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Kids For A Cool Climate
| Climate Change News 2004 |
Blair 'pressing US on climate'
Will the price for getting Bush signed up to cut greenhouse gases be the watering down of an already inadequate Kyoto Protocol.
UK 'failing on greenhouse gases'
The UK won't meet its promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% before 2010 admitted the government, but we are already on target to meet our Kyoto target of 12.5%.
"Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett said the UK wanted to use its EU presidency to bring aviation into the effort against climate change." YEAH!
A freeze on the tax on fuel, as well as a freeze on vehicle licence duty means that the cost of motoring has fallen under this government. If we taxed car travel and invested in public transport maybe we could meet our greenhouse gas targets.
The updated red list of threatened species was published last week by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). It shows another increase in the register of species facing the spectre of extinction.
The causes of this ever-worsening trend have been known for some time. Loss and degradation of habitats, pollution, direct exploitation and the impact of introduced species constitute the main pressures. To that fierce onslaught add rapid human-induced climate change. This last pressure could prove the most potent of all and magnify the impact of the other causes of biodiversity loss. After millions of years, many have concluded that the Earth is again on the brink of a mass extinction.
Steps must be taken fast if climate change is to be tackled, warns David King, the government's chief scientific adviser.
Words/Action? Why did the government vote against amendments to the housing bill which would have forced energy efficiency measures in housing?
Ministers told to ride in greener limos
Tokenism it may be, but ministers must 'walk the talk'. Walking, now there's an idea, I wonder if that will ever catch on.
We are environmentalists and climbers from Nepal
visiting the UK as part of our official application for the Everest national
park to be put on the Unesco danger list because of the damage already being
caused by climate change.
Melting Himalayan glaciers are swelling lakes throughout the region, leading
to real fears of catastrophic flooding in the valleys below. There is wide agreement
that many lakes are currently at risk, but there has not been any adequate monitoring
of how close they are to bursting. Putting Everest national park on the danger
list would mean that Unesco would have to assess Nepal's glacial lakes and stabilise
those most at risk.
The UK sits on the committee that will decide whether Unesco will agree to protect Everest. Tony Blair has spoken of the need for urgent action to tackle climate change. We respectfully ask for him to support us in our bid to help protect thousands of Nepalese people who live in fear.
We have been asked by many young people on our trip
what Everest will be like in 10 years. The international community must urgently
tackle the root causes of climate change so that future generations will be
able to enjoy the beauty of special places such as Everest. If global warming
can affect the Himalayas, the rest of the world is surely under threat.
Temba Tsheri Sherpa
Youngest person to climb Everest (at 16)
Pemba Dorjee Sherpa
Fastest climber of Everest (8hrs 10mins)
Prakash Sharma
Friends of the Earth Nepal
Jet pollution must be cut in climate fight, warn peers
"Urgent steps should be taken to curb the growth in carbon dioxide emissions from Europe's rapidly expanding aviation industry and to win back the cooperation of the United States in the fight to combat climate change, Tony Blair is told today.
A House of Lords report on the EU and climate change argues that the government must use its "unprecedented opportunity" in 2005 - when it holds the presidencies of both the EU and G8 - to encourage the EU to include pollution from aircraft in its emerging plans for an emissions trading system (ETS)."
Labour 'has caved in' on green tax
"The government is putting the interests of business before tackling climate change, according to the think-tank with most influence in Downing Street. In a report to be published tomorrow, the Institute for Public Policy Research claims that the government has caved in to business lobbying and has 'watered down' its commitment to environmentally benign energy policies."
Global warming 'will leave Arctic ice-free'
Global warming is causing the Arctic ice-cap to melt at such an unprecedented rate that by the summer of 2070 it may have no ice at all, according to the most comprehensive study carried out on global climate change in the region. The icecap has shrunk by 15% to 20% in the past 30 years and the trend is set to accelerate, with the Arctic warming almost twice as fast as the rest of the planet, due to a build-up of heat-trapping gases.
US must act over climate says Queen
The Queen has made a rare intervention in world
politics to warn Tony Blair of her grave concerns over the White House's stance
on global warming. She is understood to have asked Downing Street to lobby the
US after observing the alarming impact of Britain's changing weather on her
estates at Balmoral in Scotland and Sandringham in Norfolk. The revelation gives
an unusual glimpse into the mind of the monarch, who normally strives to stay
above politics.
