Saint Albert of Oscarville to make a musical about global warming?

NORMAN, Okla. - Former Vice President

Al Gore

ans on Thursday that dire environmental consequences will result if changes are not made to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that humans put into the air and sea.

Gore spoke before a mostly supportive crowd estimated to be about 7,000 people at the university's Lloyd Noble Center, drawing a larger crowd at the arena than the Sooners have for some basketball games this season. His appearance capped a day-long focus at OU on the global warming debate.

Earlier Thursday, two university professors held a forum on the issue in the campus' student union building, and more than 500 people filled an auditorium and part of another room to hear the professors' arguments.

Those attending Gore's speech included Gov. Brad Henry, his wife, Kim and one of their daughters; State Treasurer Scott Meachem and State Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Like Gore, Henry, Meachem and Edmondson all are Democrats.

"We are focusing on a subject that matters," OU President David Boren said in introducing Gore. "This is not simply a subject to discuss. It is a subject to live out."

Gore entered the bowl-shaped arena from the upper concourse, shaking hands with dozens of people as he walked down steps to the arena floor.

Gore and Boren served for eight years together in the U.S. Senate. Boren, also a Democrat, drew a loud cheer when he noted that Gore had received 500,000 more votes than any other presidential candidate, a nod to Gore's narrow loss to

President Bush

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President Bush in the 2000 election, in which Gore won the popular vote but Bush won in the

Electoral College

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Electoral College.

Boren drew another ovation when he mentioned that Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," won an Oscar earlier this week for best documentary feature.

Gore's multimedia presentation lasted an hour and 42 minutes.

"Many assume the earth is so big we as human beings couldn't have any lasting impact on it ... that's not so," he said.

Gore called global warming the biggest crisis in human history.

"This is not a political issue. It's a moral, ethical and spiritual issue," he said.

He criticized the United States for having not ratified the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, which commits 35 industrialized nations to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012, but noted that the city of Norman is one of 369 communities in the country that has "embraced" the treaty.

"You guys have to be a part of the new way of thinking," he said, adding that the United States has "a responsibility for leadership (on global warming issues) in ways other countries do not."

Two of the world's largest polluters, China and India, are exempt from the Kyoto Protocol. That bothers David Deming, an OU professor of arts and sciences who participated in the on-campus forum.

"Why does China get a free pass? Why is it always the U.S. that is the villain," asked Deming, who testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in December on the global warming debate.

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., is one of Congress' most prominent critics of the global warming theory and was the chairman of that committee until being replaced in January by Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record), a California Democrat.

Deming spoke Thursday opposite David Karoly, an OU professor of meteorology who believes in global warming.

Gore said there wasn't much disagreement among scientists about global warming and he called skeptics of global warming "a group diminishing in number more rapidly than glaciers." He added, "These glaciers don't care about politics. They just freeze or melt."

Deming also addressed that subject, but from a different viewpoint.

"Like Socrates, we ought to be skeptical anytime anyone says they have a monopoly on the truth," Deming said, calling global warming "a scientific question, not a moral one, and it should be decided on the basis of the facts" instead of emotion.

Deming, a geophysicist, said that geologists, and not meteorologists, should be believed when it comes to the issue and that "we don't understand earth's climate system" because of its complexity.

He said that during the last few years, media coverage of the issue has "degenerated into national hysteria" and said Gore's book and documentary is the "largest single factor driving this debate today.

"I don't have a Hollywood movie ... but I do know how to use the library," Deming said, declaring that "global warming is no more real than Bigfoot."

Karoly said the scientific evidence is abundant that global warming exists and said that while the earth has gone through numerous warming and cooling cycles through the ages, "that does not mean that what is happening now is natural."

He said that "we can have a large impact on global temperatures in the next 100 years with the right decisions in the next 20 years."

They are cute -- but are they endangered?

Critics take aim at polar bear listing

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A marked decline in sea ice off Alaska's coast is not enough to take the drastic step of listing polar bears — a species dependent on ice — as threatened, critics said Thursday at the first of three public hearings on the proposal.

warming would be too burdensome, given the unknowns about the future of polar bears, such as the extent of the loss of Arctic sea ice in the next 100 years and whether the animals would face extinction, according to opponents.

"The listing likely will force anyone in America whose business requires the emission of greenhouse gases to go through an additional layer of consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service, creating delays and expenses," said Marilyn Crockett, deputy director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, a trade group.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is taking testimony through April 9 on the proposal to list polar bears as threatened, or likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. The more drastic listing under the law is "endangered," in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in December proposed listing polar bears as threatened. His decision to begin the process was forced by a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity of Joshua Tree, Calif., which said polar bears could become extinct by the end of the century because their sea ice habitat is melting away due to global warming.

U.S. Geological Survey report released in November, federal researchers said the Beaufort Sea polar bear population, one of two off the coast of Alaska, has shown significant changes in cub survival.

The report compared data on cubs collected from 1967-89 to data from 1990 to last spring. For polar bears measured during autumn months, the number of surviving cubs born that spring declined from a mean of 61 cubs per 100 females to a mean of 25 cubs per 100 females.

The study also determined that adult males weighed less and had smaller skulls than those captured and measured two decades ago.

Researchers estimated the Beaufort Sea polar bear population at 1,526, down from a previous estimate of 1,800 bears, but did not conclude the population had dropped because the latest study used different counting methods and the two estimates could not be statistically differentiated.

The Arctic has already lost an area of sea ice twice the size of Texas, said Mary Walker with Alaska Conservation Solutions.

"As a result, polar bears are starving to death, drowning and now fewer cubs are surviving," Walker said.

The recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has confirmed that human induced global warming is occurring, said Karla Dutton, director of the Alaska program for Defenders of Wildlife.

"There's no way around it — in order to conserve polar bear habitat in the long term, we must act immediately to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, the principal cause of global warming and this Arctic meltdown," she said.

Tina Cunning, special assistant to the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said the state is reviewing the science on the proposed listing. She said some information may have been omitted.

She said the proposed listing is based on the presumption that sea ice is the most important factor for survival of polar bears, and that sea ice will be significantly diminished.

"Polar bears are adaptable to use land for hunting and to den, and data from several areas indicate that bears are already adapting," she said.

Crockett said the listing would hurt investment in Alaska even though it's not clear how additional restrictions would help polar bears.

She said this is scientific consensus regarding the occurrence of global climate change but no consensus on the reliability of the models used to project future climate.

"The range of uncertainty regarding the timing, extent and location of future climate impacts is enormous," Crockett said.

If the agency decides a listing is warranted, it would be the first to do so for a species that is healthy in numbers and distribution, she said.

Carl Portman, deputy director of the Resource Development Council, said polar bears are abundant, their population is healthy, and they're well managed and protected by international and domestic agreements.

A listing decision should be made on what's known, not on the speculative nature of the climate models and carbon emission scenarios, he said.

"It is virtually impossible to say with any certainty that polar bears are likely to become extinct in the foreseeable future," he said.

Two more public hearings are scheduled, including one Monday in Washington, D.C., and one Wednesday in Barrow, Alaska, America's northernmost community. A decision on listing polar bears is due next January.

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U.S., Brazil launch biofuels forum

Another triumph for the ethanol lobby ?- what about the biodiesel story ? -- Willy Nelson where are you ?

