Yale Environment 360

Blueprint for Viable Biofuels

2009-07-17T11:46:28-05:00

Biofuels can be produced in large quantities and with a relatively small carbon footprint, but only if they are made from certain sources, according to a report in the journal Science. Authored by scientists from the University of Minnesota, Princeton University, and three other universities, the paper said that biofuels will only be sustainable if they are largely produced from non-food crops. The authors identified five types of biofuels that can be produced in volume and with minimal greenhouse gas emissions: perennial plants grown on degraded lands or abandoned agricultural lands, crop residues, sustainably harvested wood and forest residues, mixed cropping systems, and municipal and industrial waste. The paper said that these sources could yield 500 million tons of biomass per year, which would meet a significant amount of the U.S. demand for transportation fuels.

U.S. Agency Releases Spy Satellite Images of Arctic Ice

2009-07-17T11:15:46-05:00

The U.S. government has released 1,200 photographs of Arctic sea ice taken by spy satellites, a trove of images that scientists say will better help them understand the dynamics of the melting northern ice cap. The U.S. Geological Survey released the images just hours after the National Academy of Sciences had called for their dissemination. Seven hundred of the photographs depict sea ice at six Arctic sites outside of the U.S., while 500 images show 22 sites in Alaskan waters. Scientists said that the extremely fine resolution of the spy satellite images — one yard — will enable them to better understand processes such as the formation of melted

USGS

Satellite image of East Siberian Sea

pools of water on the surface of sea ice, which hastens the disintegration of the ice. Scientists said that by studying the photographs — which span the last nine years, at least — they will be able to develop more accurate models of what might happen to Arctic sea ice as warming continues. “These... one-meter images... give you a big picture of the summertime Arctic,” said Thorsten Markus of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, which studies climate change. “This is the main reason we are so thrilled about it.”

Home Solar Arrays Expand Rapidly in California

2009-07-16T10:43:08-05:00

The number of California homes with solar panels has grown from 500 a decade ago to 50,000 today, helping California produce 500 megawatts of solar-powered electricity — equivalent to a major coal-fired power plant — during peak solar periods in early afternoon. The lobbying group Environment California reported that the state’s solar market has more than doubled in the past three years, making the state by far the largest solar power generator in the United States. New Jersey is second, with a peak production of 70 megawatts. Still, the expansion of solar power in California is far behind

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s goal of a “million solar roofs,” and the number of home solar arrays remains small. The city with the most solar roofs, San Diego, only has 2,262 homes with solar photovoltaic panels. Environmental advocates say that a key to far more rapid expansion of solar power is a so-called feed-in tariff, which would allow homeowners who install extra solar capacity to sell electricity back to utilities at a favorable rate.

Wal-Mart Labels Will Rate Sustainability of Products

2009-07-16T10:10:23-05:00

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is planning to place labels on products that will rate them for sustainability, including their carbon footprint, the quantity of water used in their production, and the air pollution left in their wake. Wal-Mart said it will soon ask its 100,000 global suppliers 15 questions about the environmental practices of their companies, including whether the firms have publicly set greenhouse gas reduction targets. Wal-Mart will then use that information, along with independent verification of a supplier’s claims, to give products in its stores an overall sustainability score, including a numerical index that rates goods on their climate impact, pesticide use, and overall environmental damage. Environmental groups praised Wal-Mart’s plan, saying it would force the company’s suppliers to produce their products in less environmentally harmful ways. Wal-Mart has taken several major steps to make its massive operation more environmentally friendly, including significantly reducing packaging, cutting energy use in its stores, and selling only concentrated laundry detergent that uses 50 percent less water in its manufacture.

Its Economy in Shambles, The Midwest Goes Green

2009-07-16T08:32:34-05:00

It took awhile, but the U.S. Midwest finally has recognized that the industries that once powered its economy will never return. Now leaders in the region are looking to renewable energy manufacturing and technologies as key to the heartland’s renaissance. BY KEITH SCHNEIDER

UK Eyes Low Carbon Economy Through Investment in Clean Energy

2009-07-15T11:38:33-05:00

In a sweeping effort to shift the UK economy away from fossil fuels, the nation’s energy secretary has unveiled a national plan that he says would cut CO2 emissions by 34 percent by 2020 and generate 40 percent of the nation’s electricity through low-carbon sources. The comprehensive proposal includes a major investment in renewable sources of energy, increased emphasis on green transportation, and incentives for British citizens who generate energy in their own homes, including wind turbines and solar panels. On a larger scale, officials want to build 4,000 new land-based wind turbines and another 3,000 offshore. “What we are trying to do is to set out not simply targets for 2020 — which have been set — but a route map to get there,” Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC. A 2008 analysis concluded that efforts to meet green targets could bump energy bills by almost £230 — or about $377 — each year. While Miliband conceded that switching to a greener economy will be more expensive for consumers, the prices of carbon-based fuels like coal and gas will also likely rise because of surging demand in China and India.

