News Archives

Week of October 31, 2004

Bush suppresses global warming report

A report was leaked last week that confirms changes in the Arctic due to global warming. The report was prepared by a team of researchers from eight nations with input from northern natives, and for more than eight months the Bush administration has suppressed its publication, arguing that there still is not enough evidence of global warming to proceed with any sort of remedial measures.

The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment should be available next week.

Several individuals close to the negotiations said the Bush administration -- which opposes mandatory cuts in carbon emissions on the grounds that they will cost American jobs -- had repeatedly resisted even mild language that would endorse the report's scientific findings or call for mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions.

An early draft of the policy statement -- which is set to be issued two weeks after the 144-page scientific overview is released Monday -- included a paragraph saying that to achieve the goals set under a 1992 international climate change treaty known as the Rio Accord, the "Arctic Council urges the member states to individually and when appropriate, jointly, adopt climate change strategies across relevant sectors. These strategies should aim at the reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases."

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Posted by Jennifer on Saturday, November 6 2004, 2:34 PM

On politics

I need to write about politics, but I didn't want to clutter up this blog with more off-topic posts. So I have started a separate weblog, Fierce Planet, where I can rant and moan and even think things through to my heart's content. Come visit if you like.

Posted by Jennifer on Saturday, November 6 2004, 2:21 PM

State of emergency in Beijing

Air pollution in Beijing, China's capital and largest city, is so severe that officials have declared a state of emergency. The Beijing Environment Protection Bureau has advised some companies who contribute to the pollution to cut back production through the end of the year. Beijing will host the Olympics in 2008 and is struggling to clean up the city's air before then.

Posted by Jennifer on Friday, November 5 2004, 8:00 PM

Krill disappearing from antarctic waters

A tiny shrimp-like creature named krill is declining in antarctic waters. This small crustacean is a major food source for whales, penguins, fish, and birds. Populations have declined 80% since 1976, according to recent data. The change is attributed to warming ocean water, about which I will have much more to say soon.

Posted by Jennifer on Thursday, November 4 2004, 10:46 PM

Post-election cat blogging

Thanks Kevin, we all needed that.

And my additions:

Blue and Katy are unfazed.

and Jamey is totally bored by election news...

Posted by Jennifer on Wednesday, November 3 2004, 1:48 PM

VOTE!

If you live in the U.S., please vote today!

As Oliver Willis says, the hard work has already been done. All you have to do is follow through.

Posted by Jennifer on Tuesday, November 2 2004, 7:24 AM

They may not be drilling in ANWR

Not yet anyway. But elsewhere in Alaska new drilling camps are springing up everywhere.

Update: Here's a choice tidbit:

After the Northwest lease, the Bush administration quickly took steps to open more area to leasing, notably including the critical area around Teshekpuk Lake -- and has developed a novel way to speed up the process. Instead of evaluating how oil companies could harm the environment, the administration has ordered federal land managers nationwide to do exactly the opposite: consider how the environment could harm oil companies. Land managers must now file a "Statement of Adverse Energy Impact" justifying any provision that protects the NPR-A from development, and grant "exceptions" to environmental safeguards that the industry considers "economically prohibitive." In addition, the administration-backed National Energy Bill wending its way through Congress also gives the interior secretary extraordinary discretion to allow oil companies to drill in the NPR-A without paying royalties if doing so "is in the public interest."

Posted by Jennifer on Monday, November 1 2004, 6:50 AM

Bush proposes a change in hydropower appeals

In another gift to the energy industry, Bush is proposing that only hydropower operators be allowed to appeal Interior Department rulings on dam operation and licensing in the U.S. This proposal, if implemented, would cut the public out of the appeals process, leaving the power to influence dam operations overwhelmingly in the hands of utility operators, who are likely to lean toward policies that are not environmentally sound.

Hydropower is often thought of as a good environmental choice for energy production, since dams are non-polluting compared to coal-powered energy production. But dams have many detrimental environmental impacts, which must be considered when new dams are built, and which should be mitigated as much as possible during dam operations. Cutting scientists and the public out of the loop could prove disastrous for salmon runs and other aspects of river ecology.

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Posted by Jennifer on Sunday, October 31 2004, 7:44 AM

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