UNITED NATIONS — The world's two top ethanol producers — the U.S. and Brazil — announced the creation of an international forum to help expand the global market for biofuels, just days before the two countries are expected to sign a separate agreement promoting ethanol across the Western Hemisphere.
The International Biofuel Forum will meet regularly for a year to draft global standards for biofuel production, find ways to open markets and encourage investment in countries with the potential to develop the industry, officials said Friday.
"By working together we will be able to identify ways to help countries with agricultural potential become major energy suppliers," said Thomas A. Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. "We think this is a huge step forward in the development of a new international understanding of energy."
The announcement comes a week before
President Bush' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> President Bush travels to Brazil for talks in which renewable biofuels will top the agenda. Bush and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are expected to sign an agreement — separate from the international forum — to share scientific and technological research for an industry that has grown in both countries.
Brazil is the world's biggest ethanol exporter, using sugar cane to produce it. Eight out of 10 Brazilian cars run on ethanol, which emits far less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels. In the United States, where farmers use corn to make ethanol, production surpasses that in Brazil.
The promotion of ethanol could eventually help wean the U.S. off its need for foreign oil, officials say, lessening the energy dependence on volatile Middle Eastern nations and Venezuela — whose President Hugo Chavez has long been a political thorn in the Bush administration's side.
But teaming up with Brazil on the promotion of ethanol hasn't pleased everyone: Corn farmers in the U.S. don't like the idea of the government helping Brazil's industry, which they see as a competitor. Lawmakers from corn-growing states have registered their complaints with Bush.
But Silva said the issue of moving the world off of fossil fuels was more important than any bickering over a Brazil-U.S. agreement.
"Biofuel cannot be promoted by just one country," Silva told journalists in Brazil on Thursday. "It is a global issue."
Brazil's method of producing ethanol is better than the American way, Silva suggested, noting that sugarcane-based ethanol is far cheaper to make than corn-based ethanol, and warm-weather climates like Brazil are the only places where sugar cane thrives.
Neither country produces enough ethanol to meet growing domestic demand. And while countries from Asia to Europe are pursuing biofuels as a way to reduce dependency on oil imports, international trade of alternative fuels is minimal.
Hoping to promote the emergence of such a market, participants in the forum created Friday will try to come up with technical quality standards for biofuels production, said Antonio Patriota, Brazil's Ambassador to the United States. Although the forum can only make recommendations for the rest of the world, Patriota said the eventual goal is to convene an international biofuel conference in Brazil next year.
Along with Brazil and the U.S., the forum includes China, India, South Africa and the
European Union' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> European Union Commission in an effort to involve the world's biggest potential consumers and producers.
Biofuels make up less than two percent of the world's fuel market — mostly Brazilian and American ethanol and biodiesel from the European Union, said Eduardo Pereira de Carvalho, the head of Brazil's UNICA association of ethanol producers. He estimated biofuels could potentially gain a 20 or 30 percent market share.
"For sure biofuels will not be a silver bullet to finish off oil within 10 to 20 years or 30 years," Carvalho said. "What is important is that we want to be an important participant."
Yet there are significant obstacles. Brazil wants the U.S. to lift a $0.53 per gallon tariff on Brazilian ethanol imports, and Patriota said Silva would raise the issue at his meeting with Bush next week. Patriota said there was "justifiable concern from the private sector and this is an obstacle that should be removed."
Noting that there are no tariffs on oil, Carvalho insisted trade restrictions would be a serious impediment to making biofuel an internationally traded commodity.
Shannon said the matter must be decided by the Congress, where many lawmakers oppose lifting tariffs that protect American farmers who have been increasing ethanol production to meet rising demand.
"What is going to drive the growth of biofuels will not be removing a tariff in the United States," he said. "It will be expanding markets elsewhere in the world."
In a letter sent to Bush this week, Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowan Republican, expressed concern about the U.S. plans for an agreement with Brazil, in which the two countries would also promote sugarcane based ethanol production in Central America and the Caribbean.
"I appreciate that increased consumption of ethanol in such countries might eventually benefit the U.S. ethanol industry and U.S. farmers," said Grassley, a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance. "I fail to understand, however, why the United States would consider spending U.S. taxpayer dollars to encourage new ethanol production in other countries, production that could directly compete with U.S.- produced ethanol."
____
Associated Press Writers Alan Clendenning and Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo, Brazil, contributed

U.S. projects 19 percent emissions rise

what have they done with the methane numbers?

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 3, 4:04 PM ET
WASHINGTON - By 2020, the United States will emit almost one-fifth more gases that lead to global warming than it did in 2000, increasing the risks of drought and scarce water supplies.
;
That projection comes from an internal draft report from the Bush administration that is more than a year overdue at the
United Nations' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> United Nations. The Associated Press obtained a copy Saturday.
The United States already is responsible for roughly one-quarter of the world's carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse" gases that scientists blame for global warming.
The draft report, which is still being completed, projects that the current administration's climate policy would result in the emission of 9.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases in 2020, a 19 percent increase from 7.7 billion tons in 2000.
Doing more than slowing the growth rate of greenhouse gas emissions, which remains the administration's stated goal, will be decided "as the science justifies," according to the draft report. The biggest source of the gases is the burning of fossil fuels, chiefly oil, coal and natural gas.
But an authoritative U.N. report last month from hundreds of scientists and government officials said global warming is "very likely" caused by mankind and that climate change will continue for centuries even if heat-trapping gases are reduced. That report was approved by 113 nations including the United States.
It was the strongest language ever used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose last report came in 2001.
Despite the dire outlook, most scientists say huge sea level rises and the most catastrophic storms and droughts may be avoided if strong action is taken soon.
"We're on a path to exceeding levels of global warming that will cause catastrophic consequences, and we really need to be seriously reducing emissions, not just reducing the growth rate as the president is doing," Michael MacCracken, chief scientist at the nonpartisan Climate Institute in Washington, said Saturday. Until 2001, he coordinated the government's studies of the consequences of global warming,
The administration's internal draft covers inventories of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, projected environmental consequences and policies to limit emissions and risk. The New York Times reported on the draft in Saturday's editions.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality has been coordinating the draft report. A spokeswoman, Kristen Hellmer, said it "will show that the president's portfolio of actions and his financial commitment to addressing climate change are working. And the president is always looking at ways to address our energy security and environmental needs."
Hellmer blamed the delay in completing the fourth U.S. Climate Action Report on the "extensive interagency review process" the draft must go through. The report, which was due no later than Jan. 1, 2006, is required under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Among the consequences of a warming world anticipated in the report is "a distinct reduction in spring snowpack in the northwestern United States," which supplies much of the water in that region, the report says.
Warmer temperatures expected from more greenhouse gases would only "exacerbate present drought risks in the United States by increasing the rate of evaporation," it says.
Rick Piltz, director of Climate Science Watch, a nonprofit watchdog program, said Saturday he expects the final report will evade a full discussion of how global warming might affect the nation.
"I think it is very likely that the main reason the report has been held up for more than a year beyond the deadline is because the administration is reluctant to make an honest statement about likely climate change impacts on this country," said Piltz, a former senior associate with the federal Climate Change Science Program.
The U.S. spends $3 billion a year to research technologies to cut global warming and $2 billion on climate research. Bush has formed a partnership with Australia, China, India, Japan and
South Korea' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> South Korea — producers of half the world's greenhouse gases — to attract private money for cleaner energy technologies. He envisions using more hydrogen-powered vehicles, electricity from renewable energy sources and clean coal technology.
Shortly after taking office, Bush rejected the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a U.N. treaty that requires industrial nations to cut global warming gases by 2012 by an average 5 percent below 1990 levels.
He argued that cutting the U.S. share to below 6 billion tons a year, as the treaty would have required, would have cost 5 million U.S. jobs. He objected, too, that such high-polluting developing nations as China and India are not required to reduce emissions.
___
On the Net:
U.S. Climate Change Science Program: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_sc/storytext/global_warming/22136762/SIG=11bol0ngo/*http://www.climatescience.gov/default.htm
Climate Science Watch: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_sc/storytext/global_warming/22136762/SIG=115a27imp/*http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/

Iran poised to strike in wealthy Gulf states

Will we see a walk on the Sunni Side or a Holy Shiite fight?