Ancient Warming of Earth Not Entirely Explained by Rise in CO2

2009-07-15T11:35:48-05:00

Scientists have long wondered what caused a dramatic warming of the planet 55 million years ago, when temperatures rose 5 degrees C to 9 degrees C (9 F to 16 F) in 10,000 years. A new study by U.S. researchers says, however, that only about 40 percent of the sharp rise in temperatures can be explained by increasing CO2 levels, meaning that our current understanding of how earth will react to humankind’s massive release of carbon dioxide is incomplete, the researchers say. Studying deep-sea sediments and other evidence of climate change, the researchers calculated that increases in CO2 during the Paleo-Eocene Thermal Maximum should have at most caused global temperature rises of 3.5 degrees C, or 6.3 F. Yet temperatures rose within 10,000 years by as much as 9 degrees C, the researchers reported in the journal Nature Geoscience. One possibility is large releases of other greenhouse gases, such as methane, while another is that the high temperatures during the period — when no ice existed on earth — set in motion other changes that further warmed the planet. “If this additional warming... was caused as a response to CO2 warming, then there is a chance that a future warming could be more intense than people anticipate,” said one of the study’s authors.

Exxon Makes Investment In Craig Venter’s Algal Biofuel Startup

2009-07-14T12:05:02-05:00

Exxon will invest $600 million in a venture by human genome mapper J. Craig Venter that is seeking to mass produce liquid transportation fuel from algae. The “collaborative research project” between the oil giant and Venter’s Synthetic Genomics gives a major boost to the effort to produce algal biofuels, although both companies stressed that it would likely be five to 10 years before small-scale algal biofuel plants are operating. The joint project will dip into Exxon’s deep pockets to try to solve three major challenges: finding the most suitable strain of algae, determining the best way to grow it, and figuring out how to mass produce it economically. Exxon officials said they decided to invest in algal biofuel over other forms of biofuels because its production does not require arable land or fresh water and algae consumes large quantities of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Synthetic Genomics has been using genetic engineering in an effort to produce strains of algae that would automatically secrete a “hydrocarbon-like” liquid.

Euphrates River Dwindles Due to Dams and Long Drought

2009-07-14T11:35:05-05:00

The legendary Euphrates River has dwindled to perilously low levels in Iraq because of a severe two-year drought, the construction of dams in Turkey and Syria, and wasteful water management by the Iraqi government and farmers, the New York Times reports. The flow of the 1,730-mile river has been so sharply reduced that lakes and wetlands are drying up; rice, wheat, and barley farmers are unable to irrigate their fields; renowned Mesopotamia date crops are withering; and fishermen are losing their livelihoods. Unless the situation improves, the Euphrates’ flow could soon be only half that of several years ago, the

Photo Gallery

NASA

Dry Iraqi marshes

Times reports. Particularly hard-hit are the marshes between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which had been drained by Saddam Hussein but were on their way to being restored several years ago. Once again, however, many sections of marshland are dry. A major reason for the Euphrates’ reduced flow is the network of seven dams in Turkey and Syria, which limit the water downstream. Turkey has recently released more water into the Iraqi section of the river.

Protected Brazilian Timber Reportedly Being Sold as “Eco-Certified”

2009-07-13T11:30:18-05:00

The Brazilian government is investigating charges that illegal timber is being cut in protected reserves and laundered as “eco-certified” to markets abroad, including the United States and Europe, according to a report in the newspaper O Globo. A federal prosecutor says wood taken from reserves and indigenous lands in the Brazilian state of Pará was classified as certified timber, a designation that earns a higher price from international buyers interested in purchasing and marketing sustainably harvested wood. The alleged operation involves as many as 3,000 companies, according to the report. Pará, which has emerged as a major timber market in recent years, also has the highest deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon, accounting for 43 percent of total forest loss.

Concern for Crop Safety Leads to Damaging Farming Practices

2009-07-13T11:16:34-05:00

Concerned about outbreaks of E. coli bacteria, farming groups and food buyers have instituted a series of environmentally damaging agricultural practices in California and could soon be replicating the program nationwide, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The practices — spurred by a 2006 E. coli outbreak in spinach that killed four people and left 35 with acute kidney failure — include poisoning or draining irrigation ponds, creating 450-dirt buffers around fields, and killing amphibians and wildlife in and around cropland. The new practices are being implemented by the large growers and major corporate buyers of greens that are washed, bagged, and distributed nationwide. So far the new practices are mainly being carried out in California, but the prepackaged greens industry has submitted a proposal to have similar rules apply at farms nationwide. Critics contend the new agricultural practices not only cause environmental harm, but do little to improve food safety. “Sanitizing American agriculture, aside from being impossible, is foolhardy,” said author Michael Pollan who has written extensively on the food industry.

