Click on the headline (link) for the full text.
Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
Portland going 100% renewable (audio)
Market Place, Public Radio
The city of Portland, Oregan is throwing all its weight into the fight against global warming by promising to run on 100% renewable energy starting next year. Mitchell Hartman reports.
(30 Aug 2006)
If you go down to the woods today…
There is no easy fix for climate change.
Adam Ma’anit, New Internationalist
When British physicist Freeman Dyson wrote in 1972 of his dream of the ‘greening of the galaxy’ – in which humans would populate the stars by means of massive genetically engineered trees planted on comets – few took him seriously. Likewise when he advocated triggering nuclear explosions underneath space probes as a means of propulsion, most gave the idea a bemused miss. Dyson is, however, a tenacious character. When in 1977 he advocated using trees to soak up excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, people took notice. Third time lucky. ..
But what some call ‘failure’, the offset industry calls ‘learning by doing’ – and it has been ‘learning by doing’ ever since. What could have been regarded as another one of Dyson’s more wacky notions is now part of a multi-billion dollar market that involves everyone from the world’s largest transnationals, governments, the World Bank and the UN, down to ‘boutique’ merchant banks, mom-and-pop offset companies, consultancies, and NGOs. The World Bank estimated the global carbon market, of which tree-planting is just one part, to be worth $11 billion at the end of 2005 – 10 times the value of the previous year. ..
The solution to climate change is social change. Tall order? Yes. Pipe dream? Perhaps. But it is ultimately what’s needed – and at least, seen from this perspective, we have a lot of friends and allies. After all, if Freeman Dyson can strike lucky with his wacky ideas, why can’t we?
(July 2006)
This edition of the NI has two other accessible articles on carbon offsets and their imapcts, 10 things you should know about carbon offsets and Forest Fever.
California takes lead in America’s global-warming fight
Daniel B. Wood and Mark Clayton, The Christian Science Monitor
But caps on greenhouse-gas emissions are largely symbolic.
—-
LOS ANGELES AND BOSTON – California’s landmark deal to require a 25 percent cut in industrial greenhouse gases by 2020 is a largely symbolic victory with only a tiny impact on climate. But it’s one that could prompt significant change in the nation’s stance on global warming – and give the state a competitive edge in future years.
The agreement, which has not yet cleared the state legislature, would require industries – including oil refineries, chemical manufacturers, and utilities – to slash carbon-dioxide emissions.
Coming just two weeks after seven Northeast states officially approved a cap on CO2 emissions from electric utilities, California’s far broader measure could presage a growing push among states to cut emissions.
Thus far, the Bush administration has resisted efforts to institute federal mandatory reductions on CO2 that might increase costs to business and harm the economy. Many California business groups also worry the measure will encourage businesses to locate elsewhere.
“We are very concerned that this bill will send the message to manufacturers in California and the rest of the world that it’s going to be tougher to do business in California,” says Dorothy Rothrock, vice president of government relations for the California Manufacturers and Technology Association. The mandate “goes way beyond measures that are cost effective,” she adds.
California is the world’s ninth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. But even the major cuts it is proposing will have only a tiny effect because carbon emissions are growing so quickly, climate experts say.
“By itself it doesn’t do much. It’s main significance is in providing leadership,” says Robert Dickinson, past president of the American Geophysical Union. “Even though this is just a little bit, a lot of little bits add up.”
(31 Aug 2006)
Climate forces strange bedfellows
Letter to editor, The Times UK
Sir, In just over ten weeks’ time, the government programme for the next session of Parliament will be announced in the Queen’s Speech. Given the urgency of tackling climate change, we have written to the Prime Minister, calling on him to use this opportunity to enable Parliament to debate and enact a legal framework for cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
It is now clear that the total volume of greenhouse gases we add to the atmosphere in the first half of this century will determine the severity of such impacts in the middle of 2050. While this is a global challenge, we in the UK must make our fair share of the cuts.
This means action over a period of time stretching way beyond the tenure of any one Government or Prime Minister. For this reason we support a legal framework for cutting carbon emissions, with annual targets and reporting and scrutiny procedures. A sizeable majority of Members of Parliament have also supported such a proposal; some 380 MPs have signed Early Day Motion 178.
By allowing Parliament to agree a long-term framework for tackling climate change that rises above party differences we will help future governments to tackle the issue while sending a clear message about the direction of Government policy. Climate change is a huge problem – but it is a solvable one.
PETER AINSWORTH
Shadow Secretary of State Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Conservative
CHRIS HUHNE
Shadow Secretary of State, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Liberal Democrats
COLIN CHALLEN MP
All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change
ASHOK SINHA
Stop Climate Chaos
TONY JUNIPER
Friends of the Earth
DALEEP MUKARJI
Christian Aid
(4 Sept 2006)