Plant
it Save it!
BBC Radio Sheffield promote the campaign to plant 10,000 trees in South Yorkshire this year.
Kyoto sacrificed to competitiveness
The UK has increased the amount of carbon dioxide it wants power plants and factories to be able to pump out under a new European Union regime covering greenhouse gas emissions.
Back-tracking Blair?
Dire warnings from global warming report
Daffodils, cod, Christmas trees and the Highlands' ski resorts could have become victims of global warming by 2050 according to an energy-efficiency report today. Warmer weather will, instead, introduce vineyards to Scotland, stingrays and more types of sharks in our coastal waters as well as termites, scorpions and mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus and dengue fever, the study - Forecasting the Future - says.
Russian vote revives climate pact
Russia's lower house of parliament ratified the Kyoto protocol today, breathing new life into the international environmental treaty. The treaty is now expected to be approved by Russia's upper house and the country's president, Vladimir Putin.
Once that happens the treaty, which has sat idle in recent years, will have met the requirement of being ratified by the 55 countries that accounted for at least 55% of global emissions in 1990.
Aid agencies' warning on climate
The effects of climate change will fall disproportionately upon developing countries and the poor within all countries. International targets to reduce world poverty will fail and recent progress may even be reversed if climate change and the effects of climate change are not tackled urgently. Read the report: 'Up In Smoke'.
Global quest for 'Mr Green' ends just down the road
Allan Jones, who has pioneered energy efficiency in Woking has been appointed by the Mayor of London to turn London into the "green capital of Europe".
Carbon 'reaching danger levels'
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have risen by 2.08ppm in 2002 and 2.54 in 2003 following previous average rises of 1.5ppm. According to Sir David King, this means that we are about 60 years from irreversible climatic disaster with the total melting of the Greenland ice sheet - resulting in global sea level rises of approximately 7 metres.
Twelve places to look for signs of climate change.
Kenyan ecologist wins Nobel prize
Kenyan environmentalist and human rights campaigner
Wangari Maathai has won the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the late 1970s, Mrs Maathai led a campaign called
the Green Belt Movement to plant tens of millions of trees across Africa to
slow deforestation. The movement grew to include
projects to preserve biodiversity, educate people about their environment and
promote the rights of women and girls.
New flood maps pinpoint risk areas
Access to data allows homeowners to assess property's
vulnerability but could lead to falls in house prices and higher insurance premiums.
Check out the
risk.
Russia backs Kyoto climate treaty
The Russian government has approved the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and sent it to parliament to be ratified. When Russia ratify that means that the Kyoto Protocol will have enough countries taking part for it to become a Treaty and for its clauses to be binding on signatories.
Air travellers asked to pay CO2 levy
"Airline passengers should be encouraged to make voluntary payments to offset the damage caused by carbon dioxide emissions from their flights, the government suggested yesterday. The proposal emerged in published exchanges between the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Commons environmental audit committee, over the growing impact of aviation on climate change."
Of course any air passenger can use our tree calculator to work out what tax they should pay, and we will plant native trees in South Yorkshire for them ...
but voluntary contributions are only a poor substitute for government action. We need an integrated strategy to reduce the pollution caused by all travel, not just rely on the consciences of a few.
Highest icefields will not last 100 years, study finds
"The world's highest ice fields are melting so quickly that they are on course to disappear within 100 years, driving up sea levels, increasing floods and turning verdant mountain slopes into deserts, Chinese scientists warned yesterday.
In the past 24 years, the scientists have measured a 5.5% shrinkage by volume in China's 46,298 glaciers, a loss equivalent to more than 3,000 sq km (1,158 sq miles) of ice; there has been a noticeable acceleration in recent years.
Among the most marked changes has been the 500metre retreat of the glacier at the source of the Yangtze on the Tibet-Qinghai plateau.
The huge volumes of water from the glacier's melted ice, estimated at 587bn cubic metres since the 1950s, are thought to have been a factor in flooding that has devastated many downstream areas in recent years."
For everybody who thinks that climate change in the UK is all about a successful British wine industry and sun-bathing at Blackpool.....
Is the Prime Minister's commitment to tackle climate change all hot air...
Blair calls for UK to lead on climate change
World science conference to discuss how to avert 'disaster'.
Full text: Blair's climate change speech
MPs warn of water shortage risks
The public should be made aware of the risks of
water scarcity if the resource is not managed properly, MPs have said.
