New climate report has grim predictions
A new report says that much of the world’s plant and animal life could be decimated by the effects of climate change over the next century. Worldwide levels of carbon dioxide are the highest they’ve been in almost two million years. Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, Amazonia and Australia would lose the most species of plants and animals. And a major loss of plant species is projected in North Africa, Central Asia and South-eastern Europe.
The Scientific Case for Urgent Action to Limit Climate Change
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Richard Somerville, a world-renowned climate scientist and author of “The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change,” discusses the scientific case for urgent action to limit climate change.
Artist’s “Breathing Bike” a breath of fresh air in smoggy Beijing
Amid record-breaking levels of air pollution, a Beijing-based British artist has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect himself against the city’s foul air while making a political point at the same time. Matt Hope has come up with what he calls the “breathing bicycle”, a contraption that’s both protecting his lungs and turning heads.
Is a Carbon Tax Market-Friendly?
The extent of environmental damage from man-made climate change is a debate in and of itself, but President Obama made it clear during his 2013 State of the Union address: there will be some form of government action during his second term. One of the most hotly debated energy proposals in Washington right now is a carbon tax.
“A carbon tax would do exactly what you would want it to do, which is to incorporate the damages to the environment into the prices we pay for all manner of goods and services,” says Adele Morris of the Brookings Institution. Morris studies different carbon tax models and says this tax would be better than existing regulations under the Clean Air Act.
Satellite data reveals extent of Andean glacier melt
New research shows that warming temperatures are melting Andean glaciers at unprecedented rates, raising fears of water shortages by the middle of the century. Using the latest satellite data, scientists say glaciers along the Cordillera Real range are losing about one metre of ice thickness per year because of climate change.
Tony Blair Is Going Green. Not Just Dollar Green, But Green Green
The former British prime minister teams up with venture capitalist Vinod Khosla on a carbon capture project in California. The new project is reportedly cool, funky and fashionable. Every self-respecting ex-politician is throwing his or her hat into the ring to seriously involved in saving the planet. Even former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has been part of this eco-political movement. And that says a lot about the great cause.
Coal is cleaner than solar… Really?
Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla can’t imagine oil being more than $30 a barrel by 2030. Why? Because carbon dioxide has definite benefits for the biosphere – it puts food and drink for all life back into the atmosphere. The major coal combustion products are – nitrogen plant food from the air (69%), carbon dioxide plant food from the coal (21%) and water vapor, the liquid for life, from the coal (7%). The other 3% comprises mainly inert atmospheric gases from the air and an ash residue of trace minerals from the coal.
The green bogey-man, carbon dioxide, is the gas of life and a free gift from coal combustion to the biosphere. More carbon dioxide has proven benefits in making plants grow faster in good weather and helping them survive better in droughts or frosts. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is insurance for the biosphere no matter what climate change is in store for us.
What Has Nature Ever Done For Us?
Leading environmentalist and sustainability adviser Tony Juniper argues that we must put a price on nature if we are to save it. Chair: Jo Confino, executive editor, the Guardian and chairman and editorial director of Guardian Sustainable Business.
Green Infra Seeking $150 Million for Wind Farms, Considers IPO
Green Infra Ltd., an Indian wind-farm developer backed by IDFC Private Equity, is in talks with at least two investors to raise $150 million.
The funds raised will be used to increase generation capacity to 1 gigawatt from 295 megawatts in two years, Chief Executive Officer Shivanand Nimbargi said in a phone interview from New Delhi. The company may consider an initial public offering in 2015, he said.
India, the third-biggest wind market, is attracting investments as the cost of wind power declines and fossil-fuel imports increases, making renewable energy more competitive with coal. Developers’ bids in auctions for coal-fired power stations have ranged from $49 to $78 a megawatt-hour, compared with tariffs for wind farms between $66 and $105 a megawatt-hour, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Green Infra, which bought BP Plc (BP/)’s Indian wind-energy businesses in 2009, has 270 megawatts of wind farms and 25 megawatts of solar plants in the country, Nimbargi said. BP’s unit included about 100 megawatts of that total.
Bolivia adopts own system to save rainforest
Bolivia has one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world losing more than 300,000 hectares a year. The United Nations wants to give companies carbon credits in exchange for conserving trees. But the Bolivian government has said no to the offer, opting to pass its own law called ‘Mother Earth’.
