Norway abandons Mongstad carbon capture plans – ‘The development of technologies to capture and store CO2 has taken longer, been more difficult and more costly than expected’

20 September 2013 (BBC News) – The outgoing government in Norway has buried much-vaunted plans to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground amid mounting costs and delays. The oil and energy ministry said the development of full-scale carbon dioxide capture at Mongstad oil refinery had been discontinued. It said it remained committed to research […]

Ocean acidification drives Oregon oyster hatchery to Hawaii – ‘I don’t care if you think it’s the fault of humans or not. If you want to keep your head in the sand, that’s up to you. But the rest of us need to get it together.’

By Craig Welch12 September 2013 HILO, Hawaii (Seattle Times) – It appears at the end of a palm tree-lined drive, not far from piles of hardened black lava: the newest addition to the Northwest’s famed oyster industry. Half an ocean from Seattle, on a green patch of island below a tropical volcano, a Washington state […]

Graph of the Day: CO2 and acidity measurements at Monterey Bay, 1993-2010

8 August 2013 (CalEPA) – Carbon dioxide (CO2) is considered to be the largest and most important anthropogenic driver of climate change (see Atmospheric Greenhouse Gases indicator, page 19). CO2 is continuously exchanged between land, the atmosphere, and the ocean through physical, chemical, and biological processes (IPCC, 2007c). The ocean absorbs nearly one quarter of […]

Volcanic vents show how ocean acidification threatens marine life

By Craig Welch15 September 2013 NORMANBY ISLAND, Papua New Guinea (Seattle Times) — Katharina Fabricius plunged from a dive boat into the Pacific Ocean of tomorrow. She kicked through blue water until she spotted a ceramic tile attached to the bottom of a reef. A year earlier, the ecologist from the Australian Institute of Marine […]

Actor Harrison Ford causes stir while investigating deforestation in Indonesia

By Rhett A. Butler10 September 2013 (mongabay.com) – Harrison Ford sparked a complaint from Indonesia’s top forest official after the actor asked a series of tough questions about ongoing rainforest destruction in the Southeast Asian nation, reports Indonesian state media. Ford is in Indonesia filming a segment for Years of Living Dangerously, a Showtime documentary […]

Cutting short-lived climate pollutants: A win-win for development and climate

3 September 2013 (World Bank) – Some of the easiest targets for lowering greenhouse gas emissions are right in front of us every day: black carbon from diesel-fueled vehicles and solid fuel cooking fires, methane from solid waste, hydrofluorocarbons from aerosols. These are short-lived climate pollutants, named for their relatively short lifespan in the atmosphere. […]

Finnish study on climate change shows procrastination over mitigation measures could prove costly

September 04, 2013 (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland) – Forecasts about global warming and its consequences are shrouded in uncertainty. Research scientists maintain that the risks associated with climate change are high, but are unable to estimate accurately how easily temperature reacts to changes in the levels of carbon dioxide. According to Tommi Ekholm, […]

The oceans are acidifying at the fastest rate in 300 million years. How worried should we be?

By Brad Plumer31 August 2013 (Washington Post) – The world’s oceans are turning acidic at what’s likely the fastest pace in 300 million years. Scientists tend to think this is a troubling development. But just how worried should we be, exactly? It’s a question marine experts have been racing to get a handle on in […]

Experimental climate fixes stir hopes, fears, lawyers – ‘In my opinion this project does not qualify as legitimate scientific research’

By Alister Doyle; Editing by Simon Robinson and Sara Ledwith30 August 2013 (Reuters) – Last year the Haida, an indigenous group in Canada, set out to increase their salmon stocks and save the planet. Helped by American businessman Russ George, a group of villagers dumped 100 metric tons (110.23 tons) of iron dust from a […]

UN set to predict drowning of coastal cities by 2100 – ‘Changes are projected to occur in all regions of the globe’

By Richard Ingham 25 August 2013  (AFP) – A leaden cloak of responsibility lies on the shoulders of UN scientists as they put the final touches to the first volume of a massive report that will give the world the most detailed picture yet of climate change. Due to be unveiled in Stockholm on September […]

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