Published: 11.14.2008

Brown clouds threaten health, crops across the globe
By Tini Tran and John Heilprin  THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIJING — A dirty brown haze sometimes more than a mile thick is darkening skies not only over vast areas of Asia, but also in the Middle East, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin, changing weather patterns around the world and threatening health and food supplies, the United Nations reported Thursday.

The huge, smoglike plumes, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, are known as “atmospheric brown clouds.”

Continue reading

Environmental Protection Agency Warned to Address Ocean Acidification or Face Lawsuit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2008  2:19 PM

CONTACT: Center for Biological Diversity-Miyoko Sakashita,
(415) 436-9682 x 308 or (510) 845-6703 (cell)

Environmental Protection Agency Warned to Address Ocean Acidification or Face Lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO-November 13. The Center for Biological Diversity today notified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of its intent to file a lawsuit against the agency for its failure to respond to the threat of ocean acidification. Last year, the Center filed a formal petition asking EPA to impose stricter pH standards for ocean water quality and publish guidance to help states protect U.S. waters from ocean acidification. Today’s notice of intent to sue urges EPA to promptly respond to the Center’s petition.

Continue reading

Vandana Shiva New and Hopeful Perspective on Climate Change

Vandana Shiva New and Hopeful Perspective on Climate Change

EXCERPT:

Vandana Shiva Rocks the House. By Tom Phillfpot, Grist, October 26, 2008. “I’ve just
come out of the most hopeful and interesting discussions of climate change I’ve ever
witnessed. Anchored by Indian food-sovereignty activist Vandana Shiva [founder of
Navdanya], the panel discussion at Terra Madre’s [2008 biannual international
conference, convening in Turin] unveiled a new Manifesto on Climate Change and the
Future of Food Safety [PDF, 56 pp], drawn up by the International Commission on the
Future of Food and Agriculture. The room was packed beyond capacity with at least
400 people, and the discussion was translated through headsets into eight languages.
The document under discussion is brisk, lucid, and to the point… To me, Shiva and
her multinational crew of colleagues (other commission members include Wendell
Berry, Jose Bové of Via Campesina, Frances Moore Lappé, and Alice Waters) have
articulated a powerful new vision for confronting climate change — one more potent
even than Al Gore’s famed slides and push for trade-based solutions. Where Gore
dreams of a ‘low-carbon’ or even ‘carbon-free’ world, Shiva pines for a
‘carbon-rich’ future — one in which agriculture systematically builds organic
matter into the soil, capturing it from the atmosphere.”

LINKS:

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/10/25/904/94558

http://www.arsia.toscana.it/petizione/documents/clima/CLIMA_ING.pdf

———————————————————————————————–

Biofuels Industry Pressures EPA To Ignore Rainforest Destruction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2008  11:27 AM

CONTACT: Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Aaron Huertas, 202-331-5458

Biofuels Industry Pressures EPA To Ignore Rainforest Destruction

WASHINGTON – November 10 – The Environmental Protection Agency must accurately account for global warming emissions from biofuels when implementing the new renewable fuel standard, leading environmental and science groups said in a letter they sent today to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

In last year’s energy bill, Congress explicitly required the EPA to accurately measure global warming emissions from renewable fuels based on their entire lifecycle, from cultivation to fuel production to vehicle exhaust. However, industry trade groups and others are pressuring EPA to omit or delay accounting for greenhouse gas emissions from land use change, such as tropical deforestation, tied to expanding biofuels production.

Continue reading