The Challenge for Green Energy: How To Store Excess Electricity

2009-07-13T08:49:47-05:00

For years, the stumbling block for making renewable energy practical and dependable has been how to store electricity for days when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. But new technologies suggest this goal may finally be within reach. BY JON R. LUOMA

New Bus Systems Reduce Traffic, Pollution in Developing Cities

2009-07-10T10:54:19-05:00

Large, low-emission buses being introduced in developing cities from Mexico City to Ahmedabad, India are reducing congestion on crowded roadways and cutting pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, all at a much lower cost than constructing subways. In Bogota, Colombia, city leaders took control of two to four center lanes of major boulevards for the TransMilenio rapid transit system. Small walls isolate the “tracks” of the bus lines from other traffic, and passengers are able to board the long, segmented buses from the center platforms of modern stations. Since 2001, the TransMilenio bus system has allowed the city to remove 7,000 small private buses from roadways and has slashed fuel use by more than 59 percent, according to a New York Times report. As a result, TransMilenio last year became the only large transportation system allowed by the United Nations to generate and sell carbon credits. Climate researchers say that emissions reductions related to transportation will become increasingly urgent in coming decades, particularly in the developing world. Projects similar to Bogota’s TransMilenio are planned in Cape Town, Mexico City, and Jakarta, Indonesia.

Floating Nuclear PlantTo Be Built By Russians in Far East

2009-07-10T10:44:59-05:00

A Russian company has announced that it will build the world’s first floating nuclear plant, opening up the possibility that the Russians could use such reactors to power operations to extract oil and minerals in remote regions of the Arctic. Russia’s United Industrial Corporation said its floating reactor will go into operation in 2012 off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East and will be used to help power Vilyuchinsk, a small city that serves as an atomic submarine base. The 472-foot plant will be built in the shape of a ship, will accommodate two 35-megawatt reactors, and will cost $316 million to construct, United Industrial said. Nuclear power experts said that such floating reactors could be used to supply power to extractive industries in the Arctic as sea ice melts and Russia moves in to exploit oil, natural gas, and minerals. But putting reactors at sea, particularly in such an environmentally sensitive area as the Arctic, raises concerns about safety in extreme weather, disposal of radioactive waste produced by the reactors, and vulnerability to terrorism.

Poaching for Horns Driving Extinction of Rhinos, Report Says

2009-07-09T11:30:23-05:00

A surge in the illegal trade of rhino horns in Asia and Africa is pushing the already endangered animal closer to extinction, according to a new report. Increased poaching by Asian-based gangs has produced a 15-year high in rhino deaths, particularly in South Africa and Zimbabwe, according to the report by WWF-International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The poachers are feeding a demand in Asia for horns to be used in folk remedies, including the horns’ alleged — and disproven — boost in male potency. “Rhinos are in a desperate situation,” said Susan Lieberman of WWF. While only about 3 rhinos in Africa were killed illegally each month from 2000 to 2005, about 12 of the continent’s estimated 18,000 rhinos are now killed monthly. Meanwhile, 10 rhinos have been killed for their horns in India since January. Another seven have been killed this year in Nepal. The total rhino population in those two nations is about 2,400. Lieberman said it was time for governments "to crack down on organized criminal elements responsible for this trade" and to increase funding for enforcement efforts.

Obama Says Climate Deal Still Possible Despite Setback at G8 Meeting

2009-07-09T11:10:03-05:00

President Obama says a deal to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions is still possible, despite the failure of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations to agree on a plan to halve CO2 emissions by 2050. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama told Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that “there was still time in which they could close the gap on that disagreement” before a key climate summit in Copenhagen in December. On Wednesday, China and India objected to setting a goal of cutting global emissions by 50 percent by mid-century, saying the industrialized Western nations first needed to agree to steeper interim emissions cuts and to generously fund efforts to help poorer nations develop alternative sources of energy. The G8 did embrace a goal of limiting future temperature increases to 3.6 degrees F, but U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said the action was “not enough,” adding that making steep CO2 reductions was “politically and morally imperative and (an) historic responsibility... for the future of humanity.”

