s environmental program and requires that large American companies reduce emissions of global warming gases by 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050.
|
blogspot.com
|
There’s movement toward a global agreement on climate change, with the U.S. rescinding its demand that China commit to greenhouse gas emissions at the level of those in already-developed countries.
|
watersecretsblog.com
|
Researchers have issued a report declaring that climate change is already killing 300,000 people a year and that the number will only increase as heat, flood, storm and fire combine to create “the greatest humanitarian challenge the world faces.”
|
AP photo / Elizabeth Dalziel
|
By Scott Ritter — Forget about terrorism for a moment. The potential catastrophe that climate change could unleash on America makes every other national security crisis pale in comparison. President Obama cannot secure the homeland without addressing this global emergency.
|
NASA
|
Scientists meeting in Copenhagen say the U.N.’s worst climate fears are already coming to pass. Lord Stern, who helped alert the world to the economic perils of climate change, said at the conference that his 2006 report underestimated both the speed and scope of climate change.
|
SF Chroncile / Lance Iversen
|
The key word being had: The new secretary of energy, Nobel Prize-winning Steven Chu, is making waves in the policy community with his daunting comments about climate change. Chu warns that the farms of California, the nation’s leading agricultural producer, could vanish by the end of this century if steps to slow global warming are not taken.
|
cachefly.net
|
Al Gore went back to his old stomping grounds Wednesday to present the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with a mini version of his famous climate lecture. But even if those politicians somehow get their act together, the damage we’ve already caused will be with us until the year 3000 or later, according to a new report.
|
|
Another day, another big meeting about a serious global crisis for President-elect Barack Obama, who joined forces on Tuesday in Chicago with former Vice President Al Gore and Obama’s own veep, Joe Biden, in discussing Gore’s signature cause—climate change.
|
AP via YouTube
|
How will an Obama administration differ its predecessor in terms of climate change? President-elect Barack Obama made a virtual appearance at a Los Angeles climate conference to drop some hints.
|
Flickr / World Economic Forum
|
Former Vice President and presidential hopeful Al Gore seized upon the “change” theme that Barack Obama so successfully rode to victory in this year’s election to remind readers of Sunday’s New York Times that there’s one kind of change we don’t need: climate change.
|
flickr.com
|
Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, suggested Monday that a decrease in individual meat consumption could provide the most immediate and feasible strategy for reducing the effects of global warming. In fact, only 13 percent of global greenhouse emissions come from transportation (planes, trains and automobiles), while a whopping 18 percent of the emissions come from the planet’s livestock industry.
|
Richard Ellis
|
By Richard Ellis —
More than any other mammal (except of course Mr. Homo sapiens), Ursus maritimus, which translates as maritime bear, has been in the forefront of the news lately, the subject of television specials, lawsuits, congressional debates, and New York Times editorials. Why?
|
bbc.co.uk
|
President Bush called for a speedy end to the ban on offshore oil drilling in American coastal waters Wednesday, chiding his congressional challengers by declaring that there’s “no excuse for delay” in lifting the “outdated and counterproductive” restrictions. However, some of his political opponents on this issue, like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, are giving him heat from his own side of the political aisle.
|
UNHCR / John Wreford
|
A U.N. report Tuesday estimated the number of the world’s displaced refugees in 2007 at 11.4 million, a majority of which the U.N. says come from the U.S.-led conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Analysts also say the number of refugees threatens to grow even more due to new concerns such as climate change, environmental degradation and increasingly scarce resources.
|
ltscotland.org.uk
|
By Bill McKibben —
Even for Americans, constitutionally convinced that there will always be a second act, and a third, and a do-over after that, and, if necessary, a little public repentance and forgiveness and a Brand New Start—even for us, the world looks a little Terminal right now.
|
tusb.stanford.edu
|
After “An Inconvenient Truth” hit theaters, Al Gore may have won a couple of trophies for his work in fighting climate change, but the former vice president doesn’t believe enough has changed where it counts—in national and international laws.
|
businessandmedia.org
|
It’s become a visual meme in our culture, but some World War II veterans don’t believe that Joe Rosenthal’s seminal image of Americans hoisting the flag on Mount Suribachi should be appropriated or altered in any way. In fact, some vets, like Donald Mates, believe repurposing the photo, as Time magazine has just done for an issue about global warming, is tantamount to blasphemy.
|
epp-ed.eu
|
A California senator is working to push a bill through the state’s legislative channels that would make global warming a required study topic in California public schools, but detractors maintain that the science behind Sen. Joe Simitian’s proposed academic addition is unclear.
|
|
Although some politicians and media pundits who lean toward the right of the political spectrum regard global warming as an overhyped pet issue that mostly gets liberals hot under the collar, New York City mayor and media baron Mike Bloomberg (who’s moved around quite a bit on said spectrum) suggests that it is potentially much worse than the threat of terrorism. He made the comment Monday at a U.N. climate change conference.
|
seniorsinservice.org
|
The White House should hand out pamphlets featuring stock photos of squealing, happy children and serene-looking seniors entitled “Global Warming And You!” after spokeswoman Dana Perino’s startling musings about possible “health benefits” of global warming. Perino made the comments, with a disclaimer, in speaking with reporters Wednesday at the White House.
|
|
By Eugene Robinson — Because the problem is likely to stretch on for decades, even centuries, even if humankind acts immediately, we had better get used to the idea of adapting.
|
news.bbc.co.uk
|
The Khasi tribespeople of India want to honor Al Gore with an award of local handicrafts and a “small amount of money” for raising awareness of the climate change that they say has ravaged their scenic province, the name of which translates to “abode of the clouds.” A Gore representative says he is humbled, but unsure if he’ll make it to the ceremony, which will be held at a preserved village near a sacred forest.