Earth
warned on 'tipping points'
The world has barely begun to recognise the danger of setting off rapid and irreversible changes in some crucial natural systems, says Professor John Schellnhuber.
Bush u-turn on climate change wins few friends
In a dramatic reversal of its previous position, the White House this week conceded that emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases were the only likely explanation for global warming.
"For four years the Bush administration has brought the international global warming negotiations to a virtual standstill by claiming that uncertainties in climate science do not justify the cost of tackling it," said Rob Gueterbock of Greenpeace. "Now they have finally accepted that CO2 is causing global warming, they have absolutely no excuse for not rejoining the Kyoto process. Every day they continue to stall will now be held to be criminally negligent by future generations."
UK to take tough line against US over Kyoto
Moving "from words to delivery", Blair has signalled that he intends to use his position as chair of the EU and G8 to "push the agenda" of climate change.
"Almost everything that moves in modern society moves because of oil: it remains the most influential substance in daily life." With an estimated 40 years of oil and 60 years of gas supplies left, developing alternative energy sources is not only important to tackle climate change.
The long-range weather forecast: more flash floods for Britain
Britain should expect more dangerous flash floods, catastrophic rain and hail storms, droughts and heatwaves from the rapid changes in rainfall patterns brought by global warming, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said yesterday as clean-up operations continued in flooded Boscastle.
To read more about the Boscastle floods click here
If we don't care about environmental disasters across the world (see 'Who Cares?' below), maybe we will be made to care about floods in Boscastle and mudslides in Scotland. Europe is warming faster than the global average so we may actually take the brunt of climate change. Remember climate change is not all about a great future for the British wine producers and holidays in Scarborough.
Americans certainly have no room for complacency about what climate change will mean to them. Climate change is a global problem which needs every government and every citizen on the planet to help solve.
Climate change is causing humanitarian disasters all over the globe and because we are so obsessed with war and terrorism we are doing little to help.
Heatwaves of the kind that killed 30,000 people in Europe last year will become more frequent, more intense and longer-lasting. Computer models show that heatwaves will become more severe in the south and west of the US and the Mediterranean.
Nuclear power is back on the march. Reviled and rejected for 25 years as man's most dangerous and unsustainable fuel source, its friends are now billing nuclear power as the only practical way of countering climate change, oil shocks and landscape destruction in the west. Tell us what you think
MPs see red over No 10's green strategy
The government's climate change strategy is seriously off course and current policies have yet to make a significant impact on UK carbon emissions, an all-party committee of MPs warned today.
The committee chairman, Peter Ainsworth MP, said: "It is increasingly obvious that we are going to fall far short of the UK carbon reduction target, and a key problem area is transport.
Anger as wind farm rules relaxed
It will now be easier to get planning permission for wind farms and other renewable energy sources.
There are fears that the government target of 10% electricity from renewables by 2010 will not be met because of a small but highly organised lobby supported by figures such as David Bellamy, Noel Edmonds, Bernard Ingham and most recently the leader of the Conservative party, Michael Howard, who has opposed a proposal for a wind farm at Romney Marsh in his constituency. Even Prince Charles has been reported to have voiced his opposition to onshore wind farms.
Rising seas force road canal plan
The UK's Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published a consultation paper, 'Making Space For Water' which looks at ways in which we can cope with rising sea levels and increased rain storms caused by climate change. Read it and see what you think.
Tropical disease fears for Med
Climate change is causing tropical and sub-tropical diseases to spread further north. Doctors are even warning tourists to take malaria-like precautions (even in Europe) when two Irish people holidaying in the Algarve caught the West Nile virus.
Warning over flood plain 'ghettos'
Buyers will have to be more careful when it comes to choosing new houses in the future. With the government responsible for building 120,000 new houses in the Thames Gateway floodplain project, many other building projects going ahead in floodplains against Environment Agency advice and many rural communities having flood defence plans refused, even new homes may be uninsurable and lose value quickly.
Melting ice: the threat to London's future
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are at the highest they have been for 55 million years, a time when there was no ice on the planet as the climate was so hot. Ice takes a long time to melt, but is speeding up.
"You might think it is not wise, since we are currently melting ice so fast, to have built our big cities on the edge of the sea where it is now obvious they cannot remain. On current trends, cities like London, New York and New Orleans will be among the first to go," said Sir David King.
