Some Biofuels Are As Dirty As Tar Sands Oil, Shows Leaked EU Data – January 27, 2012

The Difficult Task of Distinguishing Good and Bad Biofuels Remains Essential

by Damien Carrington

Photo by Achmad Rabin TaimA palm oil plantation in Bogor, Indonesia. Palm oil biodiesel also received another blow on Friday, with the US
Environmental Protection Agency suggesting it fails to meet the US requirement of emitting at least 20 percent
less carbon than diesel from crude oil.

There are good biofuels and bad biofuels: the trick is telling one from the other. That's particularly difficult when trying to take account of the natural forests and wetlands that can destroyed in the drive to grow some biofuel crops. But we're getting closer, it seems, and palm oil and soy beans now appear utterly… more

by: The Guardian UK

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Is Climate Scepticism a Largely Anglo-Saxon Phenomenon? – November 16, 2011

New Study Shows Sceptics Feature More Prominently in the UK and US media Than in Other Countries

by Leo Hickman

During a trip to Italy earlier this year, I asked a local journalist whether climate sceptical views get much of an airing in the Italian media. My query was greeted with an air of slight bemusement, which was followed by a request for me to explain what I meant by the term "climate scepticism". Their facial reaction alone told me that this was something of an alien concept to them.

Photo byMark MitchellA newsstand in Paris. According to the study, France's "pro-science," rationalist culture is "probably an additional
prism through which to evaluate the experience… more

by: The Guardian UK

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Big Names Behind US Push for Geoengineering – October 7, 2011

Coalition of the Most Powerful Academic, Military, Scientific and Corporate Interests has set its Sights on Vast Potential Profits

By John Vidal

UK scientists last week "postponed" one of the world's first attempts to physically manipulate the upper atmosphere to cool the planet. Okay, so the Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering project wasn't actually going to spray thousands of tonnes of reflective particles into the air to replicate a volcano, but the plan to send a balloon with a hose attached 1km into the sky above Norfolk was an important step towards the ultimate techno-fix for climate change.

Photo courtesy explainthestuff/NASA

The reason the British scientists gave for pulling… more

by: The Guardian UK

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A Balloon and Hosepipe as the Answer to Climate Change? – September 6, 2011

Increasingly Bizarre Attempts at Geo-engineering Simply Deflect Attention from the Fact we Need to Cut Emissions

By George Monbiot

It's atmospheric liposuction: a retrospective fix for planetary over-indulgence. Geo-engineering, which means either sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere or trying to shield the planet from the sun's heat, is an admission of failure, a failure to get to grips with climate change. Is it time to admit defeat and check ourselves into the clinic?

Image courtesy The Guardian

The question has arisen again with the launch of a new experiment funded by Britain's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, injecting particles (in this case water droplets) into the atmosphere more

by: The Guardian UK

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Are Food Prices Approaching a Violent Tipping Point? – August 25, 2011

Provocative New Study Suggests Arab Uprisings are Linked to Global Food Price Spikes

By Damien Carrington

Seeking simple explanations for the Arab spring uprisings that have swept through Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya, is clearly foolish amidst entangled issues of social injustice, poverty, unemployment and water stress. But asking "why precisely now?" is less daft, and a provocative new study proposes an answer: soaring food prices.

Furthermore, it suggests there is a specific food price level above which riots and unrest become far more likely. That figure is 210 on the UN FAO's price index: the index is currently at 234, due to the most recent spike in prices which started in the middle of… more

by: The Guardian UK

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