Russia Still Undecided on Kyoto Protocol Russia still has not decided whether to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, President Vladimir Putin said today. The nation has the power to make or break the climate-change treaty, which cannot go into effect until it is ratified by nations accounting for 55 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions. The treaty would likely be a good deal for Russia because the nation's emissions are already below the required levels, thanks to the industrial collapse that followed the breakup of the Soviet Union; this means Russia could sell emissions credits to nations that have trouble meeting their …

Malaysian Mining Industry Is Getting a Second Wind Twenty years after a glut in the global tin market sent the Malaysia mining industry into a freefall, the country's miners are lobbying for a second chance -- this time, with coal. Recently, prospectors in Malaysia found nearly 237 million tons of new coal reserves. That's good news for the country's economy, but bad news for the environment, since the reserves are in a pristine forest on Borneo. Mining representatives say they can get to the coal while protecting the forest (and its resident apes), and they're meeting with the government this …

Dear Umbra, I'm in the market for a new dishwasher, one that uses as little water and energy as possible and still gets that flatware sparklin' clean. But I don't have a lot of dough to blow on appliances. Any thoughts? DeanOrem, Utah Dearest Dean, I really can't say enough about Consumer Reports and its online archives of product reviews and ratings. The subscription is worth the $4.95 per month. An Energy Star-bellied dishwasher.Photo: U.S. DOE. I approached buying a dishwasher by cross-referencing the Consumer Reports recommendations with handy Energy Star ratings. Energy Star is a labeling project of the …

Arctic's Biggest Ice Shelf Breaks Apart, Signaling Increased Warming A 3,000-year-old ice shelf in the Arctic Ocean, the largest in the Northern Hemisphere, has broken into pieces over the past two years, highlighting significant warming trends, according to new research published in Geophysical Research Letters. Scientists said they couldn't determine whether the melting was related to increased greenhouse-gas levels caused by human activity, but they said the disintegration of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf was just one of many signs of huge climate shifts in the far northern reaches of the globe. "We believe that these events fit into a …

White House Tries to Undermine Government Research on Climate Change The Bush White House seems to have teamed up with a conservative think tank, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, to undermine the credibility of government scientists doing research on climate change. Myron Ebell, a director of CEI, which has received more than $1 million in funding from ExxonMobil since 1998, last summer sent an email to an official at the president's Council on Environmental Quality that indicates the White House sought his group's assistance in playing down an EPA report that said humans are contributing to the warming of the planet. …

Bush Pushes for Offshore Oil Drilling in Alaska The Bush administration is moving aggressively to open Alaska's coastal waters to oil exploration -- a campaign that is not getting nearly as much public scrutiny as efforts to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The administration plans to offer eight oil and gas lease sales in Alaska's federal waters over the next five years, starting with a 9.4 million-acre offering this month in the Arctic's Beaufort Sea. To boost interest in the Beaufort lease, the federal Minerals Management Service is offering royalty breaks that could let oil producers make away …

U.K. Calls on PC Users to Help With Global Climate Experiment Concerned about the world's climate and wondering how you can help improve scientific understanding of it? Wonder no more. If you own a PC, you can become part of what's being billed as the world's largest climate-prediction experiment. Organized by a coalition of British universities and corporations, the experiment is expected to produce "the world's most comprehensive probability-based forecast of 21st century climate." How? Individual computer-users who join the experiment will download a unique version of a climate model developed by the Hadley Centre, one of the world's most …

Russian Industries Back Kyoto Protocol Here's an unlikely ally in the battle to combat global climate change: industrial polluters. A number of Russia's largest gas and electric companies, steel mills, and metal smelters have begun lobbying their government to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty on climate change. The companies are so interested in getting their hands on what could amount to billions of dollars in foreign investment and emissions credits that they are even offering to help pay to administer Kyoto-related programs if the government ratifies the treaty. One expert estimates that Russian businesses could attract $1.2 billion …

Central Europe's Largest Lake Is Shrinking According to legend, Hungary's Lake Balaton is constantly replenished by a young girl weeping in a church in the middle of its waters. Now, though, Central Europe's largest lake is shrinking, and experts say the problem isn't a happier lake lady; it's global warming. Following four hot summers in a row and lower-than-average annual rainfalls, millions of gallons of lakewater have disappeared, exposing mudflats and forcing visitors to the 231-square-mile lake -- one of Hungary's most popular tourist attractions -- to walk far out from the original water's edge for a swim. Environmentalists, climate …

Earth's Climate Hits a 2,000-Year High, Study Says If you thought the summer was hot, get a load of this: The Earth has been warmer since 1980 than at any time in the past 2,000 years, according to the most comprehensive study to date of climatic history. The study authors believe their research, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, provides solid confirmation that human activity is altering the climate. "You can't explain this rapid warming of the late 20th century in any other way," said study author Philip Jones of the University of East Anglia in the U.K. "It's …