Climate change curbs Darling's plans
At last the contradictions in the UK government policies on climate change may end:
"Transport is to be included in the government's target of achieving a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2010, which was set out in the Kyoto treaty."
We will await Alaistair Darling's response: will he stop his plans for airport expansions and new road building?
Prehistoric clues put greenhouse accomplices in dock
It was the greenhouse gas methane rather than carbon dioxide that was responsible for the global warming of the Eocene period when the seas were 12 C hotter than today.
Blair reignites nuclear debate
Tony Blair yesterday signalled that Britain may have to build a new generation of nuclear power stations to meet the challenge of climate change. He told MPs that there was no way nuclear power could be removed from the agenda "if you are serious about the issue of climate change".
Mr Blair - If you are serious about the issue of climate change can't you stop the airport expansion programme, stop building new motorways as well as looking at energy efficiency and funding renewable energy research? Nuclear power is not the quick fix answer to meeting your Kyoto targets.
Time to tackle industrial emissions
We write as former environment ministers to call upon the government to take tough measures to tackle the increasing threat of global climate change. The alarm bells are ringing loud and clear, and cannot be ignored.
Over recent months a panel of leading international scientists have predicted that climate change may lead to extinction of a quarter of the world's species by 2050; the World Health Organisation has warned that the health of millions of people will be damaged if world temperatures continue to rise; and the government's chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, says that climate change is a far greater threat to the world than international terrorism.
The prime minister says climate change is the most important environmental issue facing the world, but he must back his words with firm action. One important area is industrial emissions. The government's proposals under the EU emissions trading regime could result in an increase in climate-changing emissions from industry. This is unacceptable, and sets a dangerous precedent.
Failure to tackle industrial emissions will require much bigger cuts from other sectors to meet our climate targets. This will include transport and domestic sectors, both of which have seen carbon dioxide emissions rise over the past 10 years.
We applaud the prime minister for continuing the
UK's leading international role on climate change, but a failure to take decisive
action at home will undermine the UK's credibility. The EU emissions trading
scheme is his big test - and he must not fail it.
Michael Meacher MP
Labour environment minister 1997-2003
John Gummer MP
Conservative environment minister 1993-97
Climate change threatens species, says archbishop
"The viability of the human race is at stake because of "offences against our environment" which threaten the world with further wars and rising inequality" said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.
Beckett sees climate change as righteous war Blair could win
Climate change: the priority for Britain's presidency of the G8? Margaret Beckett is the Minister that has got to keep it as top priority. Can Blair use his "special relationship" with Bush to persuade the USA to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions? Can we even get our own problems sorted out and stop the crazy expansion of air travel?
The House of Lords science and technology committee are criticising Britain for not using its "special relationship" with the US to persuade them to ratify Kyoto.
"Baroness Walmsley, a Liberal Democrat peer, said: "We don't appear to have had any positive influence in that direction [with the US]. We weren't impressed that a 100% effort was going into it. That is why we felt it might be helpful, and sort of put lead in their pencils, if we encourage them to do more."
But peers were impressed by Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser, who warned that global warning posed a greater threat than al-Qaida. Sir David told the committee he planned to express his contempt for US objections to the Kyoto protocol during a visit to Seattle due to take place a month after he gave evidence in January."
For more info on Food Miles.
Insurers threaten to drop flood cover
"The insurance industry yesterday warned that firms could withdraw flood cover from hundreds of thousands of homes if the government "backslides" on commitments over spending on flood defences."
North Sea birds dying as waters heats up
The North Sea is heating up, plankton that likes cold waters is migrating North and the ecosystem that depends on the plankton is collapsing. Sea birds are starving to death.
"Seabird colonies off the Yorkshire coast and the Shetland Islands are headed for their worst breeding season on record. So far a number of colonies have failed to produce any young at all. Starving chicks screeching for food from their cliff nests along the eastern coast of Britain are an increasingly common sight to alarmed bird-watchers. In the Shetlands alone, thousands of kittiwakes and guillemots, regarded as one of the hardiest of species, have failed to return to old nesting sites."
Insect enjoys warmer UK climate
Colonies of a shield bug which is previously thought not to be able to survive the Briish climate have been found in London. "I'm always reluctant to invoke global warming but it's the only explanation," said curator of beetles at the Natural History Museum, Max Barclay.
