Senator says "Global Warming Bill Needs Work"

A bipartisan Senate bill to limit greenhouse gases will have a hard time getting the 60 votes needed to overcome parliamentary roadblocks unless it addresses some of industry's concerns, a Republican senator said Friday.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, told reporters that a requirement in the bill to cut heat-trapping emissions by 15 percent by 2020 can't be met without a push to develop new technologies such as ways to capture carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants.

"Technology should be driving all this," said Voinovich. He said he favors action to address global warming, but that any bill should include incentives to develop the technologies — such as carbon capture from power plants — needed to meet the emission-reduction mandates.

Legislation introduced last week by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and John Warner, R-Va., would require that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from power plants, industrial facilities and transportation be cut by 70 percent by mid-century.

Cotton Crop management to become more complicated

Climate change through global warming may increase photosynthesis, leading to increased vegetative growth in cotton but not necessarily resulting in greater production of lint. Global warming may increase salt concentrations in soils, thus changing nutrient availability. Insects may spread to more areas, diseases may become more common and crop management will become more complicated.

The cost of production may continue to rise, and the development of new technologies may be crucial. Environmental regulations may become stricter, possibly resulting in higher costs to produce cotton. Agricultural policies, domestic and international, may tend to be complicated and far-reaching. Cotton growers may have to make many strategic business decisions because of climate change.

Climate expert says drought ,., flooding threatens Texas

A top climate scientist warned Wednesday that Texas faces a dual threat from floods and drought if global warming is left unchecked.

James Hansen, in Houston to speak before the Progressive Forum on Wednesday night, said predictions made two decades ago about the effects of a warming world are now beginning to come true.

"Texas is in the line of fire for double-barreled climate impacts," said Hansen, who heads the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. "What we said in the 1980s, and is beginning to come true now, is that both ends of the hydrological cycle get intensified by global warming."

A warmer climate increases evaporation, he said. It both sucks moisture from the ground, intensifying drought, and increases atmospheric humidity, which causes more rain to fall during extreme events.

Hansen gained attention in the 1980s by testifying to congressional committees about the perils of global warming and again in 2005 and 2006 by claiming that NASA administrators sought to influence his public statements about the causes of climate change. Because of this, he is arguably the world's most well-known climate researcher.

On Wednesday, Hansen again spoke out on a political issue. He expressed concerns about an Associated Press report that the White House had significantly edited a draft of testimony prepared for a Senate hearing on the impact of climate change.

The White House denied that it had "watered down" the congressional testimony that Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had given Tuesday to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

"The whole idea of democracy that our Founding Fathers had was that the public is educated, and that they are informed honestly," Hansen said.

Health Concerns Spur U.S. Senate to Global Warming Action

Amid growing evidence that scientists have underestimated the pace of global warming, public health experts on Tuesday urged U.S. lawmakers to support efforts to better understand the human health impacts from climate change.


"Climate change is a global health crisis," Michael McCally, a public health physician and executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Scientists predict climate change will increase heat waves, fires, flooding, hurricanes and drought - all of which adversely impact human health, McCally said.

Furthermore, a warming climate also has the potential to decrease air quality, negatively impact the quantity and quality of fresh water supplies and increase vector, food and water-borne diseases.

Carbon Dioxide Levels Rising Faster Than Predicted, Study Says

Carbon dioxide is collecting in the atmosphere faster than forecast as the use of dirtier fuels increases worldwide, an Australian-led team of scientists said.

Rising levels of the main gas blamed for climate change threatens to accelerate global warming, the researchers said. The study builds on previous findings and may lead to a change in the way scientists predict climate change.

The growth rate of carbon dioxide, or CO2, emissions has averaged 3.3 percent a year since 2000, compared with 1.1 percent in the 1990s, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The rate rose 35 percent more than scientists had anticipated based on economic growth, said Corinne Le Quere, one of the authors of the paper.

China attaches importance to global warming

China attaches great importance to climate change and has always been a responsible player combating global warming, delegates at the 17th Party congress said, ahead of a number of international meetings addressing the problem.

