Why smoggy skies over Beijing represent the world’s greatest environmental opportunity

http://reflectedplaces.blogspot.com/2009/02/chinas-silver-lining.html
JAMES FALLOWS: Why smoggy skies over Beijing represent the world's greatest environmental opportunity... And the problems that are less obvious at a glance are even more threatening. Toxic emissions into lakes, groundwater, and farmland; the drying-up of rivers and silting-up of dams; the rapid exhaustion of water in the northern half of the country that, in the view of many experts, is likely to be China's next great environmental emergency....

Pickens energy plan sparks interest from Gov. Paterson

http://www.stargazette.com/article/20090222/NEWS01/902220311
STAR GAZETTE: exas billionaire T. Boone Pickens may have made a new convert from the Empire State.  Pickens made a pitch Saturday to members of the National Governors Association to join the 14 governors who already have signed onto his plan for American energy independence.

Greenest Nation A laggard no longer, America could soon out-innovate Europe and Japan.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/185812
NEWSWEEK:This is a trick question. What big country is, by most measures, greener than Japan and Germany and produces more geothermal energy than all of Europe combined? It might help to know that this nation is also a pioneer in environmental stewardship, having passed many of the world's toughest regulations on vehicle emissions, energy efficiency and nature conservation.It couldn't possibly be the United States....

Korea Dreams of 'Green Revolution'

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/02/113_40054.html
South Korea wants to share the vision of ``low-carbon, green growth'' with the rest of the world in order to find a breakthrough during the worst economic recession in decades, Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said Sunday.

Carbon trading bill due within weeks. AU

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/22/2498109.htm?section=justin
Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says the Government remains committed to its plans for a carbon trading scheme.

Clinton Paints China Policy With a Green Hue

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/world/asia/22diplo.html?hp
NYT: Declaring that "we hope you won't make the same mistakes we made," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton invited China to join the United States in an ambitious effort to curb greenhouse gases, as she toured an energy-efficient power plant in Beijing on Saturday.

Iraq invites France back to build nuclear plant

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h7H6ulBYm6Gj63_Ass_yoO0BgFpg
AFP: Electricity Minister Karim Wahid on Sunday invited France to help Iraq build a nuclear power plant, three decades after Paris constructed a reactor near Baghdad that was bombed by Israeli warplanes.

Rethinking Nuclear Power. FL

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/feb/21/bz-rethinking-nuclear-power/
Last month, homeowners and businesses began receiving the tab for Progress Energy's nuclear plant. The consumer outrage has led lawmakers to call for changes. Suddenly, Florida's appetite for an expensive nuclear plant has diminished.

Senator wants to end 'effective ban' on nuclear power plants. WV

http://uaelp.pennnet.com/news/display_news_story.cfm?Section=WireNews&Category=HOME&NewsID=174280

Nuclear power might be in the vanguard of West Virginia's energy future, but a tiny line in law known as Article 27-A is keeping investors from even talking seriously about the first plant.And to Senate Economic Development Chairman Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, that "effective ban" is inconsistent with West Virginia's zeal to be an energy leader.

Nuclear plant cost bill OK’d. Atlanta.

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/02/21/reallegbriefs0221.html

ATLANTA JOURNAL: A House of Representatives subcommittee has given preliminary approval to a bill allowing Georgia Power to charge customers in advance for the cost of future construction of a nuclear power plant.The House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications panel approved the bill (SB 31) in a voice vote. The bill, one of the more controversial pieces of legislation this session, now moves to the full committee, which will take it up on Monday.

They're Tar Sands, not Oil Sands!

http://oilbeseeingyou.blogspot.com/2009/02/theyre-tar-sands-not-oil-sands.html
What comes out of the tar sands is not oil. It is, in fact, tar, bitumen, the same sticky, smelly stuff they build roads with. With a lot of processing, using up a lot of energy and other precious resources like clean water, it can be turned into a synthetic oil which, with further processing using up a lot more energy and other resources, can be turned into gasoline. But it takes almost as much energy to produce a gallon of gasoline from tar sands as the energy you get out of the gallon of gasoline.

