News: Author Archive
‘Reuters – World climate talks set for November in Mexico could make progress on how poorer states cope with global warming, but more wins are needed at the table to produce a big breakthrough at the long-running talks, a senior World Bank official said.’
via More wins needed in climate talks: World Bank | Reuters.
‘In 2008, the Rodale Institute—an organization dedicated to the promotion of organic agriculture—published a widely noted report entitled “Regenerative Organic Farming: A Solution to Global Warming.” The takeaway was that organic agriculture, due to its reliance on biological rather than chemical methods, could substantially reduce carbon emissions generated by the agricultural sector. Rodale predicted that if the world’s 3.5 billion acres of arable land were placed under organic production, 40 percent of global carbon emissions would be immediately sequestered.’
via Organic Agriculture: A Solution to Global Warming? – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com.
Troubling talk by Jeremy Jackson, coral reef ecologist about the widespread trouble in the oceans.
Concluding excerpt:
“So the question is, how are we all going to respond to this? We can do all sorts of things to fix it, but in the final analysis the thing we really need to fix is ourselves. It’s not about the fish, it’s not about the pollution, it’s not about the climate change. It’s about us and our greed, and our need for growth, and our inability to image a world which is different from the selfish world we live in today.”
“So the question is will we respond to this or not? I would say that the future of life and the dignity of human beings depends on our doing that.”
‘Reuters – The Sierra Club has appealed a state utility commission vote that allows a Southern Co utility to build an expensive advanced coal-fired plant.’
via Sierra Club to fight Southern Co coal project | Reuters.
‘(Reuters) – Pakistan this year expects to finalize four wind power deals worth $500 million to exploit a renewable resource that has been barely tapped in a country with a yawning gap between power capacity and demand.’
‘The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused headlines around the world, yet the people who live in the Niger delta have had to live with environmental catastrophes for decades’
via Nigeria’s agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it | Environment | The Observer.
‘Louisiana Reuters – British energy giant BP Plc agreed on Wednesday to President Barack Obama’s demand to place about $20 billion in a special fund to pay damage claims from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.’
via BP agrees to $20 billion fund for spill claims | Reuters.
‘WASHINGTON — Fifty-six days, millions of gallons of oil and countless hours of cable television second-guessing later, President Obama finally addressed the nation from the Oval Office on Tuesday night to declare war.’
via News Analysis – With Call to Arms, Obama Seeks to Shift Arc of Oil Crisis – NYTimes.com.
‘WASHINGTON – A climate and energy bill being pushed in the Senate would cost American households 22 to 40 cents a day — less than the cost of a first-class postage stamp, the Obama administration said Tuesday.’
via EPA: Climate bill costs less than postage stamp – Yahoo! News.
‘Fully 86 percent of our respondents said they wanted the federal government to limit the amount of air pollution that businesses emit, and 76 percent favored government limiting business’s emissions of greenhouse gases in particular. Not a majority of 55 or 60 percent — but 76 percent.’