Interview: NOAA’s New Chief on Restoring Science to Climate Policy

2009-07-09T08:42:27-05:00

Last December, when President-elect Obama named Jane Lubchenco to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the reaction among climate scientists was an almost audible sigh of relief. Much of what is known about the climate comes from research supported by NOAA. But the agency, tucked inside the Commerce Department, has long suffered from status problems, and during the Bush administration, NOAA staffers frequently complained that their findings were being ignored, or, worse still,

Jane Lubchenco

suppressed. The appointment of Lubchenco — a marine biologist from Oregon State University — seemed to signal that the new administration planned, finally, to take NOAA’s work seriously. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, conducted by New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert, Lubchenco speaks about the science of climate change, the complexities of communicating it to the public and policy makers, and what she calls global warming’s “equally evil twin,” ocean acidification.
Click here to read the full interview.

NOAA’s New Chief On Restoring Science To U.S. Climate Policy

2009-07-09T08:42:03-05:00

Marine biologist Jane Lubchenco now heads one of the U.S. government’s key agencies researching climate change — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Lubchenco discusses the central role her agency is playing in understanding the twin threats of global warming and ocean acidification. BY ELIZABETH KOLBERT

Rapid Thinning of Arctic Ice

2009-07-08T10:46:06-05:00

The amount of thick, long-lived sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean has declined dramatically in the last six years, with ice thinning by an average of 2.2 feet from 2003 to 2008, according to a study by scientists from NASA and two universities. In 2003, 62 percent of the Arctic’s total ice volume was stored in the yards-thick ice that forms over decades, while 28 percent of ice volume was thinner ice that melts from summer to summer. But by 2008, those percentages had been reversed, with only 32 percent of Arctic ice composed of thicker, multi-year floes while 68 percent was thin, first-year ice. The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, used satellites to measure how high the ice rose above sea level — a gauge of the ice’s thickness. The rapid loss of Arctic sea ice volume and extent is due to rapidly rising air temperatures and changing circulation patterns in the Arctic Ocean, scientists said. The thinning of sea ice is significant because the first-year ice melts in summer, exposing the dark ocean beneath, which then absorbs more heat from the sun, further intensifying Arctic warming. The loss of sea ice is having a detrimental effect on polar bears, which use the ice as a feeding platform.

Billionaire Pickens Shelves Massive Wind Farm Project in Texas

2009-07-08T10:34:58-05:00

Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens has shelved his plan to build the world’s biggest wind farm in Texas, citing a tight credit market, low natural gas prices, and inadequate transmission lines. The ambitious

T. Boone Pickens

4,000-megawatt wind farm plan — which would have included 100,000 wind turbines and 40,000 miles of transmission lines to large cities — was the centerpiece of the Texas oilman’s high-profile plan to help break the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. The project was estimated to cost $10 billion. “Boone still remains committed and focused on developing wind energy in the United States,” Jay Rosser, spokesman for Pickens's BP Capital Management, said. “The timing is not as aggressive as he originally outlined because of the collapse of the capital markets and because of the steep downturn of natural gas prices.” Pickens may sell some of his wind turbines to wind power developers in the Midwest and Canada.

Researchers Discover New Monkey In Isolated Amazon Region of Brazil

2009-07-08T09:53:52-05:00

Researchers have discovered a new species of monkey in the isolated upper Amazon of northwestern Brazil. The creature is nine inches tall, has a 12-inch tail, and weighs less than three-quarters of a pound. It also has distinctive gray and light green mottling on its back that looks like a saddle. The

Click to Enlarge

WCS

New monkey subspecies

monkey, whose discovery was announced by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, was first seen by scientists during a 2007 expedition in the state of Amazonas. Researchers have named the creature saguinus fuscicollis mura, or Mura’s saddleback tamarin, after the Mura Indians who live in the Purus and Madeira river basins where the monkey was found. Conservationists are concerned that development — including a new highway through the Amazon, a proposed gas pipeline, and two hydroelectric dams — poses a threat to the rainforest habitat where the Mura’s saddleback tamarin lives. “This discovery should serve as a wake-up call that there is still so much to learn from the world’s wild places, yet humans continue to threaten these areas with destruction,” said Fabio Röhe of the Wildlife Conservation Society, lead author of a paper announcing the discovery of the species. The paper was published in the International Journal of Primatology.

Cap-and-Trade Bill To Face Tough Fight in U.S. Senate

2009-07-07T12:21:47-05:00

The U.S. Senate has begun hearings on legislation to place a ceiling and a price on carbon emissions, and Democratic leaders say they are as many as 15 votes short of the number to ensure passage. The Washington Post reports that to pass the 1,400-page bill, Senate Democratic leaders may be forced to make so many concessions to industry that the legislation could lose the support of environmental groups, most of which have endorsed the bill. The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved the legislation last month after softening emissions targets and agreeing to initially give away — rather than auction — the permits that large-scale emitters must obtain to release greenhouse gases. The Post said that to ensure passage in the Senate, the leadership may be forced to add controversial provisions, such as allowing more drilling off the U.S. coasts. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he hopes various committees will complete work on the bill by Sept. 18 and that the legislation will come up for a vote by late fall.

