Wednesday, May 14, 2008

ENN: Olympics: "Basically" Carbon Neutral, Greenhouse Gas Storage Tech, High Fuel Costs, Lower Emmisions? and Much More


ENN: Environmental News Network [[ ENN Daily Newsletter - Thursday, May 8, 2008 ]]
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Thursday, May 8, 2008
News of Note

Turn greenhouse gases to stone? Transform them into a treacle-like liquid deep under the seabed?

Top Stories

HIGH gasoline prices could lead to a dramatic saving in US greenhouse-gas emissions. That's the conclusion of economists in the US, who suggest high fuel prices are turning consumers off SUVs and onto smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. What's more, car owners are predicted to cut back on driving in order to save money. Together, these changes in consumer behaviour could make an important dent in the US contribution to global warming, reducing annual carbon dioxide emissions by tens of millions of tonnes per year. The impact will be dramatic, says Chris Knittel, an economist at the University of California, Davis, who was involved in one of the studies.

BOULDER--Computer analyses of global climate have consistently overstated warming in Antarctica, concludes new research by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Ohio State University. The study can help scientists improve computer models and determine if Earth's southernmost continent will warm significantly this century, a major research question because of Antarctica's potential impact on global sea-level rise. "We can now compare computer simulations with observations of actual climate trends in Antarctica," says NCAR scientist Andrew Monaghan, the lead author of the study. "This is showing us that, over the past century, most of Antarctica has not undergone the fairly dramatic warming that has affected the rest of the globe. The challenges of studying climate in this remote environment make it difficult to say what the future holds for Antarctica's climate."

Add university research to the long list of human activities contributing to global warming. Hervé Philippe, a Université de Montréal professor of biochemistry, is a committed environmentalist who found that his own research produces 44 tonnes of CO2 per year. The average American citizen produces 20 tonnes.

Washington, D.C.-Unwanted childbearing is a greater demographic force than the desire for large families, and may have been for centuries, suggests Robert Engelman, Vice President at the Worldwatch Institute, in his new book More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want. Expanding the capacity of all women to choose when to bear children is thus the surest route to achieving an environmentally sustainable population. In countries that make effective personal control of reproduction possible for all, women invariably have two children or fewer on average, according to More. Such low fertility levels eventually lead to gradually declining populations in the absence of net immigration.

ENN Spotlight

This summer's Beijing Olympics will be "basically" carbon neutral thanks to a series of energy saving measures such as the use of solar power and an afforestation program, a senior official said on Thursday.

More Top Stories

THERE'S been a changing of the guard at the Coleman Family Farm stand at the Santa Monica Farmers Market on Wednesday mornings. Ask Bill Coleman a question and he's likely to answer, "Ask Romey." Romey -- Romeo on his birth certificate -- is Coleman's son and though his eventually becoming the boss was expected, it nonetheless comes as a bit of a surprise to longtime market shoppers who might still think of him as the kid they watched grow up.

LONDON (Reuters) - Cleaner air due to reduced coal burning could help destroy the Amazon this century, according to a finding published on Wednesday that highlights the complex challenges of global climate change. The study in the journal Nature identified a link between reduced sulphur dioxide emissions from coal burning and increased sea surface temperatures in the tropical North Atlantic that boosts the drought risk in the Amazon rainforest.

The aviation industry's failure to curb its soaring carbon emissions could lead to the "worst case scenario" for climate change, as envisaged by the United Nations. An unpublished study by the world's leading experts has revealed that airlines are pumping 20 per cent more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than estimates suggest, with total emissions set to reach between 1.2 billion and 1.5 billion tonnes annually by 2025.

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Member Press Releases
By: Mangrove Action Project (MAP)
In the wake of the destruction and rising death toll caused by Cyclone Nagris, Mangove Action Project (MAP) is calling for the re-establishment of mangrove buffer zones and coastal greenbelts along affected coastal zones to avert future such disasters. By: Environmental Law Institute
Iraq's Mesopotamian marshes, often referred to as the original Garden of Eden, were once the largest wetlands in southwest Asia, covering an area nearly twice the size of the original Everglades. By: The Trust for Public Land
The Rogue River cabin where western author Zane Grey fished and wrote will be permanently preserved, The Trust for Public Land, a national conservation organization, and the Bureau of Land Management announced today. By: Center for Biological Diversity
Motorized off-road vehicle use in California releases as much greenhouse gas as burning 500,000 barrels of oil each year - equivalent to more than 1.5 million car trips from San Francisco to Los Angeles - according to a groundbreaking report released today by the Center for Biological Diversity and Clean Air Initiative. By: Warren Wilson College
Steve Curwood, host and executive producer of "Living on Earth," will deliver the main address at the 2008 Warren Wilson College Commencement May 17. By: Sustainable Life Media
Andrew Winston, co-author of one of the most read business books on the emerging green economy and how companies can take advantage, will be stopping in LA May 20th for one of only four public seminars this year. By: Environmental Law Institute
The seven winners of the 2008 National Wetlands Awards will be recognized at an evening ceremony on May 13th, 2008, at the Canon House Office Building in Washington, D.C. By: Center for Biological Diversity
Responding to a petition by conservation and health groups, the state of Oklahoma today enacted a three-year moratorium on commercial harvest of turtles from public waters.

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