Category: RT Newswire

News release

Public release date: 21-May-2008

European Science Foundation

Ocean acidification — another undesired side effect of fossil fuel-burning

Up to now, the oceans have buffered climate 

change considerably by absorbing almost one third 

of the worldwide emitted carbon dioxide. The 

oceans represent a significant carbon sink, but 

the uptake of excess CO2 stemming from man’s 

burning of fossil fuels comes at a high cost: 

ocean acidification.

Research on ocean acidification is a newly 

emerging field and was one of the major topics at 

this year’s European Geosciences Union (EGU) 

General Assembly held in Vienna in April. The 

European Science Foundation EUROCORES (European 

Collaborative Research) programme EuroCLIMATE, 

which addresses in particular global carbon cycle 

dynamics, organized and co-sponsored several 

sessions on ocean acidification.

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Published on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 by The Guardian/UK

US Environmental Official Admits White House Influenced Emissions Decision

by Elana Schor

A top official at the US Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that the agency denied strong carbon emissions limits proposed by California after the White House intervened, it emerged today.

But the official, who resigned from the agency earlier this month, told congressional investigators that he was instructed not to reveal whether George Bush or other White House officials played a personal role in the controversial blockage of California’s pollution rules.

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Animated map brings global climate crisis to life

Mon May 19, 2008 11:01am EDT  

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) – A new animated map of the earth from space illustrates the potential impact of climate change over the next century and can be viewed on your computer.

The project, Climate Change in Our World, is the result of cooperation between web search engine Google, Britain’s environment ministry and the country’s Met Office.

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“Western Democrats have found success recasting environmentalism as a 

defense of threatened water supplies, fishing spots and hunting 

grounds. As a result, the party may hold the advantage this fall in 

the region’s key Congressional races. The simultaneous rise of 

Western energy production and the Western Democrat is no coincidence.”

“Republicans created a monster for themselves,” said Rick Ridder, a 

Colorado-based Democratic consultant. “They put public policy in 

direct conflict with their base voters.”

“…industry workers upbraided officials for considering rules that 

could slow gas drilling along the Colorado-New Mexico border. 

Century-old antigovernment emotions are now aimed at state regulators 

– and much of the vitriol comes from working-class Democrats.”

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NYTimes

Drilling for Defeat?

By DAVID SIROTA

Published: May 18, 2008

Nearly two decades ago, Republicans won the West by linking Democrats 

to environmentalists, who supposedly cared more for the spotted owl 

and other favored species than they did for the jobs of loggers or 

miners. But now, as a boom in natural-gas drilling reshapes the 

region, Western Democrats have found success recasting 

environmentalism as a defense of threatened water supplies, fishing 

spots and hunting grounds. As a result, the party may hold the 

advantage this fall in the region’s key Congressional races. The 

simultaneous rise of Western energy production and the Western 

Democrat is no coincidence.

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