Party General Secretary Hu Jintao said at the congress that all countries "should assist and cooperate with each other in conservation efforts to take good care of the Earth, our only home".

For the first time the CPC has added global environmental issues to its political report at the congress, setting out the country's top priorities in the following five years. The Party leadership has also put domestic environmental protection and energy reduction high on the agenda.

The Sea Change in Global Warming

Fresh fears about global warming were raised yesterday by a study which found that the oceans seem to be losing their ability to absorb carbon dioxide.

Oceans normally act as a "sink" for the gas by absorbing it through natural processes.

But a report by British scientists has concluded CO2 levels in the North Atlantic have halved in ten years.

One of the authors, Professor Andrew Watson, of East Anglia university, said this could increase global warming by leaving more CO2 in the atmosphere.

He said: "We suspect that the 'sink' is much more sensitive to changes in climate than we had expected.

"If you have a series of relatively warm winters, the ocean surface doesn't cool so much, you don't get so much sub-surface water formed and so the CO2 is not being taken down into the deep water."

The scientists recorded the Atlantic's CO2 levels by taking readings from water collected by thousands of ships which crossed the ocean between 1995 and 2005.

One proposal to increase oceans' ability to absorb CO2 is to create a network of pipes to improve the circulation of water far below the surface.

But Prof Watson said he was sceptical about the long-term impact of such a scheme.

Sen. Gregg says Global Warming legislation deserves serious consideration

Republican Sen. Judd Gregg says a new Senate bill to combat global warming "deserves serious consideration," even though one of the bill's sponsors says it goes beyond President Bush's proposals on global warming.

Leading environmentalists in New Hampshire also support the legislation, which has bipartisan support in Congress. Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and John Warner, R-Va., introduced the bill this week.

Supporters say it would reduce greenhouse gases from the largest sources by 15 percent by 2020 and 75 percent by 2050. The bill would establish a greenhouse gas emissions cap that covers electric utilities, manufacturing sources and transportation. It also contains provisions for energy efficiency standards for appliances and buildings. Fully implemented, supporters say the bill has the potential to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than half by mid-century.

Feds take aim at corruption by officials in New Orleans

The voice on the radio assumes the tone of a high school principal: "Public service is not about stealing from the people — it's about giving to the people."

The voice belongs to James Bernazzani, the FBI's special agent in charge in New Orleans. He, along with the U.S. Attorney's Office here and a new inspector general at City Hall, is launching a very public assault on public corruption.

The FBI's New Orleans office has tracked a 452% jump in corruption indictments the past five years. Corruption convictions in eastern Louisiana climbed 33% in the same period, making it one of the top spots in the country for such convictions, according to Justice Department statistics.

Among those convicted: 23 Orleans Parish school officials, 16 workers from city hall and 14 traffic court employees, along with judges, councilmen and other officials, said Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for eastern Louisiana. "We're going after anyone — whether it's a teacher or minor public official — who engages in any kind of public corruption," he said.

Many of the investigations were launched before the 2005 floods and destruction unleashed by Hurricane Katrina. But the post-storm recovery, with billions of dollars in federal aid streaming into the area, can lead to further corruption and triggered agents to step up investigations, Bernazzani said.

Robert Cerasoli, a former inspector general for the state of Massachusetts who has a long résumé of fighting waste and corruption, was recruited this summer for the position. Cerasoli stunned city officials by not taking a city car, opting instead to use his personal car, and moving into a small, loaned office on the third floor of Loyola University's Monroe Library.

Unlike the FBI, which investigates individuals, Cerasoli said his job will be to examine the system to see where changes can be made to prevent corruption. He said his first task will be to study the city charter and its many agencies, commissions and quasi-governmental bodies, looking for conflicts of interest. "I'm certainly going to find corruption along the way," he said.

Though hired by the city, Cerasoli said it is still not known whether the city will block access to records and files or give him the money and access needed to do his job. The City Council is expected to announce his budget Nov. 1.

