Bush draws fire at climate talks
Reuters reports here at Yahoo News: - Some of the world's biggest greenhouse polluters took aim at President George W. Bush on Friday, calling him "isolated" and questioning his leadership on the problem of global warming.
Bush's EPA Is Pursuing Fewer Polluters
The Washington Post reports here: The Environmental Protection Agency's pursuit of criminal cases against polluters has dropped off sharply during the Bush administration, with the number of prosecutions, new investigations and total convictions all down by more than a third, according to Justice Department and EPA data. Critics of the agency say its flagging efforts have emboldened polluters to flout U.S. environmental laws, threatening progress in cleaning the air, protecting wildlife, eliminating hazardous materials, and countless other endeavors overseen by the EPA.
Dolphins Spotted in Baltic Sea
Spiegel Online reports here: Two dolphins have been spotted in the Baltic Sea, the first such sighting in many years. Maritime expert assume their appearance is the result of warmer temperatures due to global warming.
Rice urges nations to find cleaner fuels
AP reports here at Yahoo News: WASHINGTON - President Bush's climate meeting opened Thursday with its main problem on full display: The biggest polluters — industrialized and developing nations alike — say their economies are more important than global warming.
US, Chinese Officials Hold Secret 'Post- Bush Era' Meeting
SPIEGEL ONLINE reports here: Chinese officials and members of the United States Congress have held a secret meeting without White House participation about the future of Washington's climate protection policies. Beijing officials are trying to determine what they should expect in the post-Bush era. And here: President Bush has invited the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters to a two-day conference in Washington. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, America climate researcher Peter Goldmark argues the meeting is little more than a Bush PR stunt and that change is almost certain to come with the next administration.
Biofuels 'Emit More Greenhouse Gases than Fossil Fuels'
Spiegel Online reports here: A team of researchers led by Nobel-prize winning chemist Paul Crutzen has found that growing and using biofuels emits up to 70 percent more greenhouse gases than fossil fuels. They are warning that the cure could end up being worse than the disease.
Australian PM downplays link between drought, climate change
AFP reports here at Yahoo News: SYDNEY - Prime Minister John Howard warned against linking Australia's worst drought on record to doomsday forecasts about climate change Wednesday, saying "a sense of proportion" was needed.
Fighting Climate Change 'Makes Economic Sense'
Spiegel Online reports here: In her first appearance before a high-level UN assembly, Angela Merkel has called for a follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. Tackling climate change and economic growth can go hand in hand, she argued at the UN climate summit on Monday.
UN chief urges action on climate
BBC News reports here: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warns world leaders that urgent action is needed to combat climate change.
Deal on ozone and climate relief
BBC News reports here: Nearly 200 governments have agreed a faster timetable for phasing out chemicals that deplete the ozone layer and contribute to global warming. The schedule for eliminating hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) comes forward by 10 years under the agreement signed at a UN meeting in Montreal.
Scientists hopeful despite climate signs
AP reports here at Yahoo News: Climate scientist Michael Mann runs down the list of bad global warming news: The world is spewing greenhouse gases at a faster rate. Summer Arctic sea ice is at record lows. The ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica are melting quicker than expected.
Leaders gather ahead of key UN climate summit
AFP reports here at Yahoo News: World leaders were gathering here Sunday for an unprecedented UN summit aimed at whipping up action against climate change. About 150 countries are taking part in Monday's one-off event, some 80 of them at the level of heads of state and government, United Nations sources said.
Hydrogen power: Iceland's green dream
CNN News reports here: For more than 50 years Iceland has been decreasing its dependence on fossil fuels by tapping waterfalls, volcanoes, geysers and hot springs. Now, led by a retired University of Iceland professor, the island nation is turning to hydrogen to power transportation.
Scientists Report Severe Retreat of Arctic Ice
Spiegel Online reports here: The cap of floating sea ice on the Arctic Ocean this year shrank more than one million square miles below the average minimum area reached in recent decades. The findings were reported by the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., and posted online at www.nsidc.org.