Human Rights Council - Relationship between Climate Change and Human Rights

http://www.climate-l.org/2009/02/human-rights-council-to-consider-report-on-the-relationship-between-climate-change-and-human-rights.html   The tenth session of the Human Rights Council will convene from 2-27 March 2009, in Geneva, Switzerland, and is expected to focus on the impact of the global economic and financial crises on the universal realization and effective enjoyment of human rights as the priority theme. Among other agenda items, the Council will consider a report by the High Commissioner on the relationship between climate change and human rights.

Apocalypse now. Climate change is here and now and getting personal

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/2/19/10158/5081
GRIST: Not long ago, most climate scientists stuck to the future tense when they talked about the impacts of global warming. Now, they are using the present tense -- and using it more and more often. Now, they tell us the damages have arrived in the United States.

The Race Toward a Climate Change Cure. TIME FEATURE

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1880469,00.html
Some climate experts say that without breakthrough technologies and as yet unimagined solutions, we cannot stem the progress of climate change... Recently, researchers had a chance to look back at the IPCC's early predictions, and it turns out that the panel had indeed made some mistakes — it had significantly underestimated the rate of increase in global carbon emissions.

Will Climate Go Over The Edge? NEWSWEEK FEATURE

http://www.newsweek.com/id/185822
NEWSWEEK:  There is something compelling, in a ghoulish sort of way, about the notion that earth's climate may be headed toward a tipping point. The idea gained broad currency in 2007, when a panel of scientists, including Harvard environmental expert John Holdren—now the White House science adviser—warned that the planet is approaching a threshold beyond which damage to the environment would be irreversible.

**Permafrost Methane - the global implications have yet to sink in

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-global-warming-methane22-2009feb22,0,4075760,full.story
LA TIMES: To many Alaskans, it is hardly news that permafrost is thawing: Across the state, houses have been collapsing and trees tipping over. Researchers estimate that repairing affected schools, roads and bridges will cost up to $6 billion over the next two decades.

***Sylvia Earle: How to protect the oceans (TED Prize winner!)

VIDEO HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43DuLcBFxoY
http://www.ted.com Legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle shares astonishing images of the ocean -- and shocking stats about its rapid decline -- as she makes her TED Prize wish: that we will join her in protecting the vital blue heart of the planet.

****Economist Nicholas Stern - Dire Climate Change Scenario: Mass Migrations, Extended World War

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/21/lord-nicholas-stern-paint_n_168865.html
HUFF POST: If we don't deal with climate change decisively, "what we're talking about then is extended world war," the eminent economist said... "Somehow we have to explain to people just how worrying that is," the British economic thinker said.  SEE ALSO: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/11/stern-climate-change  ; http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16580-400-billion-the-price-of-our-future.html

****Nations to Write Treaty Cutting Mercury Emissions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/20/AR2009022003378.html

WP: More than 140 countries have agreed to negotiate a legally binding treaty aimed at slashing the use of the metal mercury, with the goal of reducing people's exposure to a toxin that hampers brain development among infants and young children worldwide.The agreement, announced at a high-level United Nations meeting of environmental ministers in Nairobi yesterday came after Obama administration officials reversed U.S. policy and embraced the idea of joining in a binding pact. Once the administration said it was reversing the course set by President George W. Bush, China, India and other nations also agreed to endorse the goal of a mandatory treaty.

****Winning the Oil Endgame without Government Coercion

FOR VIDEO: http://www.amarketplaceofideas.com/winning-the-oil-endgame-without-government-coercion.htm
TED/AMORY LOVINS/RMI:  In this energizing talk, Amory Lovins lays out his simple plan for weaning the US off oil and revitalizing the economy. Amory Lovins is cofounder of the Rocky Mountain Institute and the instigator of ingenious ideas to transform the ... A MarketPlace of Ideas - http://www.amarketplaceofideas.com/

Why the Government Should Not Be A Green Vent Capital outfit

http://earth2tech.com/2009/02/20/why-the-government-should-not-be-a-green-vc/
Earth2Tech: Six reasons why the federal government should not create a green VC fund, including: there is no lack of venture capital funding, good startups are still being funded by VCs, VCs don't need a bailout, excessive funding hurts markets, and a government VC fund likely would end up backing the end-of-the-road less qualified companies. Gurley's post is in response to a poor idea that (NYT) Thomas Friedman (bestseller Hot, Flat & Crowded) noted in one of his recent New York Times op-eds:

**Attny Gen'l attacks MI Gov anti-Coal Plant order

http://www.freep.com/article/20090221/NEWS06/902210343
FREEP: MI Attorney General Mike Cox accused Gov. Jennifer Granholmon Friday of exceeding her authority by ordering state agencies to suspend the licensing process for coal-fired utility plants. Responding to an opinion from state Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer,R-Kewadin, Cox said Granholm's order, which she announced in her State of the State address on Feb. 3, would impose a new requirement not found in environmental protection statutes or elsewhere.

**A Renewable Portfolio Standard [legal benchmarks]?

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/next-up-a-renewable-portfolio-standard/
NYT: President Obama has called for 10 percent of the nation's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. A national standard could enshrine those goals into law, and Senator Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is working on a draft (he held a hearing last week).

"The Obama Effect" On The Environment & Energy

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100928065&ft=1&f=1025
NPR: Much of President Obama's policy revolves around the three E's: environment, energy and the economy. By and large, the American economy is not a sustainable economy. It is based on an economic model that depends on consumption and the desire for more stuff.

Reid, Pelosi pushing [uphill] for climate change by Memorial Day

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jJGH92I1bBxSYUuuJxTDWEhJyxrwD96FI8AO0
AP:  Democratic leaders in both the Senate and House want to take action this year to stem global warming....But the biggest battle will be in the Senate, where Reid will have to get 60 votes including support from some Republicans. Last year a proposed climate bill garnered only 48 (Senate) votes, though six senators who said they supported it were absent.

***Worsening Climate Numbers NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/opinion/21sat3.html?ref=opinion
NYT: The 2007 assessment established a base line of expectation, but it is already looking outdated. From all over the globe, in bits and pieces, data are accumulating that suggest we may have already left behind the world of possibilities portrayed in the panel's report. Sea ice has melted more quickly than expected. And, according to a recent report from the United States Geological Survey, sea levels in 2100 could increase by more than double the 1.5 feet rise projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (it chose not to add in water from eroding ice sheets because they remain poorly understood). Add to that the hard reality that carbon dioxide is a long-lived gas, and the picture of global warming is both volatile and forbidding.

Controversial Duo: Nuclear Pod & Canadian Tar Sands!

http://earth2tech.com/2009/02/20/controversial-duo-nuclear-pod-canadian-tar-sands/
Don't feel so comfortable with a hot-tub sized nuclear power generator buried under your feet? Perhaps those that mine and process Canada's tar sands deposits will feel differently — at least that's the hope of Hyperion, a startup developing a modular nuclear device. Hyperion floated the idea this morning: Hey, why not use Hyperion Power Modules to clean up the power used to produce oil from the tar sands?

**National Geographic on Canada Tar Sands

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/canadian-oil-sands/kunzig-text
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: Nowhere on Earth is more earth being moved these days than in the Athabasca Valley. To extract each barrel of oil from a surface mine, the industry must first cut down the forest, then remove an average of two tons of peat and dirt that lie above the oil sands layer, then two tons of the sand itself. It must heat several barrels of water to strip the bitumen from the sand and upgrade it, and afterward it discharges contaminated water into tailings ponds like the one near Mildred Lake. They now cover around 50 square miles.

Obama On Tar Sands

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-chameides/obama-on-tar-sands---or-s_b_168587.html
HUFF POST: Carol Browner, the assistant to the president for Energy and Climate Change, was accompanying the president on his trip to Canada, my hunch was that global warming would be on the agenda. Obama links tar sands to coal.

*Canada's Green Stimulus

http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00008&segmentID=5

LIVING ON THE EARTH: Canada has its own money problems, and a 27 billion dollar stimulus package that includes a green lining for the nation's economic cloud.To find out how green we turned to Michael Moore. He's a senior fellow at the Institute of Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy at the University of Calgary.MOORE: The most significant piece of the package is a billion and a half dollars for clean air and climate change initiatives and about four billion dollars spread over two years for so-called infrastructure stimulus, which we hope will include new transmission facilities.