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Is Global Warming Drowning Africa?
Alexis Okeowo in Kampala, TIME
Africa has always been predicted to be the continent that will be worst hit by global warming and climate change. Could those predictions be coming true? Extreme rains and floods have made for a very wet summer in Africa, and there is no end in sight to the downpours that are swallowing towns and forcing over a million to flee their homes in at least 20 countries. Since June, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya have had hundreds of thousands of people uprooted from their homes. Scores have died since. West Africa has seen its worst floods in years, with 300,000 fleeing the earth-colored waters of northern Ghana. Meanwhile, forecasts by African meteorologists say the rains have yet to peak. October may be the worst month to come in this very wet year.
“This weather is what climatologists predicted, and it is happening even faster than expected,” says Grace Akumu, executive director of the Kenya-based Climate Change Network. “We are overwhelmed.” The immediate consequences of climate change in Africa? Countries will experience either torrential floods or severe drought during a season. Akumu says that the unpredictable climate will threaten the food supply in Africa and potentially eliminate key crops. Africans are expected to face a severe lack of food and drinkable water by the end of the century.
(21 September 2007)
Corporate giants face up to climate change
Alison Benjamin and agencies, Guardian
Big business is facing up to climate change, with more than half of the world’s 500 largest companies introducing schemes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a report says today.
The Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) fifth annual global report finds that 76% of the FTSE 500 companies who responded to its survey have put emissions reduction schemes in place – compared to 48% last year.
Some 80% of public-owned companies who responded to the survey see climate change as presenting risks and opportunities for their business. Some 95% of those who see climate change as a commercial risk have implemented emissions reduction programmes with a specific target and timeline.
But the 383 top companies who responded to the survey report greenhouse gas emissions totalling almost 7bn tonnes, which represents 14% of all global emissions by humans.
The CDP report concludes that corporate giants have made “significant progress in understanding and disclosing their positions relative to the risks and opportunities associated with climate change”. In particular, the report highlights a narrowing gap between climate awareness and action among the FTSE500.
(24 September 2007)
Man causing climate change – poll
BBC
Large majorities in many countries now believe human activity is causing global warming, a BBC World Service poll suggests.
A sizeable majority of people agreed that major steps needed to be taken soon to address global warming.
More than 22,000 people were surveyed in 21 countries and the results show a great deal of agreement on the issue.
The survey is published a day after 150 countries met at the United Nations to discuss climate change.
An average of 79% of respondents to the BBC survey agreed that “human activity, including industry and transportation, is a significant cause of climate change”.
(25 September 2007)
Contributor Rick Dworsky writes:
Will mere awareness reach ‘critical mass’ and produce real changes? Addicts often continue, fully aware of the damage… unfortunately a catalyst, such as suffering, is frequently required to make major lifestyle adjustments.
How the White House Worked to Scuttle California’s Climate Law
WASHINGTON – President Bush’s transportation secretary, Mary Peters, with White House approval, personally directed a lobbying campaign to urge governors and two dozen House members to block California’s first-in-the-nation limits on greenhouse gases from cars and trucks, according to e-mails obtained by Congress.0925 08
The e-mails show Peters worked closely with the top opponents in Congress of California’s emissions law and sought out governors from auto-producing states, who were seen as likely to oppose the state’s request that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allow the new rules to go into effect.
“The administration is trying to stack the deck against California’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, wrote Monday to the White House. “It suggests that political considerations – not the merits of the issue – will determine how EPA acts.”
(25 September 2007)
Also at Common Dreams.