By Colin Freeman, Chief Foreign Correspondent, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:49am GMT 04/03/2007
Iran has trained secret networks of agents across the Gulf states to attack Western interests and incite civil unrest in the event of a military strike against its nuclear programme, a former Iranian diplomat has told The Sunday Telegraph.

Western interests in Dubai could be attacked the Iranian regime's agents
Spies working as teachers, doctors and nurses at Iranian-owned schools and hospitals have formed sleeper cells ready to be "unleashed" at the first sign of any serious threat to Teheran, it is claimed.
Trained by Iranian intelligence services, they are also said to be recruiting fellow Shias in the region, whose communities have traditionally been marginalised by the Gulf's ruling Sunni Arab clans.
Were America or Israel to attack Iran, such cells would be instructed to foment long-dormant sectarian grievances and attack the ex-tensive American and European business interests in wealthy states such as Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Such a scenario would bring chaos to the Gulf, one of the few areas of the Middle East that remains prosperous and has largely pro-Western governments.
The claims have been made by Adel Assadinia, a former career diplomat who was Iran's consul-general in Dubai and an adviser to the Iranian foreign ministry. They came as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, made a formal visit to Saudi Arabia yesterday in what was widely seen as an attempt to defuse growing Sunni-Shia tensions in the Middle East.
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Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of backing Shia death squads killing Sunnis in Iraq, and of backing the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia in its efforts to bring down the government in Beirut. Meanwhile, a US naval build-up has continued in the Gulf waters south of Iran, a move intended to show Washington's readiness to strike against Teheran's nuclear installations for defying UN orders to cease uranium enrichment.
Mr Assadinia, who fled Iran after whistle-blowing on corruption among the country's all-powerful theocrats, said: "The Iranian government believes that to survive it needs permanent bases throughout the Middle East. Anybody who contemplates threatening or invading Iran will have those cells unleashed against them."
Mr Assadinia, 50, served for two years at the Iranian consulate in Dubai, which he says was also used as a conduit for illicit funding of Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shia militant group that waged a six-week war with Israel last summer.
Iranian foreign ministry agents would regularly pass through with suitcases containing up to £11 million, using diplomatic baggage channels to bypass customs scrutiny.
"The amounts varied, but it would come through on average twice a month," he said. "I would see it sometimes. As far as I know, that money always went to Hezbollah."
His consulate, he said, was a hub for regional intelligence operations because of the huge number of Iranians working in Dubai, which is the main trade port for the Middle East. Its skyscrapers and industrial estates are home to 4,000 Iranian businesses, providing easy cover for espionage.
Other intelligence activities included running nightclubs and prostitution rings, where carousing officials and diplomats could be lured into "honey trap" blackmail operations, and organising Iranian expatriates - there are an estimated 500,000 in the Gulf - to act as double agents.
"People were encouraged to tell the Europeans that Iran wanted a good relationship with them, when in fact Iran was involved in terrorism," said Mr Assadinia. Asked whether it was an attempt to divert attention from a covert nuclear weapons programme, he replied: "Precisely".

Of greatest potential concern is his claim that Iran has established networks of agents to liaise with Shias across the Gulf, particularly in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Saudi Arabia.
Politically disfranchised Shia communities exist throughout the region. Teheran has backed their claims for more power ever since the Iranian Islamic revolution in 1979, but could now also mobilise them as a way of deterring the Gulf's Sunni rulers from supporting American efforts to stop Iran's nuclear programme. Although most of the Gulf states oppose US intervention against Iran, privately they fear that a nuclear-armed Teheran would dominate the Middle East.
Allegations of Iranian agents operating in the Gulf have surfaced before, but it is rare for them to be spelt out in detail by a former regime official. Mr Assadinia named a hospital in Dubai - which The Sunday Telegraph has not identified for legal reasons - as one place where many doctors and nurses also worked for Iranian intelligence.
He left his post in Dubai in 2002 and was granted asylum in Europe a year later, having undergone "intimidating" interrogations by Iranian intelligence agents in Teheran. Mr Assadinia plans to give more detail of his claims at a meeting later this month at Westminster, organised by the British Awhazi Friendship Society, which lobbies Parliament, the European Union and the United Nations. He hopes his disclosures will encourage other Iranian officials to follow suit.
"The government sees itself as strong, but in fact it is like Saddam Hussein before he was overthrown - very fragile and brittle within," he added.
A spokesman for the Iranian embassy in London described Mr Assadinia's claims as "baseless and fabricated". He said the Iranian diplomatic presence in the Gulf was entirely legitimate and described the friendship society as an "illegal" organisation dedicated to stirring up trouble between Iran and its neighbours.

Switkowski appointed ANSTO chairman

Ziggy the Rocket Scientist heads OzGov Nuke Agency -- Will Lucas Heights become the sister-city of Springfield?

The Federal Government has appointed Ziggy Switkowski as the chairman of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).
Mr Switkowski was appointed to the board of ANSTO in 2006 and headed up Prime Minister John Howard's task force into nuclear energy last year.
The federal Science Minister, Julie Bishop, has told Channel Nine that Cabinet approved the appointment on Friday.
"He is a very fine Australian," he said.
"He brings a great intellect and commitment to his work and I believe he will be an ideal choice to head up ANSTO as we move into this period of seriously discussing nuclear power as an alternative to coal."

Corruption leaves Nigeria in the dark

Turn oil wealth into national prosperity and a civil society -- a job for Kofi Anan in his retirement ?!