Oil chief: my fears for planet
The head of one of the world's biggest oil companies has admitted that the threat of climate change makes him "really very worried for the planet". Has the boss of Shell seen the light - unfortunately No - he wants to pump all the carbon dioxide in to the sea bed, not do anything about reducing the burning of fossil fuels.
Action urged on aircraft emissions
Government plans to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 60% by 2050 will be "impossible" if the huge airport expansion forecast by the Department for Transport goes ahead says Sir Jonathon Porritt - thankyou, I think so too.
Urgent
action call on US climate
Ten leading US climate scientists spoke on Tuesday of the need for more urgent
action to tackle global warming. They warned that climate models might have
grossly underestimated the rises in temperature that will soon occur.
Spacecraft to check on climate
Aura is to be launched in to space this month carrying instruments designed by Oxford and Reading scientists to measure greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Ice cores unlock climate secrets
A 3 km long ice core from the Antartic, gives the climate history of 740,000 years. We haven't had CO2 levels as high as they are now for 440,000 years. "By understanding what greenhouse gases did to global temperature in the past, scientists might be able to predict the effect of humankind's enthusiastic CO2 belching."
Arctic cores suffer climate clues
Looking at sediments beneath the sea bed in the Arctic can tell us things about the climate in other warm spells in the earth's history. "We don't know what role the ice has played over most of the last 50 million years in normal climate change, and in freak events. We're trying to remodel both."
Climate change may treble claims
People see the dangers of climate change as it hits their pockets and if weather related insurance claims rise, everybody's premiums will rise and some may find their homes uninsurable.
Brown should stand firm on rising fuel protests
"Finding positive solutions to climate change is the real crisis."
World 'appeasing' climate threat
The controversy of what we do about tackling climate change: we need to stop burning fossil fuels and we need to stop right now, but is nuclear power the answer? Listen to the debate and let us know what you think. Contact Cool Kids.
"Humans have done so much damage to the atmosphere that even if they stop burning all fossil fuels immediately, they risk leaving an impoverished Earth for their descendants, a giant of research in the field will say this week."
Shades of global warming on moon
The Earth reflects the sun's light and this can be measured on the dark side of the moon (where there is no direct light from the sun). The amount of light reflected has fallen dramatically over the last 20 years. If less of the sun's light is reflected, then more (heat) is absorbed by earth.
Officials try to hide rise in transport pollution
If the facts are embarassing - then hide them.
'In a week when Tony Blair was insisting the issue of climate change was "very, very critical" and Margaret Beckett, the environment secretary, claimed the UK was a world leader in reducing emissions, official statistics would have shown an 85% increase in pollutants from the airline industry and 59% for freight transport since 1990.
Instead, the announcement was withdrawn and another substituted which did not mention transport emissions at all.'
Generate your own renewable energy at home or in your business by installing solar panels etc and get paid for the electricity you produce in a scheme by Good Energy.
Putin throws lifeline to Kyoto as EU backs Russia joining WTO
By helping Russia to join the World Trade Organisation, the EU has managed to get Putin to drop his objections to signing the Kyoto Protocol.
"We support the Kyoto process," said Vladimir Putin.
If Russia sign Kyoto the treaty can come in to force.
The 'zero energy' construction of a housing development in South London.
'If the land gets sick and dies, so will the people'
As the Climate Group meets in Toronto, the effects of climate change in Canada are devastating its indigenous people and the Canadian wildlife. The average winter temperatures in Manitoba are going to be 5 - 15° C higher by 2080.
Fresh water fish stocks revived - but climate change blamed for eel's decline
Although pollution control measures mean that Britain's rivers are cleaner and a lot of fish are returning, eel numbers are declining, because of climate change. Eels swim from Britain to the Sargasso Sea to breed and the baby eels (elvers) are carried back on the Gulf stream. The slowing down of the Gulf stream means that not so many are returning as they cannot withstand the 5,000 mile journey.
This is what we know about global warming ... so why haven't we done anything about it yet?
Climate change: "the greatest long-term threat facing the planet" - Tony Blair. Some facts to back that up!
That'll be £17 and 10 carbon points
As a tradeable carbon credit scheme is introduced for industry, what does the future hold for individuals.
New front opened in fight against climate change
A new organisation has been launched to help tackle the issue of climate change. The Climate Group consists of companies, cities, states and environmental groups committed to reducing their carbon emissions.
