Friday, February 15, 2008

ENN: Energy taxes, investing in renewable energy, banning coal-fired plants and much more...

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Friday, February 15, 2008
News of Note

A few years ago, a homeowner in Las Vegas—a place that gets maybe five inches of rainfall a year—was confronted by a water district inspector for running an illegal sprinkler in the middle of the day. The man became very angry. He said, “You people and all your stupid rules—you’re trying to turn this place into a desert!” Ideas about how the world works that don’t accord with reality can be unhelpful. That’s especially true about mainstream economics, which is based in part on ideas that made a lot of sense at some point in the last 250 years but that have outlived their time and usefulness.

Top Stories

ROME (Reuters) - Taxes on energy in Italy have fallen by almost a quarter in the last decade while greenhouse gas emissions have soared, environmental group Legambiente said on Friday, calling for greater action against climate change.

In its annual report on the state of the environment, Italy's leading green group said successive Italian governments had failed to discourage growing energy consumption or encourage renewable power such as wind and solar.

In a report compiled in early 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy listed 151 coal-fired power plants in the planning stages and talked about a resurgence in coal-fired electricity. But during 2007, 59 proposed U.S. coal-fired power plants were either refused licenses by state governments or quietly abandoned. In addition to the 59 plants that were dropped, close to 50 more coal plants are being contested in the courts, and the remaining plants will likely be challenged as they reach the permitting stage.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supporters of action to protect the world's fragile fish stocks are hoping that a recent proposal to drastically limit fishing subsidies will prevail in global trade talks.

"We are in such dire conditions," said Courtney Sakai, campaign director for Oceana, an environmental group that vocally opposed subsidies for boat-building, fuel and other activities they say have pushed fisheries close to exhaustion.

ENN Spotlight

This week on ENN: Leading Brands call for climate change, Green Economics going mainstream, CSR: It's all about attitude, Consumers fret over food packaging, Sumatran Tigers in serious danger, Bloomberg slams U.S. over ethanol and much much more.

More Top Stories

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. institutional investors pledged at a U.N. summit on Thursday to invest $10 billion over two years in technologies that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to pressure companies to disclose their risks associated with climate change.

TOKYO — Some of the world's leading businesses have come together to call for the world to take all necessary action to keep global warming below the dangerous threshold of 2 degrees Celsius.

The Tokyo Declaration, signed by 12 companies including Allianz, Sony, Nokia and Nike, was presented by Sony Chairman and CEO Sir Howard Stringer at the opening of the annual WWF Climate Savers Conference at Sony Corporation headquarters in Tokyo.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony, Nokia and 10 other global corporations said all necessary action should be taken to put a halt to global warming, and pledged they would step up their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In a "Tokyo Declaration" issued on Friday by the dozen companies partnering with conservation group WWF for emission reductions, they said they will expand the scope of their activities by involving their business partners and customers.

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Member Press Releases
By: the Center for Biological Diversity
The Bush administration Thursday issued a new final critical habitat for the federally and state-protected Peirson's milk-vetch, as mandated by federal law. The new determination identifies a meager 12,105 acres of land in the Algodones Dunes as habitat necessary for the survival and recovery of the rare plant, representing a 33-percent reduction from last year's proposal. The new designation also fragments the area that would be enforced for conservation of the plant and fails to protect areas where the rare plant is currently growing. By: the Center for Biological Diversity
Perpetuating a profoundly anti-environment legacy, the Bush administration Wednesday reduced the amount of land that is critical to the survival and recovery of the Nevin's barberry, an endangered plant, to only six acres. Only 3 percent of the plants in Riverside County are included in the critical habitat designation. Plants occurring in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties are completely ignored. By: the San Diego Zoo
North America's largest flying bird was nearly lost to extinction, but thanks to a collaborative effort the California condor's future is flying high and news abounds. The recently launched Website, "California Condor Conservation," was created with new technology to provide the latest information from all of the organizations involved in this species' recovery. By: Essential Environment Products International
The Fields of Green Team and Darrell Evans, former MLB baseball All-Star, have just completed the first part of his mission to bring about awareness and solutions to the environmental crisis we all face that has become a functioning reality. His website is alive and well, open to teach and inspire all things, green. By: the Center for Biological Diversity
Citing widespread public opposition and a flawed environmental review, conservationists Monday requested that the Kaibab National Forest withdraw approval of up to 39 new uranium-exploration drilling sites immediately south of Grand Canyon National Park. The Forest Service had claimed that the proposed drilling was exempt from detailed environmental review because it would have no effect on the environment. By: the Center for Biological Diversity
The Center for Biological Diversity filed a scientific petition Thursday with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Pacific walrus under the federal Endangered Species Act due to threats from global warming and growing oil and gas development throughout its range. By: GLOBE Foundation of Canada
The world's first Auto FutureTech Summit, to be held in Vancouver from March 12 to 14, 2008, will serve as a forum for automotive experts from around the world to discuss and prepare for the future of automobile transportation. By: International Fund for Animal Welfare
Leadership for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) praised the decision today by a U.S. District Court to grant a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Navy that will restrict the use of Low Frequency Active (LFA) sonar during testing and training operations.

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