By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 2, 1:54 PM ET
LAGOS, Nigeria - Day and night, a mechanical roar shakes Nigeria's main city and exhaust hangs in the leaden equatorial skies. But it's not evidence of heavy industry or a mechanized army division advancing on Lagos. With corruption and mismanagement leaving Africa's oil giant chronically short of electricity, businesses and walled residential compounds run diesel generators that clatter around the clock, spewing dirty fumes skyward.
For the vast majority of Nigeria's 140 million people who don't have the means to provide their own juice, that means added din and filth and lives in near-perpetual gloom, illuminated only when the power grid flickers on.
"This situation is very, very unfortunate. We have so many natural and human resources. If we could just develop them, Nigeria should be very powerful," said Marcus Eruaga, a 55-year-old doctor in a Lagos clinic with darkened operating room and dormant X-ray machines.
"Nigerians are very ingenious. If you give an artisan light, he'll be successful," said the doctor, who switches on the generator when patients come for treatment. "People want to work."
In the markets of Lagos, Africa's biggest city with a population of 14 million, people are getting along as well as they can.
Tailors hunch over foot-pedaled sewing machines, their knees pistoning as their fingers ease fabric beneath a flashing needle. Knives are sharpened on hand-spun grinding stones. Children study near open windows, while inside concrete hovels, wicks smoke in pots of kerosene.
The power failures — called "lights out" — come frequently and unpredictably. Even jobs that don't need electricity can be onerous, without fans or air conditioners in noontime temperatures nearing 100 degrees.
Despite low labor costs, Nigeria has little manufacturing due to the high price of energy, among other factors.
Across Lagos, Nigerians blame their notoriously corrupt government for the electricity problems, saying their leaders steal funds earmarked for the country's generators.
The government acknowledges problems and says it's increasing generating capacity, but maintains nonpayment of bills, pilfering of power lines and tapping of fuel pipelines are also contributing factors.
In 1979, Nigeria had 79 generating stations. Twenty years later, after a series of ruinous military governments, only 15 were working, producing 1,500 megawatts of power. The government hopes to increase that nearly 100-fold within 25 years.
Under President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was elected in 1999, the government is seeking to privatize the state-run power company, the National Electric Production Authority — known as NEPA. Nigerians joke that NEPA actually stands for "Never-Ever Power Always" and say reforms under Obasanjo haven't come rapidly enough.
Across the energy sector in Nigeria, which produces some 2 million barrels of crude oil per day, shortages are common. Nigerians say this is emblematic of their country's defining paradox: Such great potential riches, such extensive poverty.
After years of neglect, many Nigerian oil refineries are rusting hulks, with little refining capacity. One of the world's biggest oil producers must import most of its gasoline, which is sold at a deeply subsidized price.
But demand frequently outstrips supply, leaving motorists parked in fuel lines that can last all day. Unscrupulous gas station owners buy subsidized gasoline and ship it to other countries, where it's sold for huge profits.
Attempts to end the subsidies — which Nigerians view as one of the only benefits derived from a government that fails to provide clean water, decent health care, streetlights and many other public services — have caused riots.
Nigerians, in the end, are forced fend for themselves. And the lack of electricity is particularly rankling for many, for without it they say they're living a preindustrial existence.
"Light is a general thing. It makes jobs and when it's not there, we're useless," says Alfred Elegbe, a television repairman in a Lagos slum.
The 35-year-old father of three estimates he could earn about $200 per month fixing televisions and DVD players if there was reliable electricity. He now clears only about $30.
At night, Nigerians say, their children must study by candle or kerosene-lamp light. The heat and motionless air makes it difficult to sleep. Without electricity, water can't be pumped through taps. Meat spoils in refrigerators. There's little entertainment.
"When the lights go, everything becomes so quiet," says Elegbe. "It's so boring."
When the power does come on, Nigerians spring into action, joining the modern world in a flash. They connect to the Internet and watch foreign television and movies, looking closely to see what life is like elsewhere.
Air conditioners hum, fans turn and businesses without diesel generators throw open their doors for business.
Deji Medi, 27, operates a decades-old printing press that he says was shipped to Nigeria years ago from Germany. Electrical current turns the machine into a dynamo of arms and belts, churning out numbered receipts for a landlord.
Medi reckons a computer and laser printer could probably do the job faster, but without a steady source of power, he can't justify the investment.
"This old machine, it doesn't work without electricity," he said. "Of course, the computers, they don't work either."

Gunmen kill seven in Nigerian oil city: police

WHAT A GREAT ACRONYM ---- "MEND"

Fri Mar 2, 3:23 PM ET
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (AFP) - Seven people were shot dead Friday and 10 others were seriously wounded when gunmen opened fire in a crowded district of Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt, the police said.
The unidentified gunmen entered the city aboard two buses, and blocked a busy junction before shooting sporadically at passersby, Rivers State police chief Felix Ogbaudu told journalists.
The shooting happened in the Port Harcourt's crowded market district known as "Mile 1", which also houses government and business offices.
Eight of the wounded were women, Ogbaudu said. He said police had arrested one suspect for questioning and recovered the buses.
Ogbauda said the motive for the attack and the group behind it were not immediately known.
Port Harcourt is the capital of oil-rich Rivers State, where dozens of foreign oil workers have been kidnapped over the past year.
Militant groups carried out bomb attacks in the city last year.
One high-profile armed group, the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), earlier this year stormed a police station in the city and released one of their leaders, who was being detained for a traffic offence.

Envoy warns Chavez about oil takeover

must be nearly time for a coup d'Langley ?!?

By ALEXANDRA OLSON, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 3, 12:19 AM ET
UNITED NATIONS - A top U.S. diplomat warned Friday that Venezuela cannot afford to drive away the major oil companies affected by President Hugo Chavez's decision to takeover the nation's most promising oil-producing operations.
Chavez decreed this week that his government would take a minimum 60 percent stake in projects run by four companies in Venezuela's Orinoco River region — his latest nationalization move as he steers the country toward socialism.
Industry experts have questioned whether state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, has the money and capacity to take on the complex, heavy-oil upgrading projects. They are run by British Petroleum PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips Co., Total SA and Statoil ASA.
"Venezuela opened its energy section in the 1990s because it didn't have the capital or the technology to exploit its deep wells and its heavy oil, especially in the Orinoco," said Thomas A. Shannon, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs. "If it's the intention of Venezuela to have a top of the line industry, then maintaining partnership with these companies is going to be essential."
Chavez's decree gives the companies four months to negotiate whether they will stay on as minority partners. He has not said how the government will pay for its increased share in the projects, in which some of the companies are estimated to have invested some $17 million.
Companies pumping oil elsewhere in Venezuela submitted to state-controlled joint ventures last year with little resistance, reluctant to abandon a country with the largest oil deposits outside the Middle East.
On Tuesday, France's Total said it would continue negotiating with Venezuela to "keep a satisfactory profitability" in the project it jointly owns with Statoil and PDVSA. But Total chairman Thierry Desmarest said he was worried about the "operational constraints" Venezuela's majority stake would impose.
Production fell when PDVSA took control of oil fields elsewhere in Venezuela last year. Chavez depends on the company to pay for his socialist movement, and PVSA spends a third more on funding social programs than on investments to maintain production.
"It's just our hope that as the Venezuelan government considers its steps, it understands these companies entered Venezuela in partnership," Shannon said. "They almost certainly hope to stay in Venezuela in partnership, but the degree to which the government of Venezuela ... can speak clearly to the companies ... is going to be very important."
Shannon also said the U.S. government was not concerned about Venezuela's reliability as an oil provider, despite threats from Chavez to cut off oil shipments to the United States. Chavez has said he is ready to divert oil exports to other countries like China and India.
But Shannon suggested Venezuela would have the most to lose with such a move. He noted that 80 percent of Venezuela's petroleum revenue comes from the United States and that most refineries capable of processing Venezuela's heavy crude are in the U.S.
"Whether President Chavez likes it or not, Venezuela is joined to the hip with the United states," he said. But "if Venezuela were to make a decision that it will sell oil some place else, well, we would buy it some place else."

Radioactive Water Leaks From Czech Nuclear Power Plant

" ... forgot to close a valve ..." -- what kind of systems do these guys have?

By VOA News 01 March 2007
Austrian opponent of the Temelin nuclear power plantOfficials at the Czech Republic's Temelin nuclear power plant say about 2,000 liters of mildly radioactive water leaked from the facility earlier this week.
A plant spokesman Thursday said the leak occurred after an employee forgot to close a valve. He said contaminated water flowed to a special tank, preventing any of the liquid from contaminating the environment.
This is the latest incident reported at the troubled plant about 60 kilometers from the Czech-Austrian border.
Austrian officials expressed surprise and anger over a delay in the announcement of the problem, particularly because Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer was in Prague Tuesday for talks about the plant.
Austrian environmentalists promised to continue weekly border blockades as they press for the plant's shutdown.
Earlier in the week, Czech and Austrian leaders agreed to create a joint parliamentary commission with representatives from both countries to examine Temelin's safety record.
The two countries have been at odds over the plant since it opened in 2000. Austrian environmentalists demand its closure because of security concerns. Czech officials insist it is safe.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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UN Chief Calls on US to Lead Global Response to Climate Change

Lets just hand the whole climate - carbon regulation thing over to the UN --- afterall they are have such a great track-record at eliminating poverty and hunger in the developing world

remember Kofi's oil-for-food deal ? --- how about carbon for food ? -- maybe we could get the poor and hungry to eat charcoal --

