Red Cross Weigh In On Global Warming Crises

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has pointed to the growing role of global warming in causing natural disasters.

The Swiss-based humanitarian agency made the comments as it published its World Disasters Report 2007, which this year focuses on tackling discrimination of women, people with disabilities and the elderly during catastrophes.

There were 427 disasters in 2006 compared with 433 in 2005. In the same period, the number of affected people dropped ten per cent, while the number of deaths plunged by 75 per cent to 23,833.

Disaster costs were estimated at $34.5 billion (SFr39 billion) for 2006, a much lower figure than in 2005 - $210 billion - the year of the devastating Hurricane Katrina.

However, the annual report also noted that more than two thirds of natural disasters last year were caused by floods or by extreme weather and pointed to global warming as the main factor.

UN Chief says gas cuts too ambitious

Guidelines on greenhouse gas emissions cuts opposed by the United States may be "too ambitious" to include in a final statement from the climate conference in Bali, the U.N. chief said Wednesday.

Drafts of the conference statement obtained by The Associated Press have included a call for industrialized countries to reduce emissions blamed for global warming by between 25 percent and 40 percent by 2020.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, however, said such goals might have to wait for subsequent negotiations, though he added that at some point targets for emissions cuts would be necessary.

"Realistically, it may be too ambitious" to set guidelines now, Ban told reporters, when asked about steadfast opposition by the United States, though he urged Washington to be flexible.

Later he added, "Practically speaking, this will have to be negotiated down the road."

Talks at the two-week U.N. climate conference, which wraps up Friday, intensified with the arrival of ministers and heads of state. Many leaders, in a series of speeches, urged the world to quickly impose deep cuts in emissions to head off scientific predictions of rising seas, worsening droughts and famines, and melting ice-sheets due to global warming. |Read on|

Al Gore - Climate missing from U.S. elections

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Al Gore said on Monday the U.S. presidential election campaign had paid insufficient attention to the environment and climate change.

Gore & IPCC to accept Nobel Peace Prize

Al Gore said the Nobel Peace Prize he accepts Monday already has helped draw the world's attention to global warming and he expressed optimism that growing public pressure would push governments to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

The former vice president shares the prize with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which will be represented at Monday's award ceremony by its leader, Rajendra Pachauri.

A day before accepting the prize, Gore said reducing greenhouse gases was essential to fighting the ``planetary emergency'' of global warming. ``That phrase may sound shrill to some ears but it is accurate,'' he said. |Read more|

Poor Nations Must Help Stop Climate Change

Both rich and poor nations must commit to slashing greenhouse gas emissions if the world wants to solve global warming, Australia's trade minister said Saturday at a landmark climate change summit.

As the first week of the conference trying to lay the groundwork for a new climate change pact drew to a close, delegates in Indonesia's Bali appeared divided on the way forward to curb carbon dioxide emissions.

Japan and Canada are reported to be pushing for booming developing nations such as India and China -- set to become the world's major polluters -- to commit to binding cuts in carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming. |Read on|

Former Alaska Lawmaker Sentenced On Bribery Charges

Alaska's former state House speaker was sentenced to six years in federal prison Friday for accepting $9,000 in bribes from the founder of an oil field services company.

Pete Kott, a Republican who represented a suburb of Anchorage for 14 years, also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick bumped up the prison term beyond sentencing guidelines after concluding that Kott had committed perjury during his trial. He also said the legislation Kott took bribes to influence -- a revised tax law on Alaska's principal industry, crude oil extraction -- affected every Alaskan.

"The amount of money was in the hundreds of millions, if not billions," Sedwick said.

Kott was convicted in September of bribery, extortion and conspiracy for his dealings with executives of VECO Corp., a major Alaska firm that performed maintenance, design and construction contracts for petroleum producers.

Besides the cash, federal prosecutors said Kott accepted a political poll paid on his behalf by VECO and that he received the promise of a job with the company after he left the Alaska legislature. The federal court jury acquitted him of wire fraud. |Read more|

Do You Feel Political Corruption Will Rise?

According to a recent survey, half of the public expect political corruption to rise. Those surveyed believe politicians are becoming more corrupt. They also believe that no one is doing anything to stop it.

The lobby group Transparency International interviewed more than 60,000 people worldwide, including 1,000 in Ireland, and found widespread cynicism on standards in public office.

