Welcome to another edition of Friday Linkfest. We scoured the internet far and wide in order to bring you the most relevant of this week's environmental happenings, whether its good, bad or simply interesting. Enjoy!
Good News:
Seems like the pressure is on for action on climate change, now that investors are calling for action, just as a new poll reveals that 68% of Americans support an aggressive international climate change treaty that advocates US emission reductions of 90% by 2050. Even the worlds leading banks are now urging the US to introduce emissions trading schemes.- Dell pledges to reduce its carbon emissions by 2008, by means of investing in more efficient technologies and creating offsets for the remaining carbon. The company is planning to address not only its own environmental impact but also the impact of its suppliers and costumers. A step in the right direction, we say.
- UK plans to phase out traditional, energy inefficient, lightbulbs, by 2011. The plan stars with the end of the sale of 150W lamps from next January. This move could save up to 5 million tons of CO2 emissions per year, in the UK only.
- Yet another one of those stories who's "good" or "bad" merit is hard to determine. The hunt is on for technological fixes to global warming, and two of them involve inducing ocean algae blooms, which are said to remove the CO2 out of the atmosphere. The first one proposes to churn the ocean with millions of plastic tubes, which would bring nutrients from the deep up to the surface. The second concept involves "fertilizing" the ocean by sprinkling it with iron shavings, again with the intention of spurring a plankton bloom. Doubt remains on what the net result would be. (Like there's not enough plastic in the ocean already).
- In the meantime, Canada is proposing a global warming treaty where emissions targets are linked to economic growth, hence allowing countries like the US and China (only the 2 LARGEST CO2 emitors) to INCREASE their emissions. That oughta work...
- Greenland was melting more than usual this summer. According to a NASA funded study, the number of melting days is up 30% for the last 2 decades, and, although not a record peak, could indicate a trend towards longer periods of melting in the region.
- California salmon is in danger of being harmed if Gov. Schwarzenegger's $9 billion plans for 2 more water storage dams and the expansion of a third are carried out in California's Central Valley go ahead. The dams are said to "alleviate water-shortage problems associated with frequent droughts in the region". All so that Californians can have their outdoor pools and lawn sprinklers...
- Another global warming consequence - water level in Kashmir rivers has decreased by 2/3 in the last 40 years due to rising temperatures. This means that floods and droughts in the region will become more common in the following years.
- Regardless of what president Bush thinks, experts say Global Warming inaction will be more costly than solutions. According to a 2006 report, the impacts of global warming could cost between 5 and 20% of the global GDP, while the cost of reducing emissions to avoid the worst consequences would only cost around 1%. (Guess why this one has "bad news" status)
- Professor Jeremy J. Siegel proposes a solution to global warming centered on economic instruments such as raising the price of carbon emissions.
- Reuters provides us with an interesting timeline of how Bush's global warming rhetoric has been changing over the years, from total denial to "it might be us" to "technology will fix it" up until now (where he may seem like he wants to do something but skips the UN talks on global warming).
- New website Step It Up 2007, you can find what actions are planned in your area for "National Day of Climate Action" on Nov. 3rd. It makes it easy to join an existing action, start your own and invite politicians to attend with the handy invite tool.
- Wired Magazine features the controversial authors of "The Death of Environmentalism" , Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger and their views on the environmental movement.