The world is warming - so say NASA. 1990 to 1999 was the hottest decade of the Millennium, 1998 the hottest year of the millennium. The true cost of climate change ... now! 20,000 dead from the European heatwave August 2003, world-wide weather related natural disasters has risen 300% in 30 years, 1 in 4 of all land mammals and plants to become extinct, world sea levels to rise by 7 metres in 1,000 years (just from the melting of the Greenland ice cap),
World Bank set to pull out of funding fossil fuels
The World Bank is considering stopping all funding to oil, gas and coal projects by 2008.
It's too late. Climate change floods are inevitable - no matter what we do
Rising sea levels and a changing climate are no longer stoppable, all we can do is reduce the effects of the damage
Global warming floods threaten 4m in UK
4 million people in Britain are at risk of their homes flooding in the future as a result of climate change. Areas of towns would need to be demolished to create green corridors along rivers to take flood water. The East Coast (affected by the 1953 floods) is the area at greatest risk.
British insurers are threatening to withdraw flooding cover from around 220,000 homes unless the government promises to build better flood defences. Without flood insurance these houses will be impossible to sell.
No 10 adviser attacks green record
Sir Jonathon Porritt airs his views on the Government's attitude towards climate change, saying that "the UK has failed to get a grip on consumption of environmental resources. There is insufficient grasp of the severity of the threat from climate change and the urgency of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." He also describes UK aviation and road transport as "out of control".
Greenland's ice cap under threat
Greenland's ice cap is disappearing at a rate of a metre a year, but may have disappeared altogether in 1,000 years leading to an increase in global sea levels of 7 metres. This process may soon be unstoppable.
£5 million scheme launched to tackle flood problems
The idea of whole river catchment flood management to stop piecemeal flood defences having a bad effect up or down stream. Looking at farming practices in the uplands to the inadequacy of Victorian sewers, to the possibility of abandoning new housing estates built in floodplains.
Mark Lynas tells of the Peruvian glacier that has disappeared in 20 years.
Six-month freeze on petrol duty delights car organisations
The government forget their commitment to tackle climate change in the budget with a freeze on petrol duty rises and no action taken on pollution caused by aircraft. The only travellers to suffer from this budget will be users of LPG (the green fuel). Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, said: "This Budget has practically ignored the environment. Tony Blair says that climate change is the biggest long-term threat the planet faces. But, once again, his Chancellor has chickened out of tackling it."
The government backs down from enforcing the climate change levy.
The Amazonian rainforest has always been seen as a buffer against the effects of climate change, but how is climate change affecting it? Increased levels of carbon dioxide are causing the giant trees to increase their growth swamping out the smaller species, rain is decreasing and the forests are becoming more flammable.
The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee makes one mistake: thinking that this government actually wants to tackle climate change, rather than merely just ticking the boxes of its Kyoto commitments. Nice one for getting up and shouting about it though. Read the Environmental Audit Committee Report
Call for greater investment in energy research
The government is finally going to set up an energy research centre to replace the research facilities lost when the Central Electricity Generating Board was privatised.
Wind power - how much electricity can Europe produce from off-shore wind? How much can it produce if the Ministry of Defence and the RSPB keep on objecting to windfarms?
All planes - freight and passenger - should pay green tax, say Lib Dems
Airport departure taxes should be scrapped and replaced by a duty on every plane leaving Britain, both passenger and freight, to make the polluter pay says Charles Kennedy. He said that an intelligent targetting of 'green taxes' would change behaviour and encourage good environmental practice.
John Kerry gets an A+ from the League of Conservation Voters for his environmental voting record including his support for climate change legislation.
Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us
It seems that even the Pentagon realises that climate change is a BIG problem and may result in several wars over resources. The Pentagon has warned George Bush that climate change 'should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern'. Bush's response: to suppress the report and do nothing. Read the report
Bush 'bending science to his political needs' - Scientists accuse US of manipulating research
The Bush administration is guilty of misrepresenting
scientific knowledge and misleading the public, a group of America's most senior
scientists claimed yesterday.
They said the government had manipulated information to fit its policies on
everything from climate change to whether Iraq had been trying to make nuclear
weapons.
The open letter from the independent Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) said: "When scientific knowledge has been found to be in conflict with its political goals, the administration has often manipulated the process through which science enters into its decisions.