Conservationists Blaze Trails For Wildcats
Spiegel Online reports here: Biologists are planning what promises to be Central Europe's biggest conservation project. They intend to connect all of Germany's major national parks with woodland corridors to ensure the survival of endangered forest creatures. The wildcat is the poster child of Germany's new environmental offensive.
Climate change worse than feared: Australian expert
AFP reports here at Yahoo News: SYDNEY - Global warming is occurring at a faster rate than the worst-case scenario envisaged by experts just six years ago, Australia's top climate change scientist said Thursday.
Europe bans bluefin tuna fishing
Undeclared over-fishing is causing a decline in fish stocks, BBC News reports here: The European Commission has banned the fishing of endangered bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean for the rest of the year.
Peres says Israel to focus on green energy
AFP reports here at Yahoo News: JERUSALEM - President Shimon Peres touted Israel as a future think thank for solutions to global warming, quipping that the sun was a more reliable resource than oil from Saudi Arabia.
Eco Experiment
"US family tries life without toilet paper", BBC News reports here: "New York family turns off the power in search of a no-impact life." You can check out the No-Impact Man blog here.
Firms sign up for carbon rating
The UK is striving to cut CO2 emissions by 20% before 2020, BBC News reports here: Nine leading companies including Coca-Cola and Cadbury have signed up to a scheme to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of certain products.
World's first hybrid train to debut for commercial service in Japan
The Associated Press reports here at the International Herald Tribune: Tokyo, Japan - A Japanese railway company will put the world's first environmentally friendly hybrid train into commercial service later this month, a move designed to help curb global warming, a company official said Thursday.
Scientists study Fla. coral reef changes
AP reports here at Yahoo News: KEY LARGO, Fla. - A nine-day mission that began Monday in the world's only permanent working undersea laboratory is like living in a fishbowl in more ways than one: Anyone with an Internet connection can watch the researchers work and hang out 60 feet below the surface at oceanslive.org.
Climate Change Brings Risk of More Extinctions
The Washington Post reports here: By nature's clock, the warming has come in an instant. The mechanisms that helped animals adapt during previous warming spells -- evolution or long-range migration -- often aren't able to keep up. Scientists say that effects are beginning to show from the Arctic to the Appalachian Mountains. One study, which examined 1,598 plant and animal species, found that nearly 60 percent appeared to have changed in some way.
Warming 'opens Northwest Passage'
BBC News reports here: The most direct shipping route from Europe to Asia is fully clear of ice for the first time since records began, the European Space Agency (Esa) says.
The Top Ten of the worlds most polluted places
BBC News reports here: A list of the world's 10 most polluted towns and cities is published by a US-based environmental group ( The Blacksmith Institute ). The Top Ten of the worlds most polluted places are: Sumgayit, Azerbaijan; Potentially 275,000 affected Linfen, China; Potentially 3m affected Tianying, China; Potentially 140,000 affected Sukinda, India; Potentially 2.6m affected Vapi, India; Potentially 71,000 affected La Oroya, Peru; Potentially 35,000 affected Dzerzhinsk, Russia; Potentially 300,000 affected Norilsk, Russia; Potentially 134,000 affected Chernobyl, Ukraine; Potentially 5.5m affected Kabwe, Zambia; Potentially 255,000 affected
What Will Become of Tuvalu's Climate Refugees?
Spiegel Online writes here: International legal experts are discovering climate change law, and the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu is a case in point: The Polynesian archipelago is doomed to disappear beneath the ocean. Now lawyers are asking what sort of rights citizens have when their homeland no longer exists.
Racing to Become the Greenest
Spiegel Online reports here: All too aware of the raging climate change debate, automakers are hailing themselves as masters of energy efficiency at Frankfurt's International Motor Show this week. Suddenly, Germany's car industry has gone green: Complicated diesel hybrids are no longer too expensive and even electric cars are being given a new lease on life.
UK peatlands face future stress
BBC News reports here: Erosion and climate change could release a vast volume of carbon from the UK's peatlands, a study finds.