WASHINGTON – Polar bears are in jeopardy and need stronger government protection because of melting Arctic sea ice related to global warming, the Bush administration said Wednesday. Pollution and overhunting also threaten their existence. Greenland and Norway have the most polar bears, while a quarter of them live mainly in Alaska and travel to Canada and Russia. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Wednesday proposed listing polar bears as a “threatened” species on the government...
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Mercury News Editorial: Climate change at crisis level
Everyone, public and private, must act to avoid a catastrophe (Source: Mercury News Editorial) Global warming is the greatest environmental threat that humanity has ever faced. Caused mainly by the unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by automobiles and industries, the rise in temperature is already starting to melt the polar ice caps and disrupt weather patterns. The potential consequences for California are dire. At current rates of warming, state researchers...
The government knows that its airport plans will cancel out all its efforts to tackle climate change.
By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 19th December 2006 I suppose I should be flattered. In a speech to fellow airline bosses a few days ago, Martin Broughton, the chief executive of British Airways, announced that the primary challenge for the industry is to “isolate the George Monbiots of this worldâ€. That shouldn’t be difficult. For a terrifying spectre, I’m feeling pretty lonely. Almost everyone in politics appears to want to forget about...
U.S. Opposes European Global Warming Cuts Scheme for Airliners
The US continues to ignore the problem and favour corporations over the environment. December 01, 2006 — By John Heilprin, Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Bush administration opposes European plans to require airlines to curb greenhouse gases on grounds it would unfairly disadvantage U.S. carriers. “We are strongly opposed to the imposition of a tax. We think this will violate trade rules,” James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, told...
Pivotal Case on Global Warming Confronts High Court
November 27, 2006 — By H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court hears arguments this week in a case that could determine whether the Bush administration must change course in how it deals with the threat of global warming. A dozen states as well as environmental groups and large cities are trying to convince the court that the Environmental Protection Agency must regulate, as a matter of public health, the amount...
World Has Under a Decade to Act on Climate Crisis
November 22, 2006 — By Jeremy Lovell, Reuters LONDON — The world has less than a decade to take decisive action in the battle to beat global warming or risk irreversible change that will tip the planet towards catastrophe, a leading U.S. climate scientist said on Tuesday. And the United States, the world’ biggest polluter but major climate laggard, has a vital role to play in leading that fight, James Hansen, director of NASA’s...
The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change
Here is a review by Science magazine that looked at 928 abstracts, published in refereed scientific journals between 1993 and 2003, and listed in the ISI database with the keywords “climate change.” Not one of these studies disagreed with consensus view on climate change. ————- By Naomi Oreskes Policy-makers and the media, particularly in the United States, frequently assert that climate science is highly uncertain. Some have used this as an argument against adopting...
U.S. Nearing Emissions Control
Here’s some good news coming from the USA (about time)… —————— November 20, 2006 — By Charles J. Hanley, Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya — The U.S. delegation, the outsiders, slipped away quietly into the Nairobi drizzle on Friday as the annual U.N. climate conference wrapped up two weeks of talks on combating global warming. In the coming months, however, the world will hear a lot from Washington about joining the insiders _ the Europeans...
U.N. nations reach deal to cut emissions
The U.N. is making some progress, but they are still draggin their feet despite the urgency. Things are not happening nearly fast enough, and the longer we wait, the tougher it’s going to get. ————————– NAIROBI, Kenya – More than 180 nations at the U.N. climate conference agreed Friday on the next steps toward negotiating deeper future cuts in global-warming gases, after conceding to China that developing nations won’t be pressed immediately to reduce...
Canada named top “fossil” at Kenya climate talks
The Conservative Government of Stephen Harper is getting slapped in the face at the Kenya climate talks. This government is doing a really good job at sucking up to the Bush administration and shaming Canada in front of the world. The so-called “Made-in-Canada” plan to tackle the environment and global warming issue is taken right out of the Bush agenda, and influenced by the oil industry. I guess it’s not that surprising given that...