Fire started 10 days ago and had scorched some 12,000 hectares of inaccessible forest land in the Blue Mountains. During November to February bushfire are very common in Australia. Picture captured by Daily Terrra, 2006-11-23.
Archive for November, 2006
The EU’s public register of industrial emissions to air and water, the European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER), was today updated with the latest emissions data from some 12,000 industrial installations across Europe.
The data for 2004 for the first time covers installations in the ten new Member States.
EPER is a register of the emissions produced by large and medium-sized industrial facilities. It covers 50 air and water pollutants. The data in the register comes from facilities in all EU Member States.
The results from the query interface are quite informative. It shows adresses of polluters, CO2 emissions, type of emissions (water, air), amount and more.
Germany’s top CO2 emitter is RWE Power AG with 27,600,000.00 t of CO2 by 2004 an increase of 36,6 per cent since 2001.
At an european scale RWE Power AG is second and BOT Elektrownia Belchat
| Briksdalsbreen Glacier |
Glaciers melt faster than scientists can save their instruments.
BBC News feature broadcasted 21-11-06
| Moving America Beyond Oil |
Video is part of new flashy greendaynrdc.com website.
Well, do they also promote hybrid tour trucks, now?
Is it worth to spend energy on argueing with denialists?
Isn’t it more efficient to convince 10 people to think about their new car’s ecological footprint instead of trying to convert one skeptic getting paid for his pertinacity?
However simplified statements, driven by grade of simpleness and professional promotion, find easily their way into public opinion and need awareness plus preparation.
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.
Upton Sinclair, US novelist & socialist politician (1878 - 1968)
David Archer attended a talk by Dennis Avery ‘Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years’ and condensed it to an interesting blog entry at realclimate.org using a point/counterpoint structure.
“Avery and Singer: Unstoppable hot air” and the discussion is both worth reading and exemplary.
More: illconsidered.blogspot.com: How to Talk to a Global Warming Sceptic
Picture credit: Chris Madden, ‘The beast that ate the Earth’
Asking 5,800 adults in 20 countries: “Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? - Damage to the environment must be reduced, even if it means slower economic growth.” Angus Reid Strategies and Maclean’s got following results:
| Country | agree | disagree |
| World | 87% | 13% |
| Mexico | 95% | 5% |
| Spain | 93% | 8% |
| Australia | 92% | 8% |
| Japan | 91% | 9% |
| Lebanon | 91% | 9% |
| Turkey | 90% | 11% |
| Britain | 89% | 11% |
| Egypt | 89% | 11% |
| India | 89% | 11% |
| Saudi Arabia | 89% | 11% |
| France | 89% | 11% |
| China | 88% | 12% |
| South Africa | 88% | 13% |
| Russia | 87% | 13% |
| Canada | 88% | 12% |
| Israel | 86% | 15% |
| Germany | 85% | 15% |
| Italy | 84% | 16% |
| South Korea | 80% | 20% |
| United States | 70% | 30% |
via:
Angus Reid Global Monitor - U.S. Out of Step With World on Environment
Methodology details
Produced by Morris Karp and Gil Shochat “The Denial Machine” will be aired at 10pm ET/PT today (Nov 18th) at CBC Newsworld.
The 40min documentation asks how scientific facts, which many believe determine the very future of the planet, become a political battleground, pitting left versus right, environmentalist versus climate change sceptic?
The Denial Machine investigates the roots of the campaign to negate the science and the threat of global warming. It tracks the activities of a group of scientists, some of whom previously consulted for for Big Tobacco, and who are now receiving donations from major coal and oil companies.
The feature also explores how the arguments supported by oil companies were adopted by policy makers in both Canada and the U.S. and helped form government policy.
Info + Video: The Denial Machine, Video Link (wvx, wmedia needed, 500kb)
The US, world’s biggest polluter and emitter of carbon dioxide and Australia, biggest coal exporter, are still refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Both bring forward the argument that unless China and India are not included, it would have negative impact on their economy.
Wednesday evening during the final meeting the EU delegation in particular Irish EU delegate Avril Doyle said the European Commission considers a punitive tariff on imports from countries guilty of gross environmental irresponsibility.
EU Environmental Minister Stavros Dimas confirmed that the commission in Brussels was looking into punitive tariffs. A study on “the pros and cons of such a measure” is in preparation.
The punitive tariffs will “balance out” economic irregularities in the “struggle against climate change,” according to Dimas. Countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol are faced with extra costs connected with the global trading of pollution certificates, which means they’re subject to rising prices on their products.
Earlier this week French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin rattled some nerves in Nairobi when he threatened to impose a carbon tax on the US and Australia for refusing to join Kyoto.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said: “Well that is a thoroughly silly proposal and is totally out of touch with reality”.
Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper on Wednesday ridiculed the French tax proposal, running a photograph of a mushroom cloud from a French nuclear test in the South Pacific in 1971, with a headline “Back off, Frogs”.
Spiegel: Pollution Penalties for the US?
Daily Telegraph: Hopping mad over French sneer
Asking 5,800 adults in 20 countries: “Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? - Damage to the environment must be reduced, even if it means slower economic growth.” Angus Reid Strategies and Maclean’s got following results:
| Country | agree | disagree |
| World | 87% | 13% |
| Mexico | 95% | 5% |
| Spain | 93% | 8% |
| Australia | 92% | 8% |
| Japan | 91% | 9% |
| Lebanon | 91% | 9% |
| Turkey | 90% | 11% |
| Britain | 89% | 11% |
| Egypt | 89% | 11% |
| India | 89% | 11% |
| Saudi Arabia | 89% | 11% |
| France | 89% | 11% |
| China | 88% | 12% |
| South Africa | 88% | 13% |
| Russia | 87% | 13% |
| Canada | 88% | 12% |
| Israel | 86% | 15% |
| Germany | 85% | 15% |
| Italy | 84% | 16% |
| South Korea | 80% | 20% |
| United States | 70% | 30% |
via:
Angus Reid Global Monitor - U.S. Out of Step With World on Environment
Methodology details
Climate change is a process which impacts species, eco-systems and biodiversity. Many species already adapted to higher temperatures and changed the length, timing and location of their migration routes.
Some species, like green turtles, are suffering higher levels of tumours with the rise linked to warmer waters and more infections.
Around a fifth of the bird species listed under the Convention could be affected by rising sea levels, erosion and greater wave action linked with climate change. (more…)
