2011 saw record number of high-cost weather disasters in U.S.

By Mara Lee, Hartford Courant 8 December 2011 Reporting from Hartford, Conn.— The United States had a dozen weather disasters that each caused at least $1 billion in damages in 2011, the greatest frequency of severe weather that caused costly losses in more than 30 years of federal government tracking. However, even with the number […]

World’s biggest polluters stymie agreement at Durban global warming talks

By Alex Morales and Kim Chipman9 December 2011 China, the U.S. and India, the three biggest polluters, maintained their resistance to a time line leading to a legally-binding climate treaty, threatening efforts to keep up the fight on global warming this year. European Union Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said she hasn’t yet won backing for […]

U.S. climate stance is ‘blowing negotiations apart’, PNG envoy declares

By Kim Chipman and Alex Morales7 December 2011 The U.S. view that no new global climate deal is possible before 2020 is derailing negotiations aimed at slashing the world’s oil and coal emissions, according to an envoy at the talks. “The present U.S. position of no new agreement until post- 2020 is really blowing negotiations […]

From Cairo to the Cape, climate change takes hold of Africa – ‘A new and harsh reality’

By John Vidal, environment editor, www.guardian.co.uk  1 December 2011 We are right on the equator, and Speke, Moebius, Elena, Savoia, and Moore, the five great glaciers of the the Rwenzori, the Mountains of the Moon, glint in the bright Ugandan sun. Usually lost in the mists that cloak these peaks up to 5,100 metres high, […]

Cardinal: Failure to address climate change is ‘moral apartheid’ – ‘Don’t we realize that the climate is out of control?’

December 5 (Catholic World News) – As the Durban Climate Change Conference reached its midway point, the president of the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies compared current environmental policies to apartheid. Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas Internationalis, said that “just as South Africa’s apartheid era policies sought divisions along race lines, […]

Preparation for climate displacement too slow, experts say

By Laurie Goering5 December 2011  DURBAN, South Africa (AlertNet) – Climate impacts such as worsening droughts, flooding, storm surges and sea level rise could displace tens of millions of people by mid-century, scientists predict. But national and international rules governing resettlement of forced environmental migrants, and how they will be treated under the law, remain […]

Simultaneous ice melt in Antarctic and Arctic – Sea levels will rise much faster than previously predicted

Contact: Dr. Gerhard Kuhn (tel.: +49 (0)471 4831-1204; e-mail: Gerhard.Kuhn(at)awi.de) and in the press office Ralf Röchert (tel.: +49 (0)471 4831-1680; e-mail: Ralf.Roechert(at)awi.de)1 December 2011 Bremerhaven – The end of the last ice age and the processes that led to the melting of the northern and southern ice sheets supply basic information on changes in […]

Inuit hunter takes climate-change message to Durban conference

By Geoffrey York 5 December 2011 DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA — From Monday’s Globe and Mail It took 30 hours of flying, but Inuit hunter Jordan Konek has arrived in the land of surfers and palm trees with a message for the world’s politicians: Climate change is real, and it could devastate Canada’s Arctic people. At […]

Former negotiator says Canada blocking Durban climate talks

By Mike De Souza, Postmedia News 4 December 2011 DURBAN, South Africa – A retired Canadian government negotiator who worked on one of the world’s most successful environmental treaties says that Canada’s negotiating tactics at international climate change talks are impeding progress, while protecting the interests of a single industry. “I’m not so sure the […]

Graph of the Day: World Energy Consumption by Fuel Type, 1990-2035

In the long-term, the Reference case projects increased world consumption of marketed energy from all fuel sources through 2035. Fossil fuels are expected to continue supplying much of the energy used worldwide. Although liquid fuels—mostly petroleum based—remain the largest source of energy, the liquids share of world marketed energy consumption falls from 34 percent in […]

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