By Peter Heinlein United Nations01 March 2007
Heinlein report (Real Audio) - Download 398K Listen to Heinlein report (Real Audio)
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the United States to take the lead in the search for a global response to climate change. VOA's correspondent at the United Nations, Peter Heinlein, reports the secretary-general described global warming as a threat at least as great as war.
Ban Ki-moon (file photo)Mr. Ban praised America's role in developing innovative technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Speaking to a group of students at U.N. headquarters, the secretary-general noted that, while Washington has not signed the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, discussions in the Bush administration and Congress have raised public awareness about global warming.
Answering a student's question, Mr. Ban expressed hope that the United States, the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, would also take the political lead in searching for a successor to the Kyoto treaty, which expires in 2012.
He said, "I hope that the United States, while they have taken their role in innovative technologies, as well as energy, promote cleaner energies, will also take lead in these very important and urgent issues which [the] international community must look for beyond Kyoto Protocol for the common prosperity of the human being in the future."
In his speech to the students, Mr. Ban described himself as a child of the Korean War, and recalled his youth in South Korea under the constant threat of a nuclear winter. But he said the environmental threat facing the globe today is just as serious.
"Today, war continues to threaten countless men, women and children across the globe," he said. "It is the source of untold suffering and loss. And the majority of the U.N.'s work still focuses on preventing and ending conflict. But the danger posed by war to all of humanity - and our planet - is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming."
The U.N. chief said the world needs "a more coherent system of international environmental governance" to meet the challenge. He pointed to the world body as the natural choice for creating such a system.
"These issues transcend borders," he said. "That is why protecting the world's environment is largely beyond the capacity of individual countries."
"Only concerted and coordinated international action - supported and sustained by individual initiative - will be sufficient. The natural arena for such action is the United Nations," he continued.
The chief U.S. climate negotiator this week said the United States remains committed to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Negotiator Harlan Watson said even though the United States has not signed the Kyoto Protocol to the Framework agreement, and even though emerging economic giants such as India and China are exempt from its requirements, all three are working to cut harmful carbon emissions.
Watson defended the Bush administration's decision to stay out of the Kyoto regime, arguing that its requirements would cost an estimated $400 million a year and result in the loss of nearly five million U.S. jobs.

US Educators Face Challenges in Teaching Climate Change

there's a simple answer to this - just sit the kiddies down in front of Saint Albert of Oscarville's movie and frighten the tripes out of them

By Art Chimes San Francisco02 March 2007
Chimes report -- Download (MP3) Chimes report -- Download (Real) Listen to Chimes report
Scientists, business executives and policy makers are talking about climate change a lot these days. But what about the researchers, CEOs and politicians of tomorrow? Today's young people are interested in the issue, but schools face a significant challenge in bringing the latest scientific consensus to the classroom.
At this year's meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the AAAS, prominent climate researchers described some of their latest findings. The meeting came two weeks after the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that it is "very likely" that most global warming is the result of human activity.
AAAS president John Holdren, himself an environmental scientist, unveiled the group's policy on climate change, saying that responding to the challenge will be harder and more expensive, the longer we wait. He also stressed the importance of education in facing that challenge, as did Susan Solomon, a member of the U.N. climate change panel.
Susan Solomon"Yeah, I think it's extremely important to educate young people," Solomon said. "It's also something that they're very interested in because, of course, it's something they can blame their parents for, and it's a fair question then to ask what kind of world they're going to live in and what they're being handed by their parents. So, certainly, education of young people is a high priority in my book."
In some places, it's easy to teach about climate change. In the remote island community of Shishmaref, Alaska, students can see the effects of global warming first-hand.
"My name is Jamie Barr, and I live in Shishmaref. Living in the village, the ice is very important to us for hunting bearded seals and walrus. During the spring breakup, my uncles, brothers and other men travel on the ice, and now the ice is getting thinner, making it difficult for them to hunt. So our subsistence way of life is threatened. This is going to change our way of life that we've been living for over 3,000 years."
But for most kids, climate change is something they read about in textbooks. The trouble is, many schoolbooks don't reflect the latest scientific consensus. Partly that's because the book on a student's desk today may have been written years ago. Also, despite the scientific consensus, climate change remains a controversial topic in some quarters.
John WhitsettThe president-elect of the National Science Teachers Association, John Whitsett, says publishers tend to avoid controversy.
"Global warming, the greenhouse effect, global climate change, all of these items are not dealt with to a great extent in most of the mainline textbooks, and it's in part because of the political pressures that have been put on in the past that in some cases don't make them very saleable in some parts of the country," Whitsett told reporters.
Film poster of 'An Inconvenient Truth'As a result, teachers are often on their own. Some have shown Al Gore's Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, to their students. Other teachers find material online. In some classrooms, teachers are using an interactive exercise called Stabilization Wedges, developed at Princeton University. The wedges are a visual stand-in for steps we can take to avoid the continued increase in the carbon emissions that contribute to global warming. One wedge might represent more fuel-efficient cars; another might represent nuclear energy. Using wind or solar power might be another choice, and each choice has its tradeoffs. At the AAAS meeting, Roberta Hotinski led some 500 scientists, educators, and others, each with a wireless voting device, through the exercise. In the first round, more than two-thirds agreed on their first choice
Roberta Hotinski"So, increased efficiency, by a lot," Hotinski announced. "Usually it comes up in the games. It's a popular, popular strategy. So now we've got one wedge of increased efficiency. Now that could mean really intense efforts in, say, doubling the fuel efficiency of passenger vehicles or less intense efforts across transport, buildings, and efficiency."
There are really no right or wrong answers about how to reduce carbon emissions. The Stabilization Wedges game is about getting students or grownups to think about the challenge, as this audience member noted in the follow-up question-and-answer session.
"OK, first of all I want to thank you for the game," said a woman in the question-and-answer session that followed the exercise. "I think it really helped me to see what I'm personally willing to give up. And then also how we as a community, what we're willing to do as a community, not just as individuals."
And any and all tools may be needed to meet the challenge of climate change, which AAAS president John Holdren described as "maybe the most difficult problem of any kind" that civilization has ever created. E-mail This Article

Ethanol Backers Create Biofuels Market

how about some more emphasis on bio-diesel -- the US looks to be pushing ethanol over the alternative of diesel -

By Peter Heinlein United Nations03 March 2007
The United States, Brazil, India, China and the European Union have created a forum to promote the use of renewable energy sources known as biofuels. Senior diplomats from participating countries gathered to launch the project at the United Nations Friday, where VOA correspondent Peter Heinlein picks up the story.
A fuel nozzle for ethyl alcohole made from renewable resources at a fuel station in Fulda, Germany, 20 Feb 2007 The biofuels forum brings together some of the biggest producers and consumers of renewable energy, with the aim of promoting an international market for biofuels. It also includes, with the United States, China, India and Europe, most of the world's biggest emitters of harmful greenhouse gasses.
The best-known biofuel is ethanol, and Brazil, the world's top ethanol producer, is hoping the new market will give it a big economic boost. Brazil and the United States together control nearly three-quarters of the world's ethanol market.
Brazil's Ambassador to the United States Antonio Patriota says the market will be good for both wealthy and rapidly industrializing countries trying to cut back on harmful greenhouse gas emissions. But he says the biggest winners could be poor countries that produce corn and other agricultural products used to make biofuels.
"For developing countries, greater resort to biofuels means significantly reducing their dependence on imported oil, redressing their trade imbalances, and saving income in order to increase investment in health, education and social development. Besides generating environmental benefits off course," he said.
President Bush speaks to reporters about how cellulosic ethanol can be produced from bio mass such as spruce wood chips, 22 Feb 2007U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Thomas Shannon hailed creation of the new market as "a huge step forward in the development of a new international understanding of energy".
"We understand the international biofuels forum and the efforts of all of our partners in addressing the issue of biofuels to be not just an issue of energy security, not just an environmental issue, but fundamental to how we are going to address basic economic and social development problems, and recognizing that by working together we will be able to identify ways to help countries with agricultural productive potential to be become major energy suppliers," he said.
A Brazilian industrial group estimates that current ethanol usage amounts to only two percent of world oil consumption. Brazil, with its vast land resources, is hoping to produce enough ethanol to satisfy 10 percent of the world's demand for gasoline within the next 20 years.
President Bush has set a goal for the United States to use 130 billion liters of alternative fuels a year by 2017. Current capacity is about 20 billion liters a year. E-mail This Article Print Version

Green talk but no green walk? | Ethical living | Guardian Unlimited Environment

Saint Albert the Gore gets crucified

Green talk but no green walk?

