Date Posted: 25-Jul-2008

INFLATION HEADS EMISSIONS CONCERNS

CARBON TRADING NEEDS INCENTIVES

Private enterprise and not central banks would lead the world with cap and trading to reduce the human-made greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet, Bank of Thailand Governor, Tarisa Watanagase told Daily Planet Media.

She said central banks involved with national monetary policies were given instructions by the government of the day, and if a country's emissions were be reduced then it requires "incentives for business and there are a number of schemes that are operating today."

Addressing the Foreign Corresponents' Club of Thailand yesterday Ms Tarisa said emissions trading did not rank a high concern for governments that are dependent on oil and coal for their economic wellbeing.

"Alternative fuels," she said were a low priority "compared to securing oil supply".

The BOT governor said peak prices for crude were fueling inflation. She blamed oil speculators for the rising prices and not the increasing demands for raw fossil fuel sources from the Asian economic tigers China an India.

"We don't want to see the same situation as happened in the United States during the 70's when high oil prices combined with a fast growing economy to bring about high inflation."

Date Posted: 25-Jul-2008

OBAMA TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING

Europe and the United States will form the core alliance in the fight to prevent severe climate change resulting from human-made greenhouse gas emissions.

That was the clear message from US presidential candidate Barack Obama talking publicly for the first time in Europe.

The candidate - who is well ahead in the race for the White House - gave notice that eight years of the Bush administration's obstruction to world emissions curbs was coming to an end.

Speaking in Berlin he said the dangers of climate change cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean.

Obama said human-made emissions and global warming were the "new peril" facing the world.

The Democratic candidate said "all countries must reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere."

"Cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya. This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands."

Obama praised Germany for showing leadership in reducing CO2 emissions by 20 percent since 1990.

Date Posted: 25-Jul-2008

ENHANCING THE LOW CARBON LIFESTYLE

SUSTAINABLE DAY 26 JULY

The USA celebrates Sustainable Day tomorrow.

And at noon in the City of Menomonie Mayor Dennis Kropp will sign the Climate Agreement for living sustainably to benefit the planet and future generations.

26 July has been marked as the day when people from all ages have an opportunity to learn more about ways to minimize individual and family carbon footprints.

Active participants and educators giving advice on sustainable living include chiropractors, builders, hybrid car owners, artists, book vendors, solar specialists and various environment protection groups.

Sustainable Dunn, a grassroots community organization with the core purpose of educating people on sustainable practices, coordinates sustainability Day showing how a community can "meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

 "It's critical that citizens become leaders in promoting a sustainable lifestyle for the sake of our children and grandchildren," said Sustainable Dunn coordinator Linda Walsh.

Date Posted: 24-Jul-2008

CRUDE PRICES SPUR ARCTIC OIL RUSH

The fast melting Arctic region will become a "hot spot" for the next rush for Earth's remaining oil and gas reserves, following a report from the US Geological Survey.

The US government-led study group estimates that the Arctic offshore holds at least 90 billion barrels of crude, 670 trillion cubic feet of gas and 44 million barrels of natural gas liquids.

The top of the world oil and gas reserves are shared by the US, Russia, Canada, Sweden, Norway and Greenland.

Faced with record crude prices the US Government lifted its ban on offshore drilling - paving the way for a concerted concentration on the Arctic's fossil reserves.

USGS geologist Donald Gautier said Arctic reserves could hold the biggest single share of oil of around 90 billion barrels of crude.

US oil reserves stand at 22 billion barrels with production levels at 1.6 billion barrels a year.

Proven oil reserves worldwide are 1.24 trillion barrels. While production remains stable consumption is rising, mostly from developing countries in Asia.

Date Posted: 24-Jul-2008

NZ WIND FARM GOES TO COURT

Leading international climate scientists will give opposing evidence to a court hearing that will judge whether the effects of human-made global warming justify the building of a wind farm in New Zealand.

Auckland's Roch Sullivan, who opposes wind generators, contends that if the wind farm is proven to be economically viable and that human-made global warming can be shown to not true then the NZ Government can't responsibly spend billions of taxpayers on a large-scale wind-harnessing project.

Government scientific representatives will tell the court that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuelled electricity generation will cause serious global warming.

The threat of climate change has already resulted in the NZ government's decision to hold a 10-year moratorium on new fossil fuel power stations resulting in the building of wind farms to meet electricity needs.

The government has also imposed a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, which Sullivan claims has caused a substantial increase in the cost of power to consumers.

Sullivan told Daily Planet Media that "experts" would give evidence that the science of man-made global warming is far from settled, and that the latest available evidence shows that the most recent phase of "global warming" ceased at the end of the 20th century.

Professor Bob Carter, a Research Professor at James Cook University in Queensland, will give his opinion that supports the United Nations' IPCC view that human greenhouse gases cause dangerous global warming.

Other "expert" witnesses to be called on include Auckland controversial climate scientist Dr Chris de Freitas, who will attempt to show that post-European changes in New Zealand climate fall within the bounds of previous natural variation, and that any future warming effect from increases in carbon dioxide will be minimal.

Date Posted: 23-Jul-2008

SOUTH AFRICA HIT BY CLIMATE CHANGE

South Africa's Western Cape had already experienced climate change due to global warming, a conference for journalists has been informed.

"We will be experiencing a change in the way we live," said South Africa's Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk.

Schalkwyk said the world faced a climate change D Day in December 2009 at the next UN led gathering in Copenhagen when developed countries would again be pressed to commit to greenhouse gas emissions curbs.

Government representatives told Daily Planet Media during conference sessions that the Western Cape province was responding to imploding climate change by switching electricity generation to renewable sources such as solar and wind, as well as setting a 15 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2015.

Climate model forecasts indicated that there would be a serious decline in the number of soil moisture days when conditions were right for planting food crops, which would have huge implications for agriculture.

The impact on South Africa's conservation and tourism areas could be shattering, the conference was told.

The conference held at Kirstenbosch had discussed the real and probable effects of global warming and climate change. The three-day event was organized by the Fynbos Foundation in association with the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and the Nieman Society of South Africa.

Date Posted: 23-Jul-2008

CHANNEL 4 UNBENDED BY VERDICT

Channel 4 won't stop selling a DVD that attacks the science of climate change - despite being told by the country's media regulator that the documentary had broken strict broadcasting rules on impartiality.

The program has its own dedicated website selling the latest DVD release as "an expanded and improved version of the film broadcast in the UK on Channel Four. More interview material has been added, covering a broader range of subjects than was possible in the broadcast film."

Written and directed by filmmaker Martin Durkin, the program claimed that global warming was a fraud. It was first shown in March, 2007, as a response to Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth and the United Nation's panel of climate scientists which delivered four comprehensive reports on global warming and climate change.

The Channel 4 show drew 265 complaints with its main claim that the human impact on global warming and climate change has been wildly overstated.

The narration said: "Everywhere you are told that man-made climate change is proved beyond doubt. But you are being told lies.

"This is a story of how a theory about climate turned into a political ideology...it is the story of the distortion of a whole area of science."