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Exports account for one-third of China’s emissions
Ben Block, Worldwatch Institute
As Chinese manufacturers feed a growing global appetite for cheap goods, these exports account for a rising share of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, a new study reveals.
Exports are now responsible for one-third of China’s emissions, according to a study that will appear in the journal Energy Policy. The researchers describe their analysis as the most systematic study of the subject to date.
(11 August 2008)
Amazon rainforest threatened by new wave of oil and gas exploration
Ian Sample, The Guardian
Vast swathes of the western Amazon are to be opened up for oil and gas exploration, putting some of the planet’s most pristine and biodiverse forests at risk, conservationists have warned.
A survey of land earmarked for exploration by energy companies revealed a steep rise in recent years, to around 180 zones, which together cover an area of 688,000 sq km, almost equivalent to the size of Texas.
Detailed mapping of the region shows the majority of planned oil and gas projects, which are operated by at least 35 multinational companies, are in the most species-rich areas of the Amazon for mammals, birds and amphibians…
(13 August 2008)
Mike Davis: Living on the ice shelf – humanity’s meltdown
Oliver Tickell, Guardian
On a planet 4C hotter, all we can prepare for is extinction there’s no ‘adaptation’ to such steep warming. We must stop pandering to special interests, and try a new, post-Kyoto strategy
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We need to get prepared for four degrees of global warming, Bob Watson told the Guardian last week. At first sight this looks like wise counsel from the climate science adviser to Defra. But the idea that we could adapt to a 4C rise is absurd and dangerous. Global warming on this scale would be a catastrophe that would mean, in the immortal words that Chief Seattle probably never spoke, “the end of living and the beginning of survival” for humankind. Or perhaps the beginning of our extinction.
The collapse of the polar ice caps would become inevitable, bringing long-term sea level rises of 70-80 metres. All the world’s coastal plains would be lost, complete with ports, cities, transport and industrial infrastructure, and much of the world’s most productive farmland. The world’s geography would be transformed much as it was at the end of the last ice age, when sea levels rose by about 120 metres to create the Channel, the North Sea and Cardigan Bay out of dry land. Weather would become extreme and unpredictable, with more frequent and severe droughts, floods and hurricanes. The Earth’s carrying capacity would be hugely reduced. Billions would undoubtedly die.
Watson’s call was supported by the government’s former chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, who warned that “if we get to a four-degree rise it is quite possible that we would begin to see a runaway increase”. This is a remarkable understatement.
(11 August 2008)
Costa Rica bids to go carbon neutral
Claire Marshall, BBC Online
In February 2008 , Norway, New Zealand, Iceland and Costa Rica made a commitment to go carbon neutral.
The tiny Central American country is the only developing country to have made the tough pledge to turn its economy green.
It has also set itself the hardest target with the government saying it will go carbon neutral by 2021.
“If any country can do it, it’s Costa Rica,” said Sergio Musmanni, who is helping to lead the government’s new national climate change strategy.
“We have been at the forefront of the climate change issue for years. A large percentage of our electricity… already comes from renewable energy sources. And we are in the tropics.
We don’t have problems heating up our homes and buildings during the winter.”
Some sectors are getting behind the idea.
(11 August 2008)
One action Costa Rica might need to take to acheive this is to stop the influx of Europeans and American’s who are moving there and building golf course communities.