"Al Gore is the latest green campaigner to be accused of being a hypocrite. But would the world really be better off if he'd stayed home with the lights off, asks Mark Lynas

Thursday March 1, 2007
The Guardian

Hands up anyone who isn't a hypocrite. Come on, own up. Who out there actually lives by every one of the principles they profess to uphold? And why has it suddenly gone so quiet? When it comes to ourselves, it seems, we are quick to realise that life is full of grey areas and being pure and virtuous is never as easy - nor even as desirable - as it might appear. That does not stop us sitting in judgment of others, however, particularly those whose message we are unwilling to hear, and who, deep down, we would dearly love to see exposed as two-faced and, well, hypocritical."

Jarvis curates Meltdown festival


Is this some kind of Ice Age III global warming awareness tie-in gig?

Feed the glacier?

"Jarvis Cocker, national treasure and former Pulp frontman, is to curate the Meltdown festival at the South Bank Centre in London this June.

The week-long event, previously directed by artists as diverse as David Bowie and Louis Andriessen, will feature concerts, performances and visual art chosen by Cocker. Although it was too early to reveal details yesterday, he hinted at an eclectic range of offerings.

'I think the main thing is to mix things up; things that maybe shouldn't go together,' he said. 'I'm hoping to get a weird mix of contemporary things and revivals of old stuff; and as much as possible that involves audience participation to a degree. I'm hoping to get some film stuff together. There will high culture there, and low culture; some very low.'

"

Companies feel heat of global warming awareness | Reuters

Companies feel heat of global warming awareness


You can't have a new coffee plantation without clearing tropical rainforest. Green coffee will never catch on since you have to roast the beans first. How much greenhouse gas is emitted when you roast those beans?


"McDonald's Corp. is blogging on the environment, Starbucks Corp. has designed a green-themed online game, and Hilton Hotels Corp. aims to link manager pay to making its hotels greener.

While all of them say they have been working for years or even decades on pro-environment strategies, these corporate behemoths acknowledge that growing awareness of global warming among U.S. consumers is changing the way they work.

But they operate with caution because no one wants to be accused of 'greenwashing' -- or what Mark Spellun, founder of eco-lifestyle magazine Plenty, calls 'putting a green halo over themselves when it is completely undeserved.'
Reuters Pictures
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Weather disasters like Hurricane Katrina, Oscar-winning documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' and U.S. President George W. Bush's push for fuel alternatives to oil have all heightened concern over climate change in the last year.

Experts warn that failure to address that shift in opinion could hurt the bottom lines of companies selling to consumers.

More than 60 percent of U.S. consumers hold government and big business directly accountable for global warming, according to a recent study by market research firm MindClick Group.

'Business"

Scientists start polar study amid global warming | International News | Reuters.com

Scientists start polar study amid global warming

Can we have a correction please?
There is no evidence that the Antarctic is getting warmer
This story implies both poles are warming.


More than 60 nations launch the broadest scientific investigation yet of the Arctic and Antarctic on Thursday to chart polar regions on the front lines of global warming.

About 3,000 children will build snowmen in Oslo, top scientists will meet in Paris and researchers will gather on a polar research vessel in Cape Town harbor in South Africa as part of ceremonies starting International Polar Year (IPY).

During the U.N.-backed year, about 50,000 people will be involved in 228 projects such as studying marine life in the Antarctic, mapping how winds carry pollutants to the Arctic, or examining the health of people, polar bears or penguins.
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David Carlson, director of the IPY Program Office, said the icy ends of the earth had been overlooked too long. 'This part of the planet has its problems and it needs to get a higher level of attention,' he told Reuters.

Many scientists say that warming of the Arctic, where indigenous hunting cultures and animals are under threat from receding ice, may be a portent of damaging shifts elsewhere on the planet linked to global warming.

And a melt of"

Sydney's gay Mardi Gras to paint the town green | International News | Reuters.com

Sydney's gay Mardi Gras to paint the town green


A PINKER SHADE OF GREEN ?

"Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, one of the biggest of its kind in the world, is going green this year with a message to Australians that they must take action to protect a threatened environment.

Centerpiece of the parade on Saturday night will be a giant replica of planet Earth, split into two with one half barren and decaying, and the other bright and colorful to symbolize hope. There will also be all the usual razzmatazz, with a 250-strong posse of Kylie Minogues, a band of gay Sydney lifesavers and a six-story high Trojan Horse all helping to pave the city's streets with glitter.

'We've got 250 Kylie Minogues. Lots of boys love Kylie,' said event organizer Marcus Bourget of the popular Australian showgirl.

A record 7,500 people will take part in this year's parade, with hundreds of thousands of spectators expected to line the 1.6-km (mile-long) route."

Formula One: Earth car will emit over 50 tonnes of CO2 | Formula one | Guardian Unlimited Sport

Formula One: Earth car will emit over 50 tonnes of CO2

what colour was British Racing Green (BRG) again ?

Early flurry of killer tornadoes linked to cold winter - earth - 02 March 2007 - New Scientist Environment

Early flurry of killer tornadoes linked to cold winter -


but climate change not to blame !!

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Major two-year polar study begins

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Major two-year polar study begins: "Major two-year polar study begins
By Matt McGrath
Environment reporter, BBC News

Sun shining on ice in the Arctic (Image: AP)
Scientists warn Arctic summer sea ice could disappear by 2040
One of the world's biggest research programmes of the past 50 years has been launched in Paris.

International Polar Year (IPY) is a $1.5bn (£763m) collaborative effort to study the north and south poles.

Thousands of researchers will be carrying out more than 200 projects, with climate change top of the agenda.

Some nations, including the UK and US, unveiled their IPY programmes earlier this week, but the Paris event sees the official start of the two-year study.

This is the fourth IPY since 1882 but the first one in which the impact of man-made global warming will be clearly visible at both poles.

Ice sheet melt

Using ice breaking ships, satellites and submarines, an army of researchers from more than 60 countries will be studying the polar regions in unprecedented detail over the next two years.

And climate change will be at the heart of many of the research projects.

Scientists say rising temperatures are warming the polar regions faster than the rest of the planet.

One of the key questions that scientists will hope the research effort will shed new light on i"

Formula One: Earth car will emit over 50 tonnes of CO2 | Formula one | Guardian Unlimited Sport

Formula One: Earth car will emit over 50 tonnes of CO2 |


now lets get serious and ban all motor sports -- the collective whine from the fans would be louder than an FI engine




"Jenson Button's car will be responsible for emitting over 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide this Formula One season, it has emerged in the week they launched the 'Earth Car' as the centrepiece of their environmental-awareness campaign. The English driver's emissions in the F1 season will probably be more than five times higher than the average Briton produces in 12 months.

