Weather extremes wither LA, drown Texas
AP reports here at Yahoo News: Barring a surprise arrival of the kind of gully washers Texas is getting these days, Los Angeles' driest year in 130 years of record-keeping will go into the books this weekend.
Choking on Spruce in Germany
Siegel Online reports here: Half a year ago, the storm Kyrill toppled more than 40 million trees in Germany, most of them in planned spruce forests. But now, instead of environmentally appropriate replanting, foresters are returning to monocultures.
Charity attacks rush for biofuels
The rush for biofuels could have a major environmental impact, BBC News reports here: A furious attack on the drive to grow more biofuels has been launched by a charity supporting poor farmers in developing countries.
UN issues desertification warning
BBC News reports here: Desertification represents the "greatest environmental challenge of our times", the UN warns in a report.
Electric utilities to study new solar technology
Reuters reports here at Yahoo News: The Electric Power Research Institute said on Wednesday it will launch a project to study the feasibility of "concentrating" solar power to increase its efficiency at the request of a number of western U.S. electric utilities.
Pollution Dangers Cast Shadow over 2008 Olympics
Spiegel Online reports here: Is Beijing dangerous to athletes' health. With the prospect of athletes running marathons and cycling in Beijing's smog and pollution-laden air, environmentalists and experts in sports medicine are concerned about the health risks associated with the Olympic Games in China.
Spiegel Interview with BASF CEO Jürgen Hambrecht
Jürgen Hambrecht is CEO of the largest chemical company in the world, BASF. SPIEGEL spoke here in this interview with him about German environmental policy, what to do about global warming, and how the 12th century wasn't all that bad.
Fujifilm looks to garbage for energy
CNET News.com reports here: Maker of imaging devices, photo and copying products to begin using methane gas from landfill to power its nearby manufacturing center.
Floods, heatwaves send signal about global warming's impact: UN
AFP reports here at Yahoo News: Recent floods in Asia and Britain, and heatwaves in southern Europe, show the world must be better prepared to cope with the impact of climate change, the United Nation's top disaster prevention official said Wednesday.
Pumping biodiesel to get ethanol
Rice University researchers say that microbes can help us get more biofuel for the buck, CNET News.com reports here: Armed with E. coli, researchers at Rice University could help take some of the risk out of the growing biofuel business.
Pictures from Panama
Please check out our new website PTY4U.com - Pictures from Panama, with tons of slide shows, honoring the abundance of beauty of to be discovered in Panama and let us know how you like it.
Arizona Dust Causes Colorado Meltdown
LiveScience.com reports here at Yahoo News: Wind-blown dust from the drought-stricken Southwest can speed the melt of snow in Colorado’s mountains, yet another unpredictable effect of climate change, a new study shows.
Armies must ready for global warming role
Reuters reports here at Yahoo News: Global warming is such a threat to security that military planners must build it into their calculations, the head of Britain's armed forces said on Monday.
Climate Fears For Heritage Sites
BBC News reports here: Campaigners say the UN must take urgent action to protect six World Heritage sites, including Mount Everest, from the impact of climate change. (more)
China Eclipses U.S. as Top Carbon Polluter
OneWorld.net reports here at Yahoo News: UNITED NATIONS - Calls for global cooperation in tackling climate change are on the rise as a new study identifies China as the world's number one emitter of greenhouse gases.
Icebergs are ecological hotspot
BBC News reports here: Drifting icebergs are "eco-hotspots" enabling surrounding waters to absorb more CO2, a study finds.
Fruit could make 'powerful fuel'
Could this be the fuel of the future? BBC News reports here: The sugar found in fruit such as apples and oranges can be converted into a new type of low carbon fuel for cars, US scientists have said.
Ontario: New frontier for alternative energy
CNET News.com reports here: Government subsidies are helping make Ontario a hot spot for companies in the alternative energy industry.
China is building two large power stations every week
BBC News reports here: China is now building about two power stations every week, the top climate change official at the UK Foreign Office, John Ashton, has said. He said there was no point blaming China for rising global CO2 emissions. Rich nations had to set an example of low-carbon development for China to follow, Mr Ashton told the BBC.