|
katrina-hurricane.biz
|
By Chris Mooney — Despite the lessons of Katrina, the U.S. is still incredibly vulnerable this hurricane season and looking toward a future—and still lacking in vision—that could spell serious trouble for previously pummeled targets like New Orleans, as well as some unexpected areas of the country.
|
interet-general.info
|
Socialist candidate Segolene Royal has conceded to conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, the next president of France. In his acceptance speech, Sarkozy promised to unite a divided nation and urged Washington to address climate change more aggressively.
|
|
Over the objections of other members, the UK has brought the climate change debate to the U.N. Security Council. Russia, China and Pakistan said it was the wrong venue for the issue, but U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett pointed out that rising sea levels, mass migration and economic catastrophe would almost certainly impact global security.
|
greenpeace.org
|
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that the climate crisis could afflict billions of people, especially the poor, with food and water shortages, drought and flooding. “For the first time, we are no longer arm-waving with models; this is empirical data,” explained one of the panel’s leading scientists.
|
utexas.edu
|
Polar ice experts warned Wednesday that a Texas-size block of ice in the Antarctic has thinned surprisingly fast. The Amundsen Sea Embayment contains enough water to elevate sea levels worldwide nearly 20 feet.
|
|
John Stossel has truly gone off the deep end. While appearing on Glenn Beck’s radio show, the co-anchor of ABC News’ “20/20” called Robert Kennedy Jr. an “imbecile,” suggested global warming could be “a good thing,” and implied combating the crisis would “wreck the lives of poor people.”
|
|
“An Inconvenient Truth” took home two Academy Awards on Sunday, one for best documentary and the other for Melissa Etheridge’s “I Need to Wake Up” (best song). In case you missed it, here’s a video summary of Al Gore’s night at the Oscars.
|
pbs.org
|
Although California has a reputation for smog-choked freeways and self-indulgent excess, the Golden State consumes less energy per capita than any other state in the union. What’s the secret? A combination of tough regulation and high prices.
|
news.bbc.co.uk
|
A British-led group of legislators from around the world has agreed to a nonbinding declaration meant to lay the groundwork for a Kyoto Protocol replacement. While the statement will have no enforceability, organizers hope the agreement will spur momentum after U.N. talks stalled in November.
|
|
The most authoritative climate change panel, with 2,500 scientists from 130 countries, is expected to project the biggest change in average temperatures in thousands of years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believes that even if governments manage to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions, oceans will continue to rise for at least 1,000 years.
|
chasingmidnight.com
|
On Wednesday the “doomsday clock” ticked two minutes closer to midnight as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists assessed threats from nuclear proliferation and global warming. Meant to signify humanity’s proximity to a major global catastrophe, the clock is currently set to 11:55 p.m.
|
autointell.de
|
The higher cost of hybrid cars is worth it in the long run, according to a comprehensive new study. When considering not just fuel economy but insurance, maintenance, depreciation and other factors, a Toyota Prius owner can expect to save $13,408 over five years, compared with a non-hybrid in the same class.
|
|
Following in the footsteps of big tobacco, ExxonMobil paid 43 ideological groups $16 million to attack the science behind global warming, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. The real scandal isn’t that Exxon paid such groups to pimp its version of “reality,” but that the media felt obligated to take an “on the other hand” approach in reporting those fringe assertions about climate change.
|
firstpeople.us
|
The Department of the Interior will recommend adding polar bears to the endangered species list, a rare acknowledgment by the Bush administration of the impact of global warming. The world’s largest bears depend on ever-shrinking Arctic sea ice for their survival.
|
mikelevin.com
|
California’s Global Warming Solutions Act requires the state to cut emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Industrialists and environmentalists alike are watching intently as the world’s seventh-largest economy prepares to meet that goal—assuming the landmark law survives numerous court challenges.
Posted on Dec 25, 2006
READ MORE 
|
|
Froma Harrop —
Staving off global warming will depend on our willingness to take the long view and adopt the radically earth-friendly policies that are needed.
|
news.bbc.co.uk
|
Last month Arctic sea ice shrunk by an area the size of Alaska when compared to historical averages, according to a new study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. By 2040, summer ice could disappear altogether.
|
|
Scientists have noted alarming trends in the arctic that continue to indicate a rise in global temperature, which could ultimately lead to catastrophe: “There have been regional warming periods before. Now we’re seeing arctic-wide changes.”
|
|
America restated its opposition to limiting greenhouse gas emissions during a conference of more than 100 countries searching for a global solution to climate change. According to the U.S. negotiator: “I certainly got no indication [from the Bush administration] that there’s any change in our position, nor is there likely to be during this presidency….”
|
noaanews.noaa.gov
|
A new report warns that climate change left unchecked would cause the global economy to lose 20% of its value, while acting to address the problem would only cost 1% of global GDP. Sir Nicholas Stern’s report is the first major attempt to address the economics, as opposed to the science, of global warming.
|
|
Truthdig salutes Rocky Anderson, the Salt Lake City mayor who spoke out against the war and reminded the world that “blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism.” Anderson welcomed Bush to his city with a fiery protest speech and these searing lines: “A patriot does not tell people who are intensely concerned about their country to just sit down and be quiet; to refrain from speaking out in the name of politeness or for the sake of being a good host; to show slavish, blind obedience and deference to a dishonest, war-mongering, human-rights-violating president.”
|
From polarice.com
|
Bush & Co. have apparently been muzzling climate scientists from speaking forthrightly to the public about global warming. Shocker, right?
Perhaps they thought last week’s head fake on giving more free rein to NASA scientists would throw reporters off the scent….
|
View the most popular tags overall?
|
|
More Exposés, Less Action
Newsletter 
Like Us
Follow Us
Get Our Feed