Button and his team-mate Rubens Barrichello will race Honda's new RA107 and send about 500kg of CO2 into the atmosphere on each of the 17 grand prix weekends, and about 17 tonnes by the end of the 2007 season. The cars emit around 1,500g of carbon dioxide per kilometre, which is almost nine times more than the amount of the average new road vehicle.

Article continues
'There is some irony in the fact that Honda are attempting to promote the environment and calling on others to address environmental issues when they are contributing to climate change by participating in what is probably the most polluting sport on the planet,' said Emily Armistead, a spokeperson for Friends of the Earth.

The F1 season also requires Button and Barrichello to fly around 98,752 miles between their Monaco bases and the race circuits, producing a further 28.638 tonnes of CO2. In total, each driver w"

Early flurry of killer tornadoes linked to cold winter - earth - 02 March 2007 - New Scientist Environment

Early flurry of killer tornadoes linked to cold winter

What's happening -- Climate change was not blamed



: "he tornadoes that tore across the south-eastern US on Thursday, killing at least 19 people, were devastating but not unprecedented, say tornado experts. However, the twisters did strike unusually early in the year.

The tornado season in the US normally reaches its peak between mid-April and June. The tornadoes tend to get stronger as the year progresses because warming temperatures increase the amount of energy in the atmosphere.

'Early March is a bit early for a severe tornado,' says Nigel Bolton, national forecaster at the UK Met Office and member of the UK-based Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO). But he notes that such events have happened before this early in the year, when the key atmospheric circumstances combine.

In this case, the extremely cold US was probably a contributing factor. Tornadoes in the US form when a front of dry, cold air descending from the north meets warm, moist air coming up from the south. Sometimes, a body of the cold air slides over the top of the warm air, trapping it underneath.

This creates unstable atmospheric conditions, and if there is enough energy in the system, the warm air will punch through the denser cold air above, triggering thunderstorms. The next step required is for the"

Garrett wants MPs to reveal stance on nuclear plant location. 01/03/2007. ABC News Online

Garrett wants MPs to reveal stance on nuclear plant location.

Midnight Uranium - coming to your backyard real soon


"Garrett wants MPs to reveal stance on nuclear plant location

Opposition environment spokesman Peter Garrett has tried to make all Lower House MPs reveal whether they would be happy to have a nuclear power plant built in their electorates.

The Opposition has been pressuring the Government to say where nuclear reactors might be located if a nuclear industry is developed in Australia.

Many Coalition MPs have already said they would not want a nuclear plant in their seat.

Mr Garrett attempted to have all MPs explain their stance on the issue in Parliament.

'[I] noted the stated opposition outside the house of a growing number of members to the location of a nuclear power plant in their electorate, [I'm] providing all members with an opportunity to come into the house and declare their opposition to the location of a nuclear power plant in their electorates,' he said.

Mr Garrett's motion was defeated by the Government.

Meanwhile the Greens want the owners of any future nuclear power stations in Australia to be legally responsible for any damage that might be caused to private property in Australia.

Greens Senator Christine Milne says there is a standard nuclear exclusion clause in every insurance policy, which leaves home owners liable for any costs resulting fr"

Major two-year polar study begins

By Matt McGrath Environment reporter, BBC News

Scientists warn Arctic summer sea ice could disappear by 2040

One of the world's biggest research programmes of the past 50 years has been launched in Paris.

International Polar Year (IPY) is a $1.5bn (£763m) collaborative effort to study the north and south poles.

Thousands of researchers will be carrying out more than 200 projects, with climate change top of the agenda.

IGY morphs to IPY -- 50 years later

=-- in 1957 it was International Geophysical Year (IGY)

Artist: Donald Fagen
Song: I.G.Y.
Album:
[" " CD]

Standing tough under stars and stripes
We can tell
This dream's in sight
You've got to admit it
At this point in time that it's clear
The future looks bright
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well by seventy-six we'll be A.O.K.

What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free

Get your ticket to that wheel in space
While there's time
The fix is in
You'll be a witness to that game of chance in the sky
You know we've got to win
Here at home we'll play in the city
Powered by the sun
Perfect weather for a streamlined world
There'll be Spandex jackets one for everyone

What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free

On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
(More leisure for artists everywhere)
A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We'll be clean when their work is done
We'll be eternally free yes and eternally young

What a beautiful world this'll be
What a glorious time to be free
What a beautiful world this'll be
What a glorious time to be free

Lyrics > D > Donald Fagen Lyrics > I.G.Y. Song Lyrics

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Snowless winter first for Tokyo

Snowless winter first for Tokyo: "


Last Updated: Thursday, 1 March 2007, 11:54 GMT
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Snowless winter first for Tokyo
Snow in Nagasaki (file photo)
Will snow be a thing of the past for those living in Japan's capital?
The Japanese capital has experienced its first winter without snow for 131 years, weather officials say.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said it had recorded no snow in central Tokyo between December and the end of February, the official winter months.

This the first time no snow has fallen in winter since records began in 1876, the agency said.

Officials said the winter had been unusually warm, but added that snow could still fall in the coming weeks.

And they played down a direct link to global warming.

'We believe El Nino can be one factor. Another theory is that the seasonal southward movement of cold air from the Arctic region was not sustained and weak,' one official from the agency said.

'It's a bit of stretch to link this directly to global warming. But the winter was very warm, for sure.'

The official, quoted by the AFP news agency, said cold air is expected to move into the Tokyo region in the middle of March.

'We might see snow then. In the past, Tokyo has had snow as late as April 17,' the official"

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | US CO2 emissions 'violate rights'

US CO2 emissions 'violate rights'



"US CO2 emissions 'violate rights'
Catching fish through an ice hole (Image: AP)
Traditional hunting and fishing techniques are at risk from thin ice
A delegation of Inuit has travelled to Washington to argue that the US government's climate change policies violate human rights.

The group has filed a legal petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, demanding that the US limits its emission of greenhouse gases.

The Inuit say pollution is contributing to melting ice and thawing permafrost, affecting their way of life.

Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at about twice the global average.

Representatives for Inuit communities living within the Arctic Circle presented evidence to the Commission on Thursday in an attempt to link human-induced climate change to international human rights.

The hearing is the latest stage in the legal process, which began in December 2005 when the petition was filed.

Call for caps

The delegation is being led by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a former chairwoman of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, a representative body for Inuit in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia.

Mrs Watt-Cloutier, who has been nominated alongside former US Vice President Al Gore for a Nobel Peace Prize for their work on climate change, was responsible for submitting the petition.
"

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | UN chief warns on climate change

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | UN chief warns on climate change: "UN chief warns on climate change
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon urged the US to lead the way in tackling climate change
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that climate change poses as much of a danger to the world as war.

In his first address on the issue, Mr Ban said changes in the environment were likely to become a major driver of future war and conflicts.

He urged the US - the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases - to take the lead in fighting global warming.

Mr Ban said he would focus on the issue in talks with leaders of the G8 group of industrialised nations in June.

The UN is also due to hold a conference on climate change in Bali in December.

UN environment officials have been urging Mr Ban to take up the issue, says the BBC's Laura Trevelyan in New York, arguing that global leadership is needed and that he could make an impact.


The danger posed by war to all of humanity and to our planet is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming
Ban Ki-moon

Speaking to schoolchildren at a UN conference in New York, Mr Ban said his generation had been 'somewhat careless' with the planet but that he was hopeful that that was changing.