Birds and Bees Prematurely Active in Greenland
Spiegel Online reports here: Not only are global temperatures on the rise, but climate change is shifting the seasons too. Researchers in Greenland have found that the birds and the bees in the Arctic are active a full two weeks earlier than they were just a decade ago.
EU, US launch airline pollution initiative
AFP reports here at Yahoo News: LE BOURGET, France, The European Commission and the US Federal Aviation Authority announced an initiative on Monday at the Paris Air Show aimed at reducing pollution by airlines on transatlantic flights.
Contract signed on Earth observer
Sentinel 1 is the first of five spacecraft for GMES, BBC News reports here: The European Space Agency (Esa) has ordered up the first bespoke spacecraft in its new global monitoring programme.
Arctic spring's rapid advance
Earlier ice melt could disrupt the area's ecosystems, BBC News reports here: Spring in the Arctic is arriving "weeks earlier" than a decade ago, a team of Danish researchers have reported.
A solar powerhouse rises in the East
Cnet News.com reports here: China's Suntech has an edge when it comes to costs and quality control that's pushing it up the ranks of photo cell makers. Bucking the automation trend, Suntech Power Holdings credits its rise in the solar industry to people, and lots of them.
U.N. head links climate change, Darfur
AP reports here at Yahoo News: Climate change is partly to blame for the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, where droughts have provoked fighting over water sources, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said here in an editorial published Saturday.
China oil refinery threatens Costa Rica environment
AFP reports here at Yahoo News: An oil refinery would jeopardize Costa Rica's environment as planned by a Chinese company known as a polluter, environmental groups said Saturday.
Cash row at wildlife trade forum
BBC News reports here: A budget row dominated the final day of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) forum. Member states approved a cut in real terms in CITES' budget, which could compromise attempts to control the illegal wildlife trade.
Chinese Workers Told to Wear T- Shirts to Save Energy
Spiegel Online reports here: An austerity campaign in China will encourage officeworkers this summer to leave their suits at home and show up for work in t-shirts.
SolarCity tracks solar-panel output via the Web
Cnet reports here: Solar installer develops software to monitor, report in real time how solar panels are performing.
Google backs green computer plan
BBC News reports here: Leading hardware and software firms join a campaign to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from computers.
Send Us Your Carbon Dioxide!
Spiegel Online reports here: With Europe looking to drastically cut carbon emissions, Holland has come up with an interim solution. Greenhouse gases from northwestern Europe could be pumped to the Netherlands for storage in depleted gas fields there.
E-waste lays siege to Chinese town
Reuters reports here at News .com: Guiyu, China, is a modern-day gold-rush town. But instead of panning for gold in babbling streams, workers shift through piles of broken old computer parts in acrid-smelling shacks, smelting down parts with crude equipment to extract valuable metals like gold and copper.
Sawfish protection acquires teeth
BBC News reports here: At the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting, delegates approved a bid to end the sawfish trade.
Cities Take Lead On Environment
522 Mayors Have Agreed To Meet Kyoto Standards, the Washington Post reports here: New York's entire fleet of 13,000 yellow cabs to go green (like for example with hybrid Ford Escape) over the next five years -- part of an effort by the nation's largest city to cut its carbon emissions 30 percent by 2030. Related see also here: In Arctic Ice, Lessons on Effects of Warming.
European Waters in Trouble Study Finds
Spiegel Online reports here: A new study looking at the affects of increased European affluence on the continent's seas says the future looks bleak. If something isn't done now, water quality, habitat and European fisheries are in serious trouble.
Caribbean coral species at risk
AFP reports here at Yahoo News: Caribbean coral species essential to the region's reef ecosystems are at risk of extinction as a result of climate change, according to a new marine life study released Thursday.
Merkel Crowned 'Miss World' After Climate Deal
Spiegel Online reports here: Angela Merkel is basking in widespread praise for steering the G-8 summit to a compromise on combating climate change. The deal may not be the "huge success" she's calling it, say German commentators, but it's a start -- and that's all that could realistically be expected.
G- 8 Claims Breakthrough on Climate Change
Spiegel Online reports here: The G-8 countries are claiming a breakthrough in Heiligendamm. They have agreed to "consider" halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but haven't set concrete targets for themselves. Chancellor Angela Merkel says it's a big success. Greenpeace has criticized the compromise.