Climate Treaty Should Target World’s Wealthiest Citizens, Study Says

2009-07-07T11:21:02-05:00

The best way to ensure that industrialized and developing nations fairly share the burden of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is to set national targets based on the number of wealthy people in each country, a new study suggests. Reporting in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Princeton University said that the level of CO2 that each country is permitted to emit under a new climate treaty should be based on the number of affluent people in that nation. Most of those 1 billion, well-to-do “high emitters” live in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and other developed countries, but an increasing number of affluent people with a large carbon footprint will live in China, India, Russia, Brazil, and other developing nations. A climate treaty that focuses on levels of affluence in each country will help bridge a major negotiating divide between rich and poor countries, the study said. Developing countries, such as China, have refused to accept emissions limits and argue that high-emitting industrialized nations should bear the burden of reducing greenhouse gases. But wealthy nations say China and other developing countries should accept emissions limits as their standards of living rise.

Incandescent Light Bulbs Live on in New, More Efficient Form

2009-07-06T01:27:25-05:00

Spurred by U.S. government regulations requiring improved lighting efficiency by 2012, researchers around the country are successfully turning the old, energy-burning incandescent bulb into a more efficient source of light. The New York Times reports that one company has already succeeding in producing incandescent bulbs that are 30 percent more efficient than older bulbs, which produce far more heat than light. The new generation of incandescent bulbs still does not match the efficiency of compact fluorescent light bulbs, which use 75 percent less energy than old-style bulbs. But researchers say incandescent bulbs might one day become as energy-efficient as compact fluorescent bulbs by using new filaments and reflective coatings that bounce heat back onto the filament and convert that heat into light. The new incandescent bulbs are expensive, but researchers say that as efficiency improves and prices decline, the bulbs will be embraced by people who prefer the quality of incandescent light to fluorescent light.

Chinese to Break Ground On Massive Wind Power Installation

2009-07-06T11:35:07-05:00

China will break ground this month on a gigantic, $17 billion wind power farm in the northwestern part of the country that will produce 5 gigawatts of power by next year and 20 gigawatts by 2020, according to the official Xinhua news service. The installation in Gansu Province is known as the “Three Gorges of Wind Power” after the gigantic Three Gorges hydroelectric dam on the Yangtze River. As the Wall Street Journal notes, the Gansu wind power installation is scheduled by 2020 to produce five times the power of T. Boone Pickens’ proposed wind power project on the U.S. Great Plains. The Chinese are building wind farms at about one-third the cost of European and U.S. rivals because the price of manufacturing the turbines and installing them is so much cheaper in China. In addition to its huge installation in Gansu — which is expected to produce power for more than 10 million Chinese households by 2020 — the Chinese also are planning a half-dozen similarly large projects, many on the windy western plains. China is planning to boost its wind power capacity to eight times the current level by 2020.

Climate Threat to Polar Bears: Despite Facts, Doubters Remain

2009-07-06T08:46:22-05:00

Wildlife biologists and climate scientists overwhelmingly agree that the disappearance of Arctic sea ice will lead to a sharp drop in polar bear populations. But some skeptics remain unconvinced, and they have managed to persuade the Canadian government not to take key steps to protect the animals. BY ED STRUZIK

Turkey Resumes Dam Project

2009-07-02T12:38:19-05:00

The Turkish government will revive a $1.6 billion dam project on the Tigris River despite concerns that it will displace tens of thousands of people, damage wildlife habitat, and destroy historic archaeological sites. Preparations for the Ilisu hydroelectric dam were suspended for six months after financial institutions in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria announced that they were withholding financial support because of environmental concerns. But Veysel Eroglu, Turkey’s environmental minister, said the financing would be made available for what the government considers an important part of a $32 billion plan to boost the economy in the nation’s southeastern corner, a region disrupted by armed conflict between the government and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party. Eroglu said improvements have been made to assure the project will meet international standards. Turkish officials say the dam, part of a larger proposed network of dams called the Southeastern Anatolia Project, would generate 1,200 MW of electricity after it is completed in 2013. But environmental advocates warn that the project would inundate as many as 80 towns, villages, and hamlets, and displace up to 80,000 people.

