Big U.S. corporate names object to Trump’s power plan – Microsoft, Apple, and General Electric among those lobbying against more support for coal

By Ed Crooks 26 October 2017 NEW YORK (Financial Times) – Companies from the technology and oil and gas industries have stepped into the debate over the future of the US electricity system, raising objections to the Trump administration’s plans for new rules to support coal-fired and nuclear power plants.Microsoft, Walmart, ExxonMobil, General Electric, and […]

Oil majors planning for catastrophic 5°C global warming despite publicly backing Paris climate agreement – “Shell and BP want to have their oil and drink it too”

By Ben Chapman 27 October 2017 (The Independent) – Oil giants Shell and BP are planning for global temperatures to rise as much as 5°C by the middle of the century. The level is more than double the upper limit committed to by most countries in the world under the Paris Climate Agreement, which both […]

UN urged to help countries devastated by recent natural disasters to “build back better”

24 October 2017 (United Nations) – Hurricanes Irma, Harvey, and Maria may be over, but the devastating impact they had on the countries in their path continues, likewise the effects of successive earthquakes in Mexico, said senior United Nations officials Tuesday, calling for more action at all levels to manage disaster and climate risk and […]

U.S. companies act on climate despite Trump – Carbon reduction targets “have been short in scope and pretty unambitious, but that is improving”

24 Oct 2017 (Reuters) – U.S. companies are still among the most ambitious in setting targets to combat global warming despite President Donald Trump’s plans to quit the 195-nation Paris climate agreement, a 2017 survey showed on Tuesday. U.S.-based firms made up a fifth of those in a 2017 “A list” of 159 companies judged […]

Confessions of a climate change denier – “Distracting ourselves with impotent solutions might be more dangerous in the long run than the outright detachment from reality on the right”

By Artur Gorokh and Ryan Sherman 23 October 2017 (The Cornell Daily Sun) – It was in southern Utah in 2003 that Aron Ralston amputated his own arm to escape the boulder that had crushed him against the wall of a slot canyon. The only implement on hand was a small multi-tool, and in vain […]

I am a 30-year veteran scientist from US EPA. I Can’t Afford to Be Discouraged … And neither can you.

By Rita Schoeny 26 October 2017(Save EPA) – Since January, we have seen a continual assault on our environmental protections. EPA has put a political operative with no scientific experience in charge of vetting EPA grants, and the agency is reconsidering an Obama-era regulation on coal ash. The well-established legal processes for promulgating environmental regulations, […]

Hans Schellnhuber, “The Father of the 2 Degrees Limit”, receives Blue Planet Prize

19 October 2007 (PIK) – The world’s most prestigious award for pioneers in environmental science was given to Hans Joachim Schellnhuber this week in Tokyo. He is Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), a member of the Leibniz Association. The Blue Planet Prize, coming along with 50 million yen, honors outstanding […]

Canada methane emissions far worse than feared – “This is a really big deal. If we thought it was bad, it’s worse.”

By Ashifa Kassam 17 October 2017 TORONTO (The Guardian) – Alberta’s oil and gas industry – Canada’s largest producer of fossil fuel resources – could be emitting 25 to 50% more methane than previously believed, new research has suggested.The pioneering peer reviewed study, published in Environmental Science & Technology on Tuesday, used airplane surveys to […]

Geoengineering is not a quick fix for climate change, experts warn Trump – “All the techniques being proposed have potentially severe environmental impacts”

By Kate Connolly 14 October 201 (The Guardian) – Leading climate scientists have warned that geoengineering research could be hijacked by climate change deniers as an excuse not to reduce CO2 emissions, citing the US administration under Donald Trump as a major threat to their work.David Keith, a solar geoengineering (GE) expert at Harvard University […]

Few global issues as urgent as tackling climate and disaster risks – UN Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction

12 October 2017 (UN News) – Recent devastating natural events – from hurricanes in the Caribbean to floods in South Asia and earthquakes in Mexico – have again shone a spotlight on the importance of efforts to reduce disaster risk, and how impossible it is to achieve global development goals without addressing such hazards.“If you […]

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