Congress to consider Global Warming Wildlife Survival Bill

"Calling global warming the single greatest threat to the world’s natural environment, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, today announced new legislation laying the groundwork for a national strategy to address the impacts of climate change on America’s wildlife.

The bill is the first of its kind and includes components for the most imperiled plants and animals in the United States. It would convene regional scientific discussions and a National Academy of Sciences panel to examine the impacts of climate change on endangered, threatened, and otherwise imperiled species and recommend action.

Senator Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, will be an original cosponsor of the bill.

A member of the committee, Whitehouse said global warming has already begun to have a severe and lasting impact on wildlife populations and marine ecosystems in Rhode Island and around the world." |Read more|

Global Warming Starts to Divide G.O.P. Contenders

"While many conservative commentators and editorialists have mocked concerns about climate change, a different reality is emerging among Republican presidential contenders. It is a near-unanimous recognition among the leaders of the threat posed by global warming.


Within that camp, however, sharp divisions are developing. Senator John McCain of Arizona is calling for capping gas emissions linked to warming and higher fuel economy standards. Others, including Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mitt Romney, are refraining from advocating such limits and are instead emphasizing a push toward clean coal and other alternative energy sources.

All agree that nuclear power should be greatly expanded.

The debate has taken an intriguing twist. Two candidates appealing to religious conservatives, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, call for strong actions to ease the effects of people on the climate, at times casting the effort in spiritual terms just as some evangelical groups have taken up the cause.

The emergence of climate change as an issue dividing Republicans shows just how far the discussion has shifted since 1997, when the Senate voted, 95 to 0, to oppose any international climate treaty that could hurt the American economy or excused China from responsibilities.

The debate among Republicans is largely not about whether people are warming the planet, but about how to deal with it." |Read more|

Global Warming makes Mount Blanc grow

"Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in France and western Europe, has grown more than two metres in two years - ironically as a result of global warming, experts have found.
# Pacific island could be submerged due to global warming

The Alps' tallest peak was measured at 4,810.90 metres (15,784 feet) last month, surveyors from France's Haute-Savoie region announced.

The volume of ice on Mont Blanc has doubled since 2005
Volume of ice on Mont Blanc has doubled since 2005

Generations of French schoolchildren were taught the famous peak was 4,807 metres tall, but it has been growing since 2003 and at a faster rate in recent months.

"The height as well as the volume of Mont Blanc has increased considerably, because the snow has massed on the summit over the last two years," said Philippe Borel, one of the survey team, at a meeting in the nearby resort of Chamonix." |Read more|

Gore's Nobel winnings go to Palto Alto Global Warming Alliance

A year-old Palo Alto nonprofit will receive the $750,000 former Vice President Al Gore received along with his Nobel Prize.

The Alliance for Climate Protection, which was once lauded by Gore as the planet's "PR agent," is a think tank focused on letting people know about the effects of global warming and helping them become activists against it.

The alliance also works alongside other environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club, for climate change education.

In concert with Gore's Current TV and actors that included George Clooney and Orlando Bloom, the alliance created a contest letting people submit videos on environmental action.

Gore also gave the alliance money from his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

Linking Global Warming, Global Peace

"What does global warming have to do with global peace? The globe may find out sooner than we think, experts say.

"Climate change is and will be a significant threat to our national security and in a larger sense to life on Earth as we know it to be," retired Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, former U.S. Army chief of staff, told a congressional panel last month.

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee agrees. In awarding the prize Friday to climate campaigner Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N.-sponsored network of scientists, the Norwegian committee said the stresses of a changing global environment may heighten the "danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states."

Those like Sullivan who study the issues point particularly to the impact of drought and altered climate patterns on food and water supplies, leading to shortages that could spur huge, destabilizing migrations of people internationally.

In a report in May, scientists advising the German government noted specific scenarios that could upend the lives of millions, driving them across borders to overwhelm other lands.

"The dieback of the Amazon rain forest or the loss of the Asian monsoon could have incalculable consequences for the societies concerned," said the German Advisory Council on Global Change." |Read more|