Environmental Toll of Plastics

2009-07-02T09:18:49-05:00

The amount of plastic that will be produced this decade will nearly equal the total produced in the 20th century, and the substance is increasingly taking a toll on human health and the environment, a new study says. Reporting in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, more than 60

scientists found the following: Chemicals added to plastics are increasingly absorbed by humans, altering hormones and affecting fetal development and other physiological processes; millions of tons of plastic debris are ingested by hundreds of animal and fish species, clogging their digestive systems and infusing their systems with chemicals; floating plastic debris can last thousands of years in oceans and transport invasive species; plastic in landfills leaches harmful chemicals into groundwater; and 8 percent of world oil production goes into manufacturing plastics. “One of the most ubiquitous and long-lasting recent changes to the surface of our planet is the accumulation and fragmentation of plastics,” the paper said. The researchers did say that the ill-effects of plastic can be reduced in the future with the invention of biodegradable and less harmful forms of plastic and with improved systems of plastic recycling.

Oil Companies and Nigeria Accused of Mass Pollution in Niger Delta

2009-07-01T12:35:36-05:00

Amnesty International says Royal Dutch Shell, other oil companies, and the Nigerian government have violated the human rights of residents of the Niger Delta by polluting their land and harming their health with oil spills, natural gas flaring, and waste dumping. In a 141-page report, the human rights group said that at least 9 million barrels of oil may have been spilled in the past 50 years in the delta, home to an estimated 500,000 Ogoni people. “People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with and wash in polluted water,” said the report. “They eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins. The land they farm on is being destroyed... yet neither the government nor oil companies monitor the human impacts of oil pollution.” A Shell spokesman said that, despite its efforts to protect the environment, 85 percent of the pollution from its operations comes from attacks and sabotage carried out by criminal bands operating in the Niger Delta.

India Will Reject Curbs On Its Carbon Emissions

2009-07-01T11:21:49-05:00

India will not accept limits on its greenhouse gas emissions at climate talks later this year and instead will focus on economic growth and lifting its people out of poverty, according to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. He said that a legally binding emissions target would endanger India’s food security and transport, adding, “India cannot and will not take emission reduction targets because poverty eradication and social and economic development are first and overriding priorities.” India has low per capita greenhouse gas emissions, but its population of 1 billion and the country’s rapid economic development now make it the world’s fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases. In advance of international climate talks in Copenhagen in December, China has also said it would reject limits on its CO2 emissions, and India’s declaration further complicates prospects of securing an international agreement. Both nations have called on the developed world to commit to sharp emissions reductions, with China saying the U.S. should slash CO2 emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Chinese officials have criticized a climate bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives for falling far short of that goal.

From the Sewage Plant, The Promise of Biofuel

2009-07-01T08:38:02-05:00

Researchers throughout the world are working to produce biofuel from algae. But a few are trying a decidedly novel approach: Using an abundant and freely available source — human waste — to make the fuel of the future while also treating sewage. BY GREG BREINING

Decline of Seagrass Beds

2009-06-30T12:52:56-05:00

Seagrass beds, which play an important role in coastal marine ecosystems and absorb large quantities of carbon dioxide, are increasingly being destroyed or degraded by development and pollution, according

to a new study. Reporting in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American and Australian researchers estimated that 29 percent of the world’s seagrass beds have disappeared since 1879, with most of the losses occurring since 1980. Only 68,000 square miles of seagrass beds remain, making them “among the most threatened ecosystems on earth,” along with coral reefs and mangrove swamps, the study said. Seagrass meadows provide a major spawning area and juvenile nursery for fish, with some estimates saying that 70 percent of all marine life is in some way dependent on seagrass beds. The loss of seagrasses — the only flowering plants that can live entirely in water — “reveals a major global environmental crisis in coastal ecosystems,” the study said.

Obama To Open U.S. LandsTo Large-Scale Solar Power Projects

2009-06-30T11:55:09-05:00

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his department is studying whether 670,000 acres of federal lands in six Western states are suitable for the construction of large-scale solar power projects. Salazar, appearing in Las Vegas with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said the Obama administration is doing “everything we can to put the bulls-eye on the development of solar energy on our public lands.” He predicted that by the end of next year, 13 commercial-scale solar power projects could be under construction on U.S. government lands in Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy announced new efficiency standards for fluorescent and recessed lighting fixtures, set to take effect in 2012. Energy Department officials said the tighter standards would save as much as $4 billion annually in energy costs and avoid 594 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions from 2012 to 2042 — the equivalent of removing 166 million cars from the road for a year.

Report Gives Sobering View Of Warming’s Impact on U.S.

2009-06-30T08:35:06-05:00

A new U.S. government report paints a disturbing picture of the current and future effects of climate change and offers a glimpse of what the nation’s climate will be like by century’s end. BY MICHAEL D. LEMONICK

Large `Bycatch’ of WhalesReported Off Coasts of Japan and Korea

2009-06-29T11:56:57-05:00

As many as 150 minke whales are being caught annually in the waters off Japan and South Korea, reportedly as incidental bycatch while fishermen pursue other marine species, according to a new study. The catch of minke whales — sold for as much as $100,000 apiece in South Korean and Japanese markets — equals the approximately 150 minke whales the Japanese now kill annually in the Southern Ocean as part of a controversial hunt for alleged scientific purposes. The study, presented by two

A minke whale

scientists at a recent meeting of the International Whaling Commission, examined the DNA of whale meat sold in Japanese markets and determined that 46 percent of the meat came from coastal species of minkes found off Japan and Korea. It is illegal to kill those species under international treaty. Japan has reported a minke bycatch of as many as 19 whales in some years, but the scientists estimated that, based on the quantity of whale meat sold, the total amount of bycatch off the Japanese and South Korean costs is far higher. Considering the high profits involved in the sale of the minkes, “you have to wonder how many of these whales are, in fact, killed intentionally,” said one of the researchers.

Obama Opposes Tariffs As Part of U.S. Cap-and-Trade Bill

2009-06-29T10:41:51-05:00

President Obama praised the climate bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives as “an extraordinary first step,” but said the final version should not impose tariffs on imports from countries that lack systems for pricing carbon. The House bill contains such a provision, but Obama said he hoped it would be removed in the Senate version because “I think we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out.” Obama rejected criticisms that the House bill — which imposes a cap and a price on fossil fuel use designed to slash U.S. CO2 emissions by 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050 — had been badly weakened by too many concessions to industry. He told reporters the bill was part of his administration’s “comprehensive approach” to energy and climate that included massive economic stimulus spending on renewable energy development and energy efficiency programs, as well as tougher automobile mileage standards. “Over the first six months we’ve seen more action on shifting ourselves away from dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels than at any time in several decades," Obama said.

With The Clearing Of Forests, Baby Orangutans Are Marooned

2009-06-25T08:23:32-05:00

As Borneo's rain forests are razed for oil palm plantations, wildlife centers are taking in more and more orphaned orangutans and preparing them for reintroduction into the wild. But the endangered primates now face a new threat — there is not enough habitat where they can be returned. BY RHETT BUTLER

A Plea To President Obama:
End Mountaintop Coal Mining

2009-06-22T02:22:20-05:00

Tighter restrictions on mountaintop removal mining are simply not enough. Instead, a leading climate scientist argues, the Obama administration must prohibit this destructive practice, which is devastating vast stretches of Appalachia. BY JAMES HANSEN

The Waxman-Markey Bill: A Good Start Or A Non-Starter?

2009-06-18T08:40:15-05:00

As carbon cap-and-trade legislation works it way through Congress, the environmental community is intensely debating whether the Waxman-Markey bill is the best possible compromise or a fatally flawed initiative. Yale Environment 360 asked 11 prominent people in the environmental and energy fields for their views on this controversial legislation.

The Damming of the Mekong: Major Blow To An Epic River

2009-06-16T08:45:44-05:00

The Mekong has long flowed freely, supporting one of the world’s great inland fisheries. But China is now building a series of dams on the 2,800-mile river that will restrict its natural flow and threaten the sustenance of tens of millions of Southeast Asians. BY FRED PEARCE

For Greening Aviation, Are Biofuels The Right Stuff?

2009-06-11T08:32:56-05:00

Biofuels – made from algae and non-food plants – are emerging as a potentially viable alternative to conventional jet fuels. Although big challenges remain, the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions could be major. BY DAVID BIELLO

The Challenge of Copenhagen: Bridging the U.S.-China Divide

2009-06-08T08:33:24-05:00

The United States powered its rise to affluence with fossil fuels, and China resents being told it should not be free to do the same. So as negotiators prepare for crucial climate talks this December, the prospects for reaching agreement remain far from certain. BY ORVILLE SCHELL

Freeman Dyson Takes On
The Climate Establishment

2009-06-04T08:37:23-05:00

Princeton physicist Freeman Dyson has been roundly criticized for insisting global warming is not an urgent problem, with many climate scientists dismissing him as woefully ill-informed. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Dyson explains his iconoclastic views and why he believes they have stirred such controversy. BY MICHAEL D. LEMONICK

Learning to Live With Climate Change Will Not Be Enough

2009-06-01T08:37:41-05:00

A leading environmentalist explains why drastically reducing carbon dioxide emissions now will be easier, cheaper, and more ethical than dealing with runaway climate destabilization later. BY DAVID W. ORR

Beyond Abstraction: Moving The Public on Climate Action

2009-05-28T08:35:28-05:00

Most Americans believe climate change is a serious problem but are not committed to making the hard choices needed to deal with it. Recent research begins to explain some of the reasons why. BY DOUG STRUCK

Adaptation Emerges As Key Part Of Any Climate Change Plan

2009-05-26T09:34:02-05:00

After years of reluctance, scientists and governments are now looking to adaptation measures as critical for confronting the consequences of climate change. And increasingly, plans are being developed to deal with rising seas, water shortages, spreading diseases, and other realities of a warming world. BY BRUCE STUTZ

Regional Climate Pact’s Lesson: Avoid Big Giveaways to Industry

2009-05-21T08:43:42-05:00

As Congress struggles over a bill to limit carbon emissions, a cap-and-trade program is already operating in 10 Northeastern states. But the regional project's mixed success offers a cautionary warning to U.S. lawmakers on how to proceed. BY KEITH SCHNEIDER

Previous Eras of Warming Hold Warnings for Our Age

2009-05-20T08:40:20-05:00

By 2100, the world will probably be hotter than it’s been in 3 million years. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, paleoecologist Anthony D. Barnosky describes the unprecedented challenges that many species will face in this era of intensified warming. BY CARL ZIMMER

The Flawed Logic of The Cap-and-Trade Debate

2009-05-19T08:32:14-05:00

Two prominent — and iconoclastic — environmentalists argue that current efforts to tax or cap carbon emissions are doomed to failure and that the answer lies not in making dirty energy expensive but in making clean energy cheap. BY TED NORDHAUS AND MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER

Yellowstone’s Grizzly Bears Face Threats on Two Fronts

2009-05-14T09:02:36-05:00

The magnificent creature at the heart of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem now confronts two grave perils: the loss of its key food source because of rising temperatures, and increased killing by humans. A renowned grizzly expert argues that it’s time to once again protect Yellowstone’s grizzlies under the Endangered Species Act. BY DOUG PEACOCK

The Razing of Appalachia: Mountaintop Removal Revisited

2009-05-12T08:34:46-05:00

Over the past two decades, mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia has obliterated or severely damaged more than a million acres of forest and buried more than 1,000 miles of streams. Now, the Obama administration is showing signs it plans to crack down on this destructive practice. BY JOHN MCQUAID

Putting a Price on Carbon: An Emissions Cap or A Tax?

2009-05-07T08:00:14-05:00

The days of freely dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are coming to an end, but how best to price carbon emissions remains in dispute. As the U.S. Congress debates the issue, Yale Environment 360 asked eight experts to discuss the merits of a cap-and-trade system versus a carbon tax.

Hailed as a Miracle Biofuel, Jatropha Falls Short of Hype

2009-05-04T09:10:35-05:00

The scrubby jatropha tree has been touted as a wonder biofuel with unlimited potential. But questions are now emerging as to whether widespread jatropha cultivation is really feasible or whether it will simply displace badly-needed food crops in the developing world. BY JON R. LUOMA

To Make Clean Energy Cheaper, U.S. Needs Bold Research Push

2009-04-30T08:34:44-05:00

For spurring the transformation to a low-carbon economy, the federal and state governments, universities, and the private sector must join together to create a network of energy research institutes that could speed development of everything from advanced batteries to biofuels. BY MARK MURO AND TERYN NORRIS

A Potential Breakthrough In Harnessing the Sun’s Energy

2009-04-27T08:50:38-05:00

New solar thermal technology overcomes a major challenge facing solar power – how to store the sun’s heat for use at night or on a rainy day. As researchers tout its promise, solar thermal plants are under construction or planned from Spain to Australia to the American Southwest. BY DAVID BIELLO

Bill McKibben on Building A Climate Action Movement

2009-04-23T08:34:19-05:00

In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Bill McKibben explains why he’s now focused on organizing a citizens movement around climate change — and why he believes this effort is critical for spurring world leaders into action.

As Climate Warms, Species May Need to Migrate or Perish

2009-04-20T08:38:59-05:00

With global warming pushing some animals and plants to the brink of extinction, conservation biologists are now saying that the only way to save some species may be to move them. BY CARL ZIMMER

Using Peer Pressure As A Tool To Promote Greener Choices

2009-04-16T09:11:44-05:00

Environmentalists, utilities, and green businesses are turning to behavioral economics to find innovative ways of influencing people to do the right thing when it comes to the environment. Is this approach really good for the planet or just a fad? BY RICHARD CONNIFF

Consumption Dwarfs Population As Main Environmental Threat

2009-04-13T05:50:42-05:00

It's overconsumption, not population growth, that is the fundamental problem: By almost any measure, a small portion of the world's people — those in the affluent, developed world — use up most of the Earth's resources and produce most of its greenhouse gas emissions. BY FRED PEARCE