Gordon Brown tonight led a chorus of condemnation against "flat-earth" climate change sceptics who have tried to derail the Copenhagen summit by casting doubt on the evidence for global warming.Sceptics in the UK and the US have moved to capitalise on a series of hacked emails from climate change scientists at the University of East Anglia, claiming they show attempts to hide information that does not support the case for human activity causing rising temperatures.
Gordon Brown tonight led a chorus of condemnation against "flat-earth" climate change sceptics who have tried to derail the Copenhagen summit by casting doubt on the evidence for global warming.
Sceptics in the UK and the US have moved to capitalise on a series of hacked emails from climate change scientists at the University of East Anglia, claiming they show attempts to hide information that does not support the case for human activity causing rising temperatures.
It is not for nothing that the pithily-entitled 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP15 for short, has been described as "the most difficult talks ever embarked upon by humanity". Some 17,000 delegates, campaigners and journalists will all be attempting to make their voices heard. A total of 98 leaders and heads of state will be in Copenhagen at some point during the two-week summit with most, including French president Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and German chancellor Angela Merkel, below, attending for the crucial final two days on 17-18 December. The prime minister Gordon Brown is also expected to attend in the second week. A notable exception to this is Barack Obama, above, The American president, and potentially the most important individual to attend, will be arriving for one day only next Wednesday before departing to Oslo to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize. The White House insists that Mr Obama's early and brief attendance to provide "impetus" to the talks.
It is not for nothing that the pithily-entitled 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP15 for short, has been described as "the most difficult talks ever embarked upon by humanity".
Some 17,000 delegates, campaigners and journalists will all be attempting to make their voices heard. A total of 98 leaders and heads of state will be in Copenhagen at some point during the two-week summit with most, including French president Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and German chancellor Angela Merkel, below, attending for the crucial final two days on 17-18 December. The prime minister Gordon Brown is also expected to attend in the second week. A notable exception to this is Barack Obama, above, The American president, and potentially the most important individual to attend, will be arriving for one day only next Wednesday before departing to Oslo to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize. The White House insists that Mr Obama's early and brief attendance to provide "impetus" to the talks.
Barack Obama has bowed to international appeals for America to demonstrate commitment to action on global warming, and said he will join other world leaders for the crunch negotiating sessions of the Copenhagen climate change summit.The White House, in a statement from the press secretary, Robert Gibbs, last night said Obama would adjust his original travel schedule, under which he would have dropped in on the summit on 9 December, en route to receiving his Nobel peace prize in Oslo."The president believes that continued US leadership can be most productive through his participation at the end of the Copenhagen conference on December 18th," the statement said. "There are still outstanding issues that must be negotiated for an agreement to be reached, but this decision reflects the president's commitment to doing all he can to pursue a positive outcome."
Barack Obama has bowed to international appeals for America to demonstrate commitment to action on global warming, and said he will join other world leaders for the crunch negotiating sessions of the Copenhagen climate change summit.
The White House, in a statement from the press secretary, Robert Gibbs, last night said Obama would adjust his original travel schedule, under which he would have dropped in on the summit on 9 December, en route to receiving his Nobel peace prize in Oslo.
"The president believes that continued US leadership can be most productive through his participation at the end of the Copenhagen conference on December 18th," the statement said. "There are still outstanding issues that must be negotiated for an agreement to be reached, but this decision reflects the president's commitment to doing all he can to pursue a positive outcome."
LONDON (Reuters) - Around 20,000 people joined a climate change march in central London on Saturday calling for world leaders to agree a deal to protect the environment at their summit in Copenhagen. The protest was organised by a coalition of green groups and charities calling for action to prevent global temperatures rising more than two degrees centigrade, seen by many scientists as the threshold for dangerous climate change. The marchers, many wearing blue clothes and face paint, made their way towards the Houses of Parliament chanting slogans and blowing whistles, bearing placards saying "Climate Justice Now" and "Climate Change: The End Is Nigh."
LONDON (Reuters) - Around 20,000 people joined a climate change march in central London on Saturday calling for world leaders to agree a deal to protect the environment at their summit in Copenhagen.
The protest was organised by a coalition of green groups and charities calling for action to prevent global temperatures rising more than two degrees centigrade, seen by many scientists as the threshold for dangerous climate change.
The marchers, many wearing blue clothes and face paint, made their way towards the Houses of Parliament chanting slogans and blowing whistles, bearing placards saying "Climate Justice Now" and "Climate Change: The End Is Nigh."
Up to 20 million Bangladeshis may be forced to leave the country in the next 40 years because of climate change, one of the country's most senior politicians has said. Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Bangladesh's finance minister, called on Britain and other wealthy countries to accept millions of displaced people.In a clear signal to the US and Europe that developing countries are not prepared to accept a weak deal at next week's Copenhagen climate summit, Abdul Muhith said Bangladesh wanted hosts for managed migration as people began to abandon flooded and storm-damaged coastal areas.
Up to 20 million Bangladeshis may be forced to leave the country in the next 40 years because of climate change, one of the country's most senior politicians has said. Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Bangladesh's finance minister, called on Britain and other wealthy countries to accept millions of displaced people.
In a clear signal to the US and Europe that developing countries are not prepared to accept a weak deal at next week's Copenhagen climate summit, Abdul Muhith said Bangladesh wanted hosts for managed migration as people began to abandon flooded and storm-damaged coastal areas.