'The majority of the United Nations' work still focuses on preven"

UFO science key to halting climate change: former Canadian defense minister


now -- this is serious?!

A former Canadian defense minister is demanding governments worldwide disclose and use secret alien technologies obtained in alleged UFO crashes to stem climate change, a local paper said Wednesday.
"I would like to see what (alien) technology there might be that could eliminate the burning of fossil fuels within a generation ... that could be a way to save our planet," Paul Hellyer, 83, told the Ottawa Citizen. Alien spacecrafts would have traveled vast distances to reach Earth, and so must be equipped with advanced propulsion systems or used exceptional fuels, he told the newspaper. Such alien technologies could offer humanity alternatives to fossil fuels, he said, pointing to the enigmatic 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico -- which has become a shrine for UFO believers -- as an example of alien contact. "We need to persuade governments to come clean on what they know. Some of us suspect they know quite a lot, and it might be enough to save our planet if applied quickly enough," he said. Hellyer became defense minister in former prime minister Lester Pearson's cabinet in 1963, and oversaw the controversial integration and unification of Canada's army, air force and navy into the Canadian Forces. He shocked Canadians in September 2005 by announcing he once saw a UFO.

Break-up still an option - Alinta - Business - Business - smh.com.au

Break-up still an option - Alinta -

ALINTA is playing up its willingness to break up its energy distribution business, including selling off individual parts, if it does not receive a satisfactory offer from bidders now conducting due diligence on the group.
Also yesterday, Alinta chairman John Akehurst confirmed the Australian Securities and Investments Commission had sought Alinta documents in its inquiries into conflicts of interest surrounding its recent management buyout proposal.
This had led to the resignations of former chief executive Bob Browning and former chairman John Poynton in January.
At a full-year result briefing yesterday, Mr Akehurst went to considerable pains to spell out that Alinta's demerger, first flagged on November 15, was the favoured option for the company if bidders' offers did not represent a better return.
"If the bids are at level where we feel that the internal restructuring is a better option for the company, then of course we will announce that," he said.
Mr Akehurst confirmed that Macquarie Bank was continuing to work with the management buyout team led by Mr Browning and Mr Poynton, and was among a "small number" of bidders that had been granted access to a data room to conduct due diligence.
Potential bidders that have either an expressed or reported interest in the assets include Babcock & Brown, Spark Infrastructure, Leighton Holdings and Singapore Power.
The original review of Alinta's strategic options was thrown into disarray when it was revealed on January 9 that both Mr Browning and Mr Poynton were working with Macquarie Bank, then Alinta's internal adviser, on a management buyout proposal. Within three days both men had resigned.
Macquarie Bank was sacked from its internal roles with Alinta as criticism grew over perceived conflicts of interest affecting other potential bidders.
It was later revealed that Mr Browning and Mr Poynton had been working on the proposal since at least November 30.
The events of January put Alinta into play, leaving independent directors of the board to implement protocols after January 9 that attempted to reassure other bidders that the matter was being conducted fairly.
Mr Akehurst said any demerger into an asset management and services business would take place in the second half of the year.
This indicates a decision on any formal bids is likely within the next four months.
The irony for Alinta investors is that underlying profit results for the combined company were up 37 per cent, to $140 million, in 2006, raising questions about the rationale for the demerger in the first place.
Headline profit was down 26 per cent to $173 million, with the fall largely due to a one-off profit in 2005 from the sale of assets to Alinta Infrastructure Holdings, (Alinta bought this business back last November after a lacklustre response from the market).
The company refused to reiterate or confirm Mr Browning's December guidance of a 2007 profit of up to $270 million.
Alinta declared a final dividend of 8.375c a share, payable in March.
Its shares closed down 20c, or 1.4 per cent, at $14.25 yesterday.

U.S. seen short of Bush's ethanol plan - Yahoo! News

U.S. seen short of Bush's ethanol plan -

why isn't the US pushing biodiesel as had as ethanol ? - you've got to suspect the corn growers and Archer Daniels are the key protagonists behind this


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's top energy forecaster said on Wednesday that fuel ethanol production in a decade will fall short of what
President George W. Bush' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> President George W. Bush says is needed to help cut America's oil imports.
In his State of the Union speech to Congress last month, Bush said the country should increase its production of ethanol and alternatives fuels to 35 billion gallons by 2017.
But, after detailing his agency's take on future U.S. energy supplies to lawmakers, Guy Caruso, the head of the federal Energy Information Administration, told reporters: "We don't have the (Bush) goal in our outlook."
The EIA is the independent analytical arm of the Energy Department.
Caruso said ethanol was "basically" the main alternative fuel that will be available over the next decade. His comments reiterated remarks made to Reuters by other EIA officials last week that the agency expects ethanol output to be only about 11.5 billion gallons in 2017.
White House and Energy Department officials dispute EIA's long-term forecast, saying American ingenuity will create the technological breakthroughs necessary to meet Bush's ethanol and alternative fuel goal of 35 billion gallons in a decade.
Key to Bush's plan is bringing down the cost of making ethanol from cellulosic sources, like forest and agricultural wastes, to a price closer to making ethanol from corn, the current popular production method.
However, Caruso said the EIA predicts only a "minimum amount" of cellulosic ethanol production in 2017. The agency forecast sees 94 percent of U.S. ethanol supplies in a decade still made from corn, 2 percent from cellulose and 4 percent coming from imports, which are typically derived from sugar.
Caruso acknowledged that the EIA's ethanol forecast was based on existing policies, economics and technology. "We're trying to provide the best projections based on the current information," he said.
The EIA was never asked to analyze the president's plan and the agency still hasn't seen details on it, Caruso said.
Dan Arvizu, who heads the Energy Department's Colorado-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory, told reporters on Tuesday that cellulosic ethanol should be price-competitive with corn ethanol in 5 years.
Arvizu said cellulosic ethanol production could be as high as 6 billion gallons a year in 2017, while corn ethanol will be 15 billion gallons. That would also be short of Bush's goal.
To help carry out Bush's plan, the Energy Department on Wednesday awarded $385 million in grants to help finance six refineries that will make cellulosic ethanol.
"We are very excited about the prospects for cellulosic ethanol," said U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman.
Separately, a coalition of farm, energy and business groups on Wednesday called for Congress to provide almost $65 billion in financial incentives over five years to boost U.S. ethanol and renewable fuels production.

Landcare unveils carbon trading market to help farmers. 01/03/2007. ABC News Online

Landcare unveils carbon trading market to help farmers.

... do more trees mean less water?

Farmers are getting the jump on the Federal Government in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions by introducing their own carbon trading market.
Landcare is today unveiling a program connecting businesses that want to offset their emissions with farmers who are willing to plant extra trees.
A prime ministerial task force is currently examining a nationwide carbon trading scheme.
Landcare chief executive Brian Scarsbrick says the farmers' scheme will have a dual effect.
"We believe in the long-term though that carbon offsets will really drive revegetation across the landscape," he said.
"Corporate dollars going into revegetation across the Australian landscape to really make it happen."
Farmers will be encouraged to plant extra trees and then sell carbon credits to companies.
Landcare says 10 hectares of trees could yield about $20,000 over 30 years.
Garth Strong, a farmer from the Riverina in New South Wales, says the scheme is a good way of supplementing his income.
"I think it's something to look at, especially if you're doing revegetation, making tree lines wide enough to qualify for carbon trading," he said.
"The single lines of trees aren't much good - they really need fairly substantial plantings - but there's definitely a win-win situation I think."
In other developments:
A climate change campaign being launched across Australia today aims to provide Australians with practical tips on combating global warming. (Full Story)