Climate Climate & Energy

Windbalkers

Wind farms ignite controversy in Scotland and California A proposal to build the world’s biggest on-shore wind farm on Scotland’s rugged Isle of Lewis is triggering a pitched battle. Lewis Wind Power, a joint venture between British Energy and construction group AMEC, claims the project would create hundreds of jobs and generate enough electricity to […]

It’s gettin’ hot in herre

The New York Times editorial page took the Bushies to task yesterday for ignoring and distorting science on climate change, echoing accusations made by NASA's top-dog climatologist, Jim Hansen.

Speaking in Iowa last week, Hansen castigated the Bush administration for its failure to face up to facts and act, and he "said that he had been instructed by Sean O'Keefe, administrator of [NASA], not to discuss publicly the human contribution to global warming," the Times writes. The editorial continues:

[T]his administration has a depressing history of discouraging robust discourse on climate change. ...

The net result is that while most of the industrialized world has ratified the Kyoto agreement, and committed itself in general terms to mandatory cuts of carbon emissions, America is saddled with a passive strategy of further research and voluntary reductions.

Dr. Hansen said he knew he was risking his credibility and possibly his job by criticizing Mr. Bush in the final days of the campaign, but had decided -- properly so, in our view -- that the risks of silence were greater.

Find more background here.

I Had a Gas Station in Africa …

Unleaded gas making inroads in African countries — finally Years after leaded gas was given the heave-ho in developed countries, a number of African nations are beginning the process of shifting to unleaded. Leaded gas — or rather, the lead spewed into the air when it is combusted — has been shown to lower IQs […]

The Polar Excess

Comprehensive new study confirms that global warming is devastating Arctic For the handful of people left in the world who don’t yet believe it, a comprehensive new study should remove all doubt that the Arctic is being ravaged by global warming. The four-year study, commissioned by eight nations with Arctic territory (including the U.S.), was […]

The Lion Shall Lie Down With the Dam

Bush administration tweaks dam regulations to favor industry The Bush administration has just proposed a regulatory change that would grant the hydropower industry exclusive rights to appeal Interior Department rulings on dam licensing and operation — and deny those rights to states, Indian tribes, and environmental groups. Many privately owned dams, built before laws protecting […]

I Come Back to You Now, at the Turn of the Tide

Brits look to public-service ads and tidal power to cut carbon emissions On the heels of recent predictions that the U.K. will not meet its Kyoto targets, and a more recent report that the results of global warming will be “disastrous” for the country, Brits are casting about for new ways to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. […]

The Meek Shall Inherit the Dearth

Climate change threatens to reverse progress on fighting poverty Global warming will disproportionately harm the world’s poorest people and “perpetuate injustices unprecedented in human history,” says Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth. Such is the conclusion of a sobering report called “Up in Smoke,” released this week by a 17-member coalition of environmental and […]

Serge Dedina sends a dispatch from the fight against a Mexican LNG terminal

Serge Dedina is cofounder and executive director of WiLDCOAST, an international conservation team located in Imperial Beach, Calif., just north of the Mexico-U.S. border. He is the author of Saving the Gray Whale, a book based on the three years he lived in the gray-whale lagoons of Baja California. Friday, 15 Oct 2004 IMPERIAL BEACH, […]

Umbra on UV ratings

Dear Umbra, Our radio station provides daily information regarding ultraviolet ratings. I am curious about what these ratings actually represent, and why they change so dramatically. For example, for the past few years, most ratings have been between three and seven. Now we are getting ratings of 10. I doubt the ratings are directly related […]

Italy jumps on the SUV-bashing bandwagon

Europeans don't take as kindly to mobile global-warmers as do their American counterparts.  Latest country to join in the anti-SUV backlash:  Italy.  The nation's Environment Ministry is plotting to slap a new tax on big gas-guzzlers, and possibly use the funds to incentivize people to scrap old cars and buy more efficient ones, Reuters reports.