"This has been done by placing people who are professionally unqualified or who have clear conflicts of interest in official posts and on scientific advisory committees; by disbanding existing advisory committees; by censoring and suppressing reports by the government's own scientists; and by simply not seeking independent scientific advice."
Read the UCS Report or read the UCS on global warming.
Over at the Global Climate Coalition, a powerful alliance of carmakers, oil drillers and electricity generators emerged with a consensus about the environment over the years and a quiet confidence that the White House shared their view: global warming is a hoax.
During the past three years, environmentalists have regularly accused the White House of serving big business at the expense of the environment. President Bush received $1.9m (£1m) from the oil and gas industry in 2000, according to the Centre for Responsive Politics.
"The truth is that in the presence of his large
financial contributors, he is a moral coward - so weak that he seldom, if ever,
says no to them on anything," said Al Gore in a fiery speech last month.
Global warming forces sale of Scottish winter sports resorts
Glencoe and Glenshee resorts are up for sale as the number of possible ski days continue to fall, and the number of ski lift passes dropping by half.
"Unfortunately, it's just getting too hot for the Scottish ski industry," said David Viner, of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. "It is very vulnerable to climate change; the resorts have always been marginal in terms of snow and, as the rate of climate change increases, it is hard to see a long-term future."
The Arctic sea ice is shrinking by an area approx one and a half the size of Wales each year, endangering Alaska's environment, wildlife and traditional way of life. Alaskans are not concerned: the oil induustry annual payout (amounting to $1,500 per person in 2002) sees to that.
Insurers flood risk map of Britain is to be redrawn. With 10% of houses in flood risk areas. Many insurance premiums will go up. Some homeowners may find that they are not able to insure their properties at all.
Can dumping iron halt global warming? Where the growth of phytoplankton is limited by a lack of iron in the oceans, adding iron as a fertiliser could increase growth and absorption of CO2, but it is only a sustainable way of affecting climate change if the plankton sinks to the ocean bottom and does not die and decay or get eaten.
'No cosmic ray climate effects' Climate Change is NOT caused by natural events such as cosmic rays say international scientists and research claiming that it is is "Scientifically ill-founded".
Earth 'entering uncharted waters' The earth has entered a new era, one in which human beings may be the dominant force, say four environmental leaders. They believe humanity may cross some critical thresholds unawares, setting off changes which cannot be reversed.
CO2 cuts will raise prices, says industry Industry claims that CO2 emission targets set on heavy industry could lead to between 40 and 80% increases in the wholesale price of electricity, but this could be exaggerated by up to 10 times says Climate Change Capital. Trade in carbon futures starts on the London Stock Exchange on Monday.
Audit Office warns of flood risk from sewers At last someone is telling this government that they are stupid to be building houses on floodplains. Be warned and don't buy these houses, you may not get insurance and having your sewer back up into your house is not a nice experience.
Freak summers 'will happen regularly' Swiss climate prediction scientists say that weather extremes could become more normal, even forecasting that, by the end of the century, every other summer could be as hot and dry in Europe as 2003.
Giant space shield plan to save planet Can engineers really save the world - or are they in science fantasy land? Has it really come down to this? Read this article - if this doesn't scare you into stopping using fossil fuels, nothing will. Beam me up Scotty!
Doom warnings sound more loudly We have heard all the warnings on climate change. When will we start acting on them?
Scientists urge fuel quota scheme Scientists say that a national trading scheme in carbon emissions is the UK's best hope for tackling climate change.
Midwinter Spring is the New Season Spring is coming early and the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Woodland Trust urge as many people as possible to watch for the first signs of spring in the UK. To take part in the survey contact: www.the-ba.net/nsw
An Unnatural Disaster Climate change over the next 50 years is expected to drive a quarter of land animals and plants to extinction, according to the first comprehensive study into the effects of higher temperatures on to the natural world.
The Sun Always Shines on TV Celebrating 50 years of TV weather forecasts, BBC Breakfast has a week of weatherforecasting/climate change specials. On Wednesday 7th January I was invited into the studio to talk about Cool Kids and climate change.
Flying Leap into Trouble If building more roads leads to more cars on the road, then building more runways will lead to more air traffic. How can we counter the effects of air travel on climate change. Taxing aircraft fuel is said to be impossible and air passenger duty is seen as a "blunt instrument and not.. ... ideal".