Thunder? It's the sound of Greenland melting
Thunder? It's the sound of Greenland melting, CNN News reports here. The Story's Highlights: • A new island in East Greenland is a clear sign of how the place is changing • If the Greenland ice cap melted entirely, oceans would rise by 23 feet • Its melt zone has expanded by 30 percent -- faster than models had predicted • Warmer weather boosting tourism, a source of development for Inuit inhabitants
Negotiating Down to the Wire
Spiegel Online reports here: Climate protection is the central issue on the agenda in Heiligendamm today. As she goes into the decisive meeting, Angela Merkel may have found a way to ensure the USA and Europe can cooperate on the issue.
Wind to make 20 percent of power by 2030
Reuters reports here at Yahoo News: LOS ANGELES - The U.S. wind power industry will see half a trillion dollars of investment by 2030 to take the renewable source up to 20 percent of U.S. electricity generation, an industry conference heard on Monday.
Powering cities with landfill waste
CNet News.com reports here: Start-up is opening a plant that will convert municipal waste into electricity through a cleaner process than burning.
'Bush's Policies Are Accelerating Climate Change'
Spiegel Online reports here: Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz doesn't think much of the G-8 summit -- and even less of US President George W. Bush. In a conversation with SPIEGEL ONLINE, Stiglitz, an economist and critic of globalization, reveals that he has some hopes for the summit in Heiligendamm nonetheless.
Noise Pollution Takes Toll on Health and Happiness
Everyday Noise Can Overstimulate the Body's Stress Response, The Washington Post writes here: In the beginning there was silence, and it was good. From silence came sound, not all of which was good. And the sound that was not welcome was called noise. And there got to be more and more of it, because who wants to rake when you can blow?
Developing Countries Get Uppity Ahead of the G- 8 Summit
Spiegel Online reports here: Brazil's president suggests that rich countries should pay poor countries to preserve their forests if they are so concerned about deforestation. Meanwhile China and India ask why they should have to cut their emissions when developed countries got rich by polluting.
Nations meet to protect wildlife
Countries are looking to improve protection for animals and plants, BBC News reports here: Elephants and the ivory trade come under the spotlight as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) summit opens. Just prior to the opening, a committee voted that a limited sale of stockpiled ivory from southern Africa to Japan could go ahead.
UN warning over global ice loss
BBC News reports here: Hundreds of millions of livelihoods will be affected by the world's declining ice and snow cover, the UN warns.The risks facing people included losing access to drinking water, and rising sea levels, the study concluded.
China unveils program on global warming
AP reports here at Yahoo News: BEIJING - China promised Monday to better control emissions of greenhouse gases, unveiling a national program to combat global warming, but rejected mandatory caps on emissions as unfair to countries still trying to catch up with the developed West.
Merkel Reacts to Bush's Climate Change Proposal
Spiegel Online writes here: In an interview with SPIEGEL to be published on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that despite her disagreements on climate change with George W. Bush, she will not agree to any deal at this week's G-8 summit that would water down the UN's scientific findings on global warming.
Virgin vows to help elephants in Kenya
Reuters reports here at the Washington Post website: NAIROBI - British entrepreneur Richard Branson landed in Kenya on Saturday on Virgin Airlines' (VA.UL) maiden flight to the east African country and vowed to help protect some 2,000 elephants threatened by encroachment.
Blame coal: Texas leads carbon emissions
The Associated Press reports here at Yahoo News: America may spew more greenhouse gases than any other country, but some states are astonishingly more prolific polluters than others — and it's not always the ones you might expect. Texas, the leader in emitting this greenhouse gas, cranks out more than the next two biggest producers combined, California and Pennsylvania, which together have twice Texas' population.
Pelosi wants to pass CO2 bill this year
Reuters reports here at Yahoo News: WASHINGTON - Rep. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, said on Friday she wanted Congress to pass mandatory caps on heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions this year.
The Emperor's Green Clothes
Spiegel Online writes here: In presenting his own proposal to deal with greenhouse gas emissions just days before next week's G-8 summit, Bush is trying to look like a leader on climate change in the hope of outmaneuvering Europe and his critics. But his plan is purposely vague and his ideas stale.