Almost half of Irish people surveyed (47%) think corruption will get worse during the next three years, up to 15 percentage points more than in 2005.

In order to curtail political corruption, the government need to enact laws with substantial seizure of assets from their ill gotten gains. How do you think the government should handle corrupt political officials?

Bribery & Fraud - Societies Spreading Cancer

Bribery and fraud seems to be part of a growing cancer that spreads throughout society leaving us vulnerable to the culprits. I have previously concentrated on New Orleans' own cancer spreader, Stan "Pampy" Barre, who we will be soon rid of once he is sentenced to prison. His type of cancer is a prevailing one that keeps the feds on their toes.

Siemens is a German Company who has also come under the feds radar. The Federal Government recently suspended further dealings with Siemens as a result of allegations of accepting bribes from some senior Nigerian government officials for the purpose of winning contracts.

According to Mr. John Odey,Information and Communications Minister, a contract awarded to Siemens for the construction of 14 indoor control panels complete with circuit breaker for power generation has been cancelled as a result of the administrations zero tolerance for corruption. The cancelled contract was worth N128 million.

This sounds very similar to the Johnson Controls Energy savings contract that Stan "Pampy" Barre looted for his own personal gain. We will never understand the psyche of corrupt individuals since they lack morals and values.

EPIC Energy Launches GSM Enabled Remote Energy Management Systems

EPIC Energy Ltd has announce the successful testing and launch of its GSM enabled Remote Energy Management Systems (REMS), which will enable its customers to monitor the use and efficiency of energy consumption on a virtual real time basis.

Built on a GSM and GPRS platform, this REMS can seamlessly be integrated with existing Energy Equipments and Appliances. Trigger points built into the system enable automatic switching on and switching off of electrical appliances. The system also enables users to remotely manage electrical appliances. Deviations from set and standard parameters are reported instantly via SMS and / or a Central Server. The system also has a "pull" facility whereby facility is provided to get parameter values instantly by sending a secure SMS to the concerned system. Remote configuration of systems is also possible through the REMS.

With the launch of REMS, all products of Epic will be available with this option. REMS greatly enhances the ability of the consumer to effectively manage Energy Consumption. The incorporation of this facility will enable Epic to garner a larger share of the Energy Conservation market, both in the government and private sectors. Since Epic operates largely on a BOOT basis with its customers, and its revenues flow from actual energy saved by its customers, the incorporation of REMS will significantly improve the revenue share, based on higher savings made by its customers.

Why Do We Need A New Pact On Climate Change?

With the Kyoto protocol due to expire in 2012, a new international climate change deal must be put in place in time to ensure that necessary action is undertaken immediately.

The UN says that this year's scientific report from the its Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has "made clear beyond doubt that climate change is a reality", which poses a serious threat to the future development of the world's economies, societies and ecosystems.

According to the IPCC, if no action is taken on greenhouse gases, the earth's temperature could rise by 4.5C or more.

The effects of climate change are being felt already, the panel says. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average and adverse effects on human activities are documented. Impacts of warming have also been observed in other regions and sectors, in particular on ecosystems.

As glaciers retreat, water supplies are being put at risk. And for populations living in dry lands, especially those in Africa, changing weather patterns threaten to exacerbate desertification, drought and food insecurity. Other regions are expected to suffer from floods, sea level rise and extreme weather events.

"We cannot go on this way for long," the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has said. "We cannot continue with business as usual. The time has come for decisive action on a global scale."

Actor Brad Pitt's 'Make It Right Project' Benefits New Orleans' Residents

STAFF PHOTO BY MATTHEW HINTON
Actor Brad Pitt near the corner of North Roman and Deslonde in the Lower 9th Ward, New Orleans.

Actor Brad Pitt's "Make It Right" project consist of building affordable, environmentally friendly, storm-safe houses for residents of the Lower 9th Ward on the same lots where their old homes once stood. In announcing the project in September at a meeting of world leaders on global warming, Pitt and philanthropist Steve Bingler pledged $5 million each to jump-start the project.

"This cannot be about me," he said Sunday from inside a trailer at the project site. "I am fortunate to have a big spotlight in my hand, and I can point it in a direction."

Today that place will be the section of the Lower 9th Ward best-known as the spot where a barge came to rest after floating through a fractured levee. Pitt is slated to lead news reporters on a tour around the area's conglomeration of pink art pieces, then to issue a public call to corporations, foundations and church organizations around the world to "adopt" the blocks, for $150,000 each, to support his project.

Donors also will be invited to make smaller gifts -- from $5 to $45,500 -- to sponsor the individual elements of the houses' eco-friendly designs, such as fluorescent bulbs, low-flush toilets and solar-panel installations. More information is available at the project's Web site, www.makeitrightnola.org.

With the average house slated to cost between $100,000 and $174,000, planners expect participants to contribute some money, including insurance and Road Home proceeds, toward construction. But they expect most homeowners will fall about $70,000 short of paying off their new homes. To fill the gap, Make It Right plans to offer forgivable loans of as much as $100,000, with the caveat that applicants must have owned a home or lot in the Lower 9th Ward before Katrina.

Nine other firms — all of whom donated their services — are involved, including Adjaye Associates; Billes Architecture; BNIM Architects; Constructs; Eskew & Dumez & Ripple; MVRDV; Pugh and Scarpa Architecture; Shigeru Ban Architects; and Trahan Architects. “We wanted to have a mixture of voices,” Mr. Pitt said.

The green building elements will reduce upkeep costs by at least 75 percent, Mr. Pitt said, and reduce some of the problems that devastated the Lower Ninth Ward during Katrina, when multiple levee breaks forced thousands of people from their homes.

Responding to critics who question the wisdom of rebuilding at all in an area likely to get hit again, Mr. Pitt said: “My first answer to that is, talk to the people who’ve lived there and have raised their kids there. People are needing to get back in their homes.”

Climate Change Conference To Begin

The UN climate change conference begins in Bali on Monday with officials and ministers from around the world set to start negotiations on a new international climate change deal.

Thousands of delegates are gathering on the Indonesian island with the hope a "roadmap" can be laid out for talks on a new agreement, which will come into force when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

The conference comes amid increasingly strong warnings from scientists and environmentalists that "catastrophic" climate change would result from inaction and concerns from aid agencies that the world's poor will be hardest and first hit.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, who will be participating in the talks, said climate change was the "greatest challenge the world faces".

Levee System Increased Hurricane Katrina's Wrath

Louisiana's levee system has once again made headlines. According to hurricane expert, Ivor van Heerden, the magnitude of Katrina's storm surge in Mississippi was partly the fault of the Louisiana levee system.

Van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, described how sea water from the storm built up against Mississippi River levees in Louisiana, and when the eye of Katrina passed over and began its migration to Mississippi, it took the wall of water with it.

Had there been no levee, he said, the water would have fanned over the wetlands, and the eye would have carried far less to local shores. Van Heerden is also a civil and environmental engineering professor at LSU.

Van Heerden is often credited with having predicted Katrina. In the years before the storm, he created computer models showing how New Orleans would flood if a category 3 storm hit. The levees were built based on outdated models, even though new ones were available. Some levee sections were built on sand, easily allowing water to breach.

"It was a man-made catastrophe with a hurricane trigger," he said. "What happens to sand castles on beaches? They don't last."

He said his research fell on deaf ears, as outlined in his book, The Storm - What Went Wrong and Why During Hurricane Katrina - the Inside Story from One Louisiana Scientist. He wants an inquest like the 9/11 commission to look into the failures that led to flooding in New Orleans and destruction along the Coast.

To protect Mississippi in the future from Katrina-like storms, he said, efforts must go toward restoring wetlands and rebuilding the barrier islands. Giant waves in the open ocean become smaller when they break over the islands.

Quiet Hurricane Season For New Orleans

New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast this year enjoyed a quiet hurricane season, which ends today, as dire predictions by federal and university forecasters turned out to be wrong for the second consecutive year.

That was good news to the Army Corps of Engineers, as its contractors continued to raise levees throughout the New Orleans area -- some to the heights and strengths they should have been before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.

The corps also completed engineering work and issued the first contracts to improve hurricane protection to match its new understanding of the storm surge caused by hurricanes with a 1 in 100 chance of hitting the area in a given year.

Of 14 named storms in 2007, only four hit the U.S. coastline, with only one reaching hurricane strength.