Sub-Saharan Africa is becoming the sahara due to climate change. Also, World Bank and WTF impositioons impoverish people and leave them with no choice but to try their luck in europe.
Nobody but nobody pays thousands of pounds of money they don't have to travel to a place they don't know if there are alternatives to hand. keep to the Fen Causeway
Vegetarians, look away now. Potatoes and tomatoes make good eating but they may also have a vicious side that makes them deadly killers on a par with venus fly traps and pitcher plants. They have been identified as among a host of plants thought to have been overlooked by botanists and explorers searching the world's remotest regions for carnivorous species. Researchers at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew now believe there are hundreds more plants that catch and eat insects and other small animals than they previously realised. Among them are species of petunia, ornamental tobacco plants, potatoes and tomatoes and shepherd's purse, a relative of cabbages.
Vegetarians, look away now.
Potatoes and tomatoes make good eating but they may also have a vicious side that makes them deadly killers on a par with venus fly traps and pitcher plants.
They have been identified as among a host of plants thought to have been overlooked by botanists and explorers searching the world's remotest regions for carnivorous species.
Researchers at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew now believe there are hundreds more plants that catch and eat insects and other small animals than they previously realised. Among them are species of petunia, ornamental tobacco plants, potatoes and tomatoes and shepherd's purse, a relative of cabbages.
LILLE, France (Reuters) Amid the hum of machinery and warm odor of putrefying autumn leaves, official Pierre Hirtzberger is explaining how three giant fermenters can convert household food waste, trimmings from parks and gardens and the slops from school and hospital canteens into enough methane gas to power about a third of the buses in the French city. "The process is exactly the same as in the stomach of a cow," he said, gesturing toward three biodigesters which each hold 20,000 cubic meters of rotting liquefied waste "The objective is to fuel 100 of Lille's buses on this biogas, out of a total fleet of 350," Hirtzberger, head of the city's urban waste research and development, told Reuters. From San Francisco to Malmo, Sweden, cities around the globe are preparing for a new imperative: to accommodate the mass of world population growth and thrive, without further accelerating the release of carbon dioxide that threatens their existence. With half the world's population already living in cities and the urban population projected to reach almost five billion by 2030, it is not just growth that puts them in the front line of climate change. Even if populations escaping drought migrate to urban centers, the fact that 60 per cent of the world's 39 largest metropolises are located in coastal areas puts the cities themselves at risk in future centuries, from rising seas.
"The process is exactly the same as in the stomach of a cow," he said, gesturing toward three biodigesters which each hold 20,000 cubic meters of rotting liquefied waste "The objective is to fuel 100 of Lille's buses on this biogas, out of a total fleet of 350," Hirtzberger, head of the city's urban waste research and development, told Reuters.
From San Francisco to Malmo, Sweden, cities around the globe are preparing for a new imperative: to accommodate the mass of world population growth and thrive, without further accelerating the release of carbon dioxide that threatens their existence. With half the world's population already living in cities and the urban population projected to reach almost five billion by 2030, it is not just growth that puts them in the front line of climate change.
Even if populations escaping drought migrate to urban centers, the fact that 60 per cent of the world's 39 largest metropolises are located in coastal areas puts the cities themselves at risk in future centuries, from rising seas.
THERE is a widespread view, particularly among environmentalists and liberals, that big businesses are environmentally destructive, greedy, evil and driven by short-term profits. I know -- because I used to share that view. But today I have more nuanced feelings. <...> I've discovered that while some businesses are indeed as destructive as many suspect, others are among the world's strongest positive forces for environmental sustainability. ... <...> On each of these issues, American businesses are going to play as much or more of a role in our progress as the government. And this isn't a bad thing, as corporations know they have a lot to gain by establishing environmentally friendly business practices. My friends in the business world keep telling me that Washington can help on two fronts: by investing in green research, offering tax incentives and passing cap-and-trade legislation; and by setting and enforcing tough standards to ensure that companies with cheap, dirty standards don't have a competitive advantage over those businesses protecting the environment. As for the rest of us, we should get over the misimpression that American business cares only about immediate profits, and we should reward companies that work to keep the planet healthy. Jared Diamond, a professor of geography at the University of California at Los Angeles, is the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel" and "Collapse."
THERE is a widespread view, particularly among environmentalists and liberals, that big businesses are environmentally destructive, greedy, evil and driven by short-term profits. I know -- because I used to share that view.
But today I have more nuanced feelings.
<...>
I've discovered that while some businesses are indeed as destructive as many suspect, others are among the world's strongest positive forces for environmental sustainability. ...
On each of these issues, American businesses are going to play as much or more of a role in our progress as the government. And this isn't a bad thing, as corporations know they have a lot to gain by establishing environmentally friendly business practices.
My friends in the business world keep telling me that Washington can help on two fronts: by investing in green research, offering tax incentives and passing cap-and-trade legislation; and by setting and enforcing tough standards to ensure that companies with cheap, dirty standards don't have a competitive advantage over those businesses protecting the environment. As for the rest of us, we should get over the misimpression that American business cares only about immediate profits, and we should reward companies that work to keep the planet healthy.
Jared Diamond, a professor of geography at the University of California at Los Angeles, is the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel" and "Collapse."
Jared Diamond, a professor of geography at the University of California at Los Angeles, ...
Jared Diamond - Will Big Business Save the Earth?
and we're suppose to take this SERIOUSLY?
And in other news, TWANK, a known half-wit bullshitter, predicts that women's breasts will stop global warming. Film at 11. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
A conservation initiative seