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WASHINGTON (AFP) – Cutting greenhouse gases by 70 percent this century would spare the planet the most traumatic effects of climate change, including the massive loss of Arctic sea ice, a study said Tuesday. Warming in the Arctic would be almost halved, helping preserve fisheries, as well as sea birds and Arctic mammals like polar bears in some regions, including the northern Bering Sea, according to scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). But the massive cuts of greenhouse gas emissions advocated by the researchers would only "stabilize the threat of climate change and avoid catastrophe," said NCAR...

In a move that will likely get California's consumers in a huff, impending legislation may soon restrict the paint color options for Golden State residents looking for their next new vehicle. The specific colors that are currently on the chopping block are all dark hues, with the worst offender seemingly the most innocuous color you could think of: Black. What could California possibly have against these colors, you ask? Snip....

SACRAMENTO — Even during this deep recession, California's air-quality regulators are on an accelerated schedule to adopt a series of global warming initiatives considered unmatched worldwide. Their aggressive push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming will eventually touch everyday life in both small and significant ways. Just Thursday, the state Air Resources Board moved to regulate fluorinated gases commonly used by the Silicon Valley-centered semiconductor industry to make chips used in cell phones and computers. A few weeks earlier, do-it-yourself mechanics were the target. Regulators adopted tighter rules on small cans of refrigerants that recharge vehicle air...

Tom McClintock may have barely squeaked out a win in a congressional district where Republicans hold a 15-point voter registration advantage. But he is clearly savoring his new speech-making perch in Congress. McClintock, of Northern California's 4th Congressional District, is aggressively attacking Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on global warming. And the man who loves to quote historic figures from Churchill to Jefferson is now quoting himself to take on President Barack Obama's economic agenda. On Schwarzennegger, McClintock arose to demand that the federal government hold firm against California's efforts to impose stricter emissions standards for automobiles. "I rise to urge...

US energy chief floats idea of a carbon tax: NYT WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Energy Secretary Steven Chu has floated the idea of a carbon emissions tax to fight global warming, in an interview with The New York Times Thursday. During the US presidential campaign, the notion was kept largely on the back burner as candidates were reluctant to promote the idea of costlier energy at a time when gasoline prices were soaring. But since President Barack Obama's administration took office in January, Congress has been working on setting up a system for swapping greenhouse gas emissions quotas similar to...

The key players are now all in place in Washington and in state governments across America to officially label carbon dioxide as a pollutant and enact laws that tax we citizens for our carbon footprints. Only two details stand in the way, the faltering economic times and a dramatic turn toward a colder climate. The last two bitter winters have lead to a rise in public awareness that CO2 is not a pollutant and is not a significant greenhouse gas that is triggering runaway global warming. How did we ever get to this point where bad science is driving big...

Gore Calls On Lawmakers To Curb Carbon Emissions, Support Fiscal Stimulus 1/28/2009 1:03 PM ET Gore Calls On Lawmakers To Curb Carbon Emissions, Support Fiscal Stimulus (RTTNews) - Always willing to speak up on the issue of global warming, Nobel Prize winner Al Gore testified before former Senate colleagues Wednesday, urging action on carbon emissions. The former Vice President told lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that actions must be taken "this year" to cut down on carbon emissions. Gore expressed his concern that efforts to fight global warming could take a backseat in light of the severe recession...

SACRAMENTO — While praising President Barack Obama's moves to allow California to impose tighter controls on tailpipe emissions, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now finds himself under pressure from fellow Republicans demanding that he weaken the state's broader greenhouse-gas laws as part of any deal to solve the budget crisis. The possibility of compromising the state's landmark standards to curb global warming has environmentalists fuming. They also worry that Democrats will be forced to trade environmental safeguards for GOP concessions on raising revenue. “This is fiscal blackmail,” said Bill Magavern, state director of the Sierra Club. “They know they could never achieve...

Jim Hansen is the 'grandfather of climate change' and one of the world's leading climatologists. In this rare interview in New York, he explains why President Obama's administration is the last chance to avoid flooded cities, species extinction and climate catastropheRobin McKie, science editor The Observer, Sunday 18 January 2009 Article historyAlong one wall of Jim Hansen's wood-panelled office in upper Manhattan, the distinguished climatologist has pinned 10 A4-sized photographs of his three grandchildren: Sophie, Connor and Jake. They are the only personal items on display in an office otherwise dominated by stacks of manila folders, bundles of papers and...

Some home builders already struggling in Florida's dismal housing market are facing another headache: The Chinese-made drywall they used is causing unpleasant odors and possibly leading to electric problems in dozens of homes constructed during the housing boom.

New Jersey raised more than $15 million from power companies and other bidders this week through its participation in a regional auction designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions. The auction is part of the first market-based cap and trade program in the nation to make polluters pay for the right to emit carbon dioxide and ultimately lower emission amounts. Each power company in the 10-state coalition must purchase allowances for every ton of carbon they emit each year. The proceeds will be invested by the states in energy efficiency projects and developing renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar....

NY officials want older trucks fitted with emission-reducing equipment; cost put at $195M ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York is taking steps to reduce diesel emissions in its construction fleet. The Department of Environmental Conservation is floating proposed regulations requiring trucks made before 2007 to be fitted with emissions-reducing equipment and to use ultra-low-sulfur fuel by 2011. The new regulations would apply only to state-owned trucks or trucks used for state contract work. The DEC estimates it will cost $195 million to retrofit about 30,000 state trucks. The New York State

A report about why global warming due to carbon dioxide is flawed hypothesis based off of crappy math models. Some of these guys are from the UN's IPCC who left because they so strongly disagreed. Oh, also to give you an idea of how many scientists that is compared to those who think global warming is occurring thanks to carbon dioxide: "The over 650 dissenting scientists are more than 12 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers. " Here's the senate.gov link to where these quotes come from: http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=2158072e-802a-23ad-45f0-274616db87e6 Here...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California's utilities, refineries and large factories must transform their operations to cut greenhouse gas emissions as part of a new climate plan before state regulators. On Thursday, the California Air Resources Board was expected to adopt what would be the nation's most sweeping global warming plan, outlining for the first time how individuals and businesses would meet a landmark 2006 law that made the state a leader on global climate change. It would hold California's worst polluters accountable for the heat-trapping emissions they produce _ transforming how people travel, utilities generate power and businesses use electricity. At...

The U.N.'s own observations show no warming trend, but things may still get hot and bothered in Poznan. Ten thousand people from 86 countries have descended upon Poznan, Poland, for yet another United Nations meeting on climate change. It’s the annual confab of the nations that signed the original United Nations climate treaty in Rio in 1992. That instrument gave rise to the infamous 1996 Kyoto Protocol on global warming, easily the greatest failure in the history of environmental diplomacy. Al Gore himself descends on Wednesday to personally bless the conclave’s work product — which, based on past history, we...

Kyoto Carbon Emission Credits Not For Sale 04 December 2008 By Mathew Carr, Alex Morales / Bloomberg POZNAN, Poland — The country will refuse to sell carbon-emissions credits to other nations, removing from the market the biggest single pool of licenses to release greenhouse gases under the Kyoto global-warming treaty, a government official said. The country will hold the credits beyond the Kyoto Protocol's 2012 deadline, Viktor Blinov, deputy chief of Russia's delegation to United Nations climate talks in Poland, said Tuesday. Instead, Russia will use them to comply with a successor treaty that is being negotiated. The comments may...

(AFP) – Hundreds of billions more dollars are likely to be needed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by a 2030 target, according to UN estimates published on Friday ahead of global talks on climate change. The report, to be presented at the December 1-12 conference in Poznan, Poland updates 2007 estimates that said investment to mitigate carbon emissions had to be ramped up in the coming years, reaching between 200-210 billion dollars annually in 2030. The goal, in this benchmark scenario, is to reduce levels of global-warming pollution to 25 percent below 2000 levels in 2030. In the new report, the...

I would be remiss if I didn't point you to Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's op-ed in today's Chronicle, making an economic case for U.S. investment in green jobs. Here it is, in full: Amid the pressures of the global financial crisis, some ask how we can afford to tackle climate change. The better question is: Can we afford not to? Put aside the familiar arguments - that the science is clear, that climate change represents an indisputable existential threat to the planet, and that every day we do not act the problem grows worse. Instead, let us make the...

SACRAMENTO — SACRAMENTO – A draft blueprint to stem global warming counts on businesses and everyday Californians to accept a mix of tough regulations and new fees, perhaps as much as $1.5 billion a year collected on targeted products and water bills. The state Air Resources Board spent yesterday drawing praise and protest for its groundbreaking initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. Regulators now will refine the plan before they gather next month for a final vote on the blueprint, which would require a gradual rollback in emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020, an...

In his first speech on global warming since winning the election, President-elect Barack Obama promised Tuesday to set stringent limits on greenhouse gases, saying the need is too urgent for delay. Many observers had expected Obama to avoid tackling such a complex, contentious issue early in his administration. But in videotaped comments to the Governors' Global Climate Summit in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, he called for immediate action. "Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all," Obama said. "Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response. The stakes are too high,...

PARIS (AFP) – Scheduled shifts in Earth's orbit should plunge the planet into an enduring Ice Age thousands of years from now but the event will probably be averted because of man-made greenhouse gases, scientists said Wednesday. They cautioned, though, that this news is not an argument in favour of global warming, which is driving imminent and potentially far-reaching damage to the climate system. Earth has experienced long periods of extreme cold over the billions of years of its history. The big freezes are interspersed with "interglacial" periods of relative warmth, of the kind we have experienced since the end...

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO: The California Air Resources Board will hold a public meeting Friday in San Diego to discuss the state's plan to combat global warming. The meeting will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the chambers of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, 1600 Pacific Highway, in downtown San Diego. The board's staff will explain a draft proposal released in late June that is expected to guide policies for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change. Staff members also are prepared to receive several hours of public comment on the plan, which is...

Which gets better gas mileage, a Hummer or a scooter? No contest. But which is more polluting? It may not be what you think. "It's true. The cleanest scooter is still dirtier than a car," said John Swanton, air pollution specialist with the California Air Resources Board.

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO – Social and environmental groups yesterday challenged a multistate proposal to trim greenhouse gas emissions because they fear it would harm low-income communities and be vulnerable to fraud. Protesters showed up outside a meeting of the Western Climate Initiative in San Diego, where leaders from several states and Canadian provinces discussed their pollution-reduction compact. California supports the blueprint, which aims to drop climate pollutants 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. The most controversial aspect is a plan to create a cap-and-trade system for atmospheric pollutants. Once emission limits are set by the 11 participating governments, high-polluting...

SAN FRANCISCO -- California's effort to limit vehicle emissions of gases that contribute to global warming hit a snag Friday when a federal appeals court ruled that the state and environmental groups acted too early when they sued the Bush administration in January for blocking the law. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco dismissed a lawsuit filed by California, 15 other states and five environmental groups over the Environmental Protection Agency's refusal to let the state enforce its limits on greenhouse gas fumes from new cars and trucks. The court said the Jan. 2 suit was...

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - U.S. Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA), Chairman of the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee, today introduced bipartisan federal legislation to advance the development and deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. CCS is a method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by capturing and injecting underground the carbon dioxide emitted from electricity generation plants that use fossil fuels. (snip) "Coal is America's most abundant domestic fuel, and today, coal accounts for more than one-half of the fuel used for electricity generation. Given our large coal reserves, its lower cost in comparison with other fuels, and the inadequate...

SACRAMENTO – California's top air-quality agency for the first time on Thursday will reveal a long-awaited strategy for how it expects business and the public to respond to the challenge of dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions from factories, power plants and cars. By itself, the draft plan before the Air Resources Board will not impose specific regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. Instead, the plan is widely expected to set the course for establishing state policies that will redefine energy use in California. No sector will be excused. The proposal will lay out blueprints for refineries,...

PHOENIX (Reuters) - John McCain will push on Monday for car makers to build more environmentally friendly vehicles, threatening new legislation if they do not comply and proposing tax breaks to encourage consumers to buy "cleaner" cars. According to excerpts of his speech obtained by Reuters, the Republican presidential candidate will call for auto manufacturers to speed up the process of making engines that can use alcohol-based fuels. "Whether it takes a meeting with automakers during my first month in office, or my signature on an act of Congress, we will meet the goal of a swift conversion of American...

No Cat engine in 2010, but look for a Cat truck Caterpillar Inc. won’t be rolling out a 2010 compliant engine. Instead, look for a Cat-branded truck thanks to a new agreement with Navistar International Corp. Caterpillar and Navistar officials announced Thursday, June 12, that the companies signed an agreement to collaborate in on-highway truck and engine business. In a press release, Caterpillar officials also announced their company would not supply EPA 2010-compliant engines to truck and other on-highway original equipment manufacturers. The pair of companies will focus on global truck opportunities and more specifically on severe service construction trucks...

When John McCain joined Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in jumping on the “cap-and-trade” bandwagon for carbon emissions earlier this month, he claimed that the proposal “will create jobs, improve livelihoods, and strengthen futures across our country.” How politically-astute of him. In addition to appeasing the energy and environmental lobbies in Washington – both of which favor cap-and-trade for equally self-serving purposes – Mr. McCain is also throwing a bone to the fiscal conservatives whose votes he needs in November if he is to have any chance of winning the White House. There’s only one problem with Mr. McCain’s...

Thus far, California’s landmark law to cut greenhouse gases from its factories and businesses—a law that has given Gov. Schwarzenegger an international image of environmental activist—has been mostly talk and little action. Rules covering perhaps 60 percent of the reductions needed to meet the targets are already in place or soon will be, the result of other laws, covering such things as renewable energy standards, energy efficiency, clean-car rules, low-carbon fuel standards and others. One key component, to cut greenhouse gases from car tailpipes, is stalled pending a federal waiver, although that permission is all but certain after President Bush...

In the community of Shady Grove Woods, trees are becoming more and more scarce. Residents and other anti-Intercounty Connector activists marched through the neighborhood on Saturday, pointing out the trees that were cut down to make way for the six-lane highway. ‘‘It’s just that we didn’t have a say in it in so many ways and we’re not talking about a two-lane road, we’re talking about a major highway running through here,” resident Sam Chim said of the ICC. ‘‘We have a lot of nice, private woods back here and now we’re going to have a highway running through instead....

In recent years, we've heard that climate change could be catastrophic for nature and humanity. But it's becoming increasingly evident that over the next few decades, climate-change policies could prove even more catastrophic. Food riots have erupted in Mexico, Morocco, Egypt.... Supposedly climate-friendly policies in the United States and the European Union- subsidizing the production and consumption of such renewable biofuels as ethanol and biodiesel- have diverted such crops as corn, soybeans and palm oil from food to fuel. This, in turn, has increased prices for food worldwide at a time when the highly populous and newly prosperous East and...

A multibillion-dollar experiment designed to curb global warming is stumbling as regulators question whether the program is doing enough environmental good. The United Nations is the main global policeman in an effort by wealthy nations to reduce the impact of their own pollution by paying for cleanups in the developing world. The program, known as the Clean Development Mechanism, is one of the most important coordinated efforts to attack global warming. [Graphic] In recent months, however, U.N. regulators who administer the program have objected to dozens of these developing-world projects, ranging from hydroelectric plants to wind farms, questioning whether the...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California regulators have drastically cut the number of zero-emission vehicles required to be sold in the state by 2014, a decision that frustrated environmentalists but came as a relief to auto manufacturers. The rules adopted Thursday put the number of electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles that automakers sell in California by 2014 at 7,500 — a 70 percent reduction from the 2003 target.(snip) Auto manufacturers said they could not meet the California standard and needed more time to make affordable hydrogen and battery-powered cars.(snip) The decision is expected to affect 12 other states that had adopted California's...

FAMILIES hit with soaring petrol and power prices as a result of an emissions trading scheme could be compensated, a government enonomics expert said yesterday. And coal-dependent communities such as the Latrobe Valley may be eligible for big payouts if the power industry is hurt by federal plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions. Federal climate change economics expert Ross Garnaut yesterday released a discussion paper on development of a national carbon emissions scheme. Under the scheme, to begin in 2010, caps will be placed on the levels of greenhouse gas pollution emitted by industry. Prof Garnaut said most Australians did...

WASHINGTON – The amount of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, released by the nation's power plants grew by nearly 3 percent last year, the largest annual increase in nearly a decade, an environmental group said Tuesday. The analysis of government emissions figures covered more than 1,000 plants including those burning coal, natural gas and oil. The report by the Environmental Integrity Project, a Washington-based advocacy group, said that the 2.9 percent increase in CO2 releases outpaced a 2.3 percent year-to-year increase in electricity production. “Carbon emissions actually increased faster than (electricity) demand,” said Eric Schaeffer, the group's executive director....

CHIBA, Japan - China, India and other developing nations must join industrialized countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions if the world is to avert a global warming disaster, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said at a climate change conference Saturday. An agreement to succeed the Kyoto global warming pact that expires at the end of 2012 will have to find a way to include developing nations, while allowing them to grow their economies, Blair told the meeting of 20 nations. "The dilemma is this: how to cut a deal that has both the developed and developing in it, recognizing...

America and China face trade protection measures from Europe if they fail to join a global climate deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, EU leaders will caution at their summit in Brussels today. Nations that refuse to curb greenhouse gases will be told that they face “appropriate measures” — code for trade sanctions — if they try to gain a competitive advantage by continuing to allow cheap, high-pollution production. EU leaders are particularly concerned to try to stop big companies relocating from Europe to countries that refuse to join a post-2012 climate change agreement in order to avoid the EU's...

In Religion News today, we learn that there’s nothing we can do – except perhaps getting naked and dancing around an Oak tree worshipping Gaia – to save the planet from rapacious capitalists, gas hungry gear heads, electrical power gluttons, and lawnmower fanatics. Basically, we’re toast: The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists who have just published studies indicating that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of decades. Their findings, published in separate...

OSLO (AFP) - The world could solve many of the major environmental problems it faces at an "affordable" price, the OECD said Wednesday, warning that the cost of doing nothing would be far higher. In a report presented in Oslo, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development suggested a range of measures to address what it said were the greatest global environmental challenges through 2030: climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity and the impact on human health of pollution and toxic chemicals. "It's not cheap. It is affordable, but also it is considerably less onerous for mankind and for the...

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court today struck down a market-based effort by the Bush administration to regulate emissions of mercury from coal- and oil-fired power plants, agreeing with critics that the Environmental Protection Agency had violated the Clean Air Act when it established the rule. A coalition of environmental groups and 17 states, California among them, challenged the policy, which was slated to take effect in 2010. The EPA had planned to establish a mandatory national cap on mercury emissions and then allow power plants that fail to meet their targets to buy credits from less-polluting plants. Environmentalists have...

The latest in global-warming silliness comes from Great Britain, where Lent lends an opportunity for bishops to sound hip and relevant. Tomorrow being Ash Wednesday, the bishops of London and Yorkshire have a suggestion for Lenten sacrifice. Instead of alcohol or chocolate, give up carbon: Two senior bishops led calls on Tuesday for people to cut back on carbon, rather than the more traditional chocolate and alcohol, for Lent this year. Bishop of London Richard Chartres and Bishop of Liverpool James Jones have teamed up with aid agency Tearfund to invite the public to take part in a carbon fast...

BERKELEY — City leaders on Monday took a hydrogen-powered bus to a solar-powered building made of rice straw bales to unveil an innovative new program to reduce Berkeley's greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. About a year after 81 percent of Berkeley voters approved Measure G, Berkeley city leaders have released the draft Climate Action Plan, a blueprint for getting Berkeley residents and merchants to do their part to save the planet from global warming, city leaders said. "Berkeley is putting meat on the bones of Measure G, which is important. It's a very (inclusive) effort and it's...

Pelosi questions emissions decisionSpeaker says Congress will closely scrutinize EPA rejection of state's rules By Ken Thomas ASSOCIATED PRESS Article Launched: 12/22/2007 03:00:23 AM PST WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday that Congress would closely scrutinize the agency's decision to reject California's request to tighten rules on greenhouse gas emissions. Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said she strongly disagreed with the EPA's rationale for the decision and would support an investigation by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles. He is seeking all documents related to the state's request for a waiver to implement fuel-efficiency rules for...

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday slapped down California's bid for first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas limits on cars, trucks and SUVs, denying a request for a waiver that would have allowed those restrictions to take effect. "The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution - not a confusing patchwork of state rules - to reduce America's climate footprint from vehicles," EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said in a statement.

Innovations will be essential to increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and transportation to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, DuPont Greater China President Doug Muzyka told participants at the Bali Global Business Day at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. "In the growing world economy, energy demand remains high and will continue to increase, particularly in countries with rapidly developing economies. At the same time, as a global community, we know that critical environmental challenges such as climate change must be addressed," Muzyka said. "DuPont is focused on delivering low-carbon solutions to the marketplace in order to help...

California on Thursday became the first state in the nation to require oil refineries, electricity generating plants, cement kilns and other major polluters to report their annual greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2009. The mandatory reporting rule approved by state air regulators would affect 800 manufacturing facilities that account for about 95 percent of emissions from industrial sources in California. Through the end of the year, businesses can continue to voluntarily submit their carbon emissions to the California Climate Action Registry, a nonprofit created by the state in 2000 to encourage companies and government agencies to track and ultimately reduce...

SACRAMENTO -- Attorney General Jerry Brown -- declaring instant victory on a tobacco suit Tuesday -- plans to file a complaint today demanding that U.S. regulators force airliners and other aircraft to spew lesser amounts of greenhouse gases. The attorney general's aides said Brown's main focus of fighting global warming, which has focused mostly on carbon dioxide emissions from cars and industry, would move skyward today when he files a complaint jointly with other states and environmental groups against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington. Brown is scheduled to announce the petition he's filing with the EPA at Los...

BALI, Indonesia - Never before have so many people converged to try to save the planet from global warming, with more than 10,000 jetting into this Indonesian resort island, from government ministers to Nobel laureates to drought-stricken farmers. But critics say they are contributing to the very problem they aim to solve. "Nobody denies this is an important event, but huge numbers of people are going, and their emissions are probably going to be greater than a small African country," said Chris Goodall, author of the book "How to Live a Low-Carbon Life." Interest in climate change is at an...