| April 2006
Climate Change | Energy | Environment |
D1 - Be Worried. Be Very Worried. Earth At The Tipping
Point
Kluger, Jeffrey, et al.
Time, April 3, 2006, v167, #14, pp24-54
In this cover-story special series of articles on global warming
and climate change, TIME writers and photographers paint the most
alarming picture to date of the changes taking place around the
world. The authors note that "the debate is over -- global
warming is upon us with a vengeance", writing that climatic
disruptions are now feeding off one another; scientists, who have
been warning about this for decades, now fear that we may have
reached a point of no return. The authors explain how the planet
has tipped into this crisis so quickly, and what can and is being
done to mitigate the effects of global climate change. Jeffrey
Kluger is a senior writer for TIME Magazine.
- Cleaner Air Over Scandinavia
Lemonick, Michael D
Time, Apr 3, 2006.v167, #14; p47
"What Americans might appreciate is the way local governments
are encouraged to come up with their own strategies for meeting
the national goals. For example, in Helsingborg, a coastal city
of 120,000, buses run on biogas made from garbage and other
organic waste from households and nearby farms. It's part of
a program that dates from 2000, when city officials decided
they would get 20% of municipal vehicles running on renewable
fuel by 2010.
- Feeling the Heat
Bjerklie, David
Time, Apr 3, 2006, v167, #14; pp36-37
"Amphibians have been hopping, swimming and crawling
about the planet for 350 million years. But their future is
hardly assured. A global assessment of the state of this entire
class of vertebrates found that nearly one-third of the 5,743
known species are in serious trouble. Climate change may well
be the culprit in most cases, either directly or indirectly.
The home habitat of the golden toad (at right, bottom) in Costa
Rica moved up the mountain until "home" disappeared
entirely"
- Preaching for the Planet
Roston, Eric
Time, Apr 3, 2006, v167, #14; p58
"The Rev. Jim Ball agrees with President George W. Bush's
positions on abstinence, stem-cell research, traditional marriage
and the rights of an unborn child. But the Administration's
environmental policies strike him as morally wrongheaded, and
he's not afraid to say so."
- Rewarding Good Behavior
Alexander, Charles
Time, Apr 3, 2006, v167, #14; p55
"What's in it for Brazilians and Kansans? Environmental
Defense is lobbying Congress to approve a system that would
mandate reductions in emissions and allow the sale of permits
to release specified amounts of carbon. Companies having trouble
cutting emissions could buy allowances from firms that have
unused permits. Or they could pay farmers to store carbon and
developing nations to preserve forests."
- Saving one City at a Time
Roosevelt, Margot
Time, Apr 3, 2006, v167,#14; p48
"Seattle mayor Greg Nickels has news for President George
W. Bush: global warming is also "local" warming. So
for Nickels and his constituents, climate change is about the
Cascade Mountains, where the city gets its water and hydropower
and where the snowpack has shrunk by half over the past 50 years.
It's about the effect of Puget Sound's warmer waters on wild-salmon
runs. It's about hotter summers cooking up more smog."
- The Greening of Wal-Mart
Fonda, Daren
Time, Apr 3, 2006, v167, #14; pp48-49
"Cynics might call it a "greenwash," a bid to
deflect attention from Wal-Mart's controversial labor and health-insurance
practices."
- The Impact of Asia's Giants
Walsh, Bryan
Time, Apr 3, 2006, v167, #14; pp61-62
"The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that the
increase in greenhouse-gas emissions from 2000 to 2030 from
China alone will nearly equal the increase from the entire industrialized
world. India, though behind its Asian rival, could see greenhouse-gas
emissions that rise 70% by 2025, according to the World Resources
Institute." Fulltext articles
D2 - Agenda For Climate Action
Pew Center on Global Climate Change, February 2006, 24p.
“The Pew Center on Global Climate Change released the first comprehensive
plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
The”Agenda for Climate Action” identifies both broad and specific
policies, combining recommendations on economy-wide mandatory
emissions cuts, technology development, scientific research, energy
supply, and adaptation with critical steps that can be taken in
key sectors. The report is the culmination of a two-year effort
that articulates a pragmatic course of action across all areas
of the economy. The report calls for a combination of technology
and policy and urges action in six key areas: (1) science and
technology, (2) market-based programs, (3) sectoral emissions,
(4) energy production and use, (5) adaptation, and (6) international
engagement. Within these six areas, the Agenda outlines fifteen
specific recommendations that should be started now, including
U.S. domestic reductions and engagement in the international negotiation
process.” All the recommendations are capable of implementation
in the near-term.” Fulltext
D3 - Climate Science 2005: Major New Discoveries
Levin, Kelly; Pershing, Jonathan
World Resources Institute, WRI Issue Brief, March 2006, 16p
“2005 was a year in which the scientific discoveries and new research
on climate change confirmed the fears and concerns of the science
community. The findings reported in the peer-reviewed journals
last year point to an unavoidable conclusion: The physical consequences
of climate change are no longer theoretical; they are real, they
are here, and they can be quantified. In this short paper, WRI
reviews some of the major discoveries from the past year. Taken
collectively, they suggest that the world may well have moved
past a key physical tipping point.” This paper presents an overview
with short abstract over the relevant articles published in 2005.
Kelly Levin is a Ph.D. candidate at the Yale School of Forestry
and Environmental Studies. Jonathan Pershing is the Director of
the Climate, Energy, and Pollution Program (CEP) at the World
Resources Institute. Fulltext
D4 - California Climate Change Portal
Global warming and climate change has been a top priority for
the state of California for years already. “This website combines
information on the impacts of climate change on California and
the state's policies relating to global warming with the California
Climate Change Center, a "virtual" research and information
website.” Visitors find information about various initiatives
sponsored by different agencies within the state and learn how
a single state fights global warming. Fulltext
D5 - Toward a Long-Range Energy Security Policy
Elhefnawy, Nader
Parameters, Spring 2006, v36, #1, pp101-114
"The vagaries of oil politics (and the ecological problems
raised by carbon emissions) are indeed serious problems, and they
are not entirely separable from the questions this article means
to raise, but the focus here will be on the problem of fossil
fuel scarcity at the global level. This article seeks to provide
an overview of the situation, including the prospects for an economy
based on renewable energy, the security problems likely to result
from tightening oil supplies, and a possible basis for making
the transition to alternatives widely acknowledged as inevitable
in the long run." Nader Elhefnawy is a graduate of Florida
International University and a graduate student at the University
of Miami. Fulltext
D6 - Renewable Energy: Tax Credit, Budget and Electricity
Production Issues
Sissine, Fred
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Issue Brief for Congress,
IB10041, March 28, 2006, 19p.
"The Bush Administration’s FY2007 budget request for the
Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Renewable Energy Program seeks
$359.2 million for renewables, which is $84.0
million, or 30.5%, more than the FY2006 appropriation. In support
of the President’s proposal for an Advanced Energy Initiative,
the request includes major funding increases for solar energy
(to support the Solar America Initiative) and biomass (to support
the Biorefinery Initiative)." Fred Sissine is with the
Resources, Science, and Industry Division at the Congressional
Research Service. Fulltext
D7 - An Energy Revolution
Zubrin, Robert
American Enterprise, March 2006, #2, pp16-20
"Energy conservation offers only a strained strategy for
enduring economic oppression with very slightly ameliorated pain.
Today’s petroleum monopolists would still ultimately have us over
a barrel. The ballyhooed hydrogen economy, meanwhile, is a hoax
.If we are to win the critical energy battle, there is only one
way to do it. We must take ourselves, and the rest of the world,
off the petroleum standard. Only by doing this can we destroy
the economic power of our enemies at the very foundations. Only
in this way can we transfer control of the future from those who
take their wealth, pre-made, from the ground (and therefore have
no need for education or freedom), to those who make their wealth
through hard work, skill, and creativity (who thus must build
free societies which maximize the human potential of every citizen)."
Dr. Robert Zubrin, President of the AerospaceeEngineering
and research firm Pioneer Astronautics, wrote The Case for Mars,
and other books. Fulltext
D8 - Lessons Of Rocky Flats
Dreyer, Evan
State Legislatures, October/November 2005, v31, #9, pp12-17
The nuclear weapons complex at Rocky Flats in Colorado was once
one of the dirtiest EPA "Superfund" environmental cleanup
sites. Opened in 1951, plutonium triggers for some 70,000 nuclear
warheads were produced there. However, in June 1989, tipped off
to illegal dumping, federal agents raided the facility, closing
down production. The site had structures so radioactive that instruments
went "off the scales", and contained one building labeled
"the most dangerous in America." Despite local distrust
of the U.S. Department of Energy and after several years of inaction,
the Colorado state governor's office took the lead in drawing
up a Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement. Bipartisan support by state
and national lawmakers was crucial in providing the funding for
the cleanup effort and has been hailed as a major success story
in federal-state-local cooperation. Evan Dreyer is a former
city editor for The Denver Post. Today he freelances for numerous
publications. Fulltext
D9 - Protecting New Orleans
Fischetti, Mark
Scientific American, February 2006, v294, #2, pp64-71
Fischetti reviews storm surge defenses used in other countries,
which experts suggest should be considered for New Orleans. Diagrams
illustrate floating and sluice gates used along the Netherlands
coast, hydraulic disks on the River Thames near London, and flaps
being installed to protect Venice, Italy. He notes the need to
coordinate physical protection across governmental jurisdictions,
incorporate scientific data into the plans, and address the issues
of people living in such vulnerable areas. Evan Dreyer is
a former city editor for The Denver Post. Today he freelances
for numerous publications. Fulltext
D10 - Surveying The Precautionary Principle's Ongoing
Global Development: The Evolution of an Emergent Environmental
Management Tool
LaFranchi, Scott
Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review, Winter 2005,
v32, #3, pp679-720
"The precautionary principle, which many trace back to German
regulations promulgated in the early 1970s, has developed into
an important environmental management tool. Its inclusion in numerous
international treaties and agreements over the past seventeen
years confirms its significance. Beyond international treaties,
many foreign governments have explored the application of the
precautionary principle to their own decisionmaking procedures.
[…] Despite this growing global acceptance and implementation
of the precautionary principle, the United States has remained
adamantly opposed to its introduction into domestic policy. This
Note focuses on international application or non-application of
the precautionary principle in order to better understand the
United States' current opposition. Ultimately, this comparative
analysis should clarify, which, if any, governmental avenue will
prove most effective in laying the foundation for implementation
of the precautionary principle in this country." Scott
LaFranchi was symposium editor, of the Boston College Environmental
Affairs Law Review. Fulltext
D11 - Next Steps for the Business Community
Assadourian, Erik
World Watch, March/April 2006, v19, #2, pp16-20
“Many companies have prioritized waste reduction and profited
in the process, writes Erik Assadourian ... ‘But becoming more
efficient is not enough’, notes Assadourian: ‘Eco-efficiency will
simply delay the environmental collapse threatened by the unbridled
growth of the global economy.’ To maintain an industrial economy
in a world of increasing environmental constraints, businesses
will have to become not just eco-efficient but "eco-effective,"
a term coined by William McDonough and Michael Braungart that
calls for the design of goods and production processes that follow
the laws of nature.” Erik Assadourian is a staff researcher
at Worldwatch and Project Director of Vital Signs 2006-2007. Fulltext
D12 - Index of Leading Environmental Indicators 2006
Hayward, Steven F.
Pacific Research Institute, 11th ed. April 2006, 102p.
“Though 2005 offered a full plate of environmental episodes that
riveted the world’s attention, including environmental calamities
in China, Hurricane Katrina, and the U.N. conference on climate
change, the march of environmental progress continues,” according
to this report as it “highlights the positive trends occurring
in key areas including climate change, air quality, water quality,
toxic chemicals, and biodiversity in the U.S. … This year’s edition
also explores the so-called death of the modern environmental
movement and identifies ways to renew and restore its credibility.”
Steven F. Hayward is Senior Fellow at the Pacific Research
Institute. He has been the author of PRI’s annual Index of Leading
Environmental Indicators since its launch in 1994. He is also
the F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute,
and author of AEI’s Environmental Policy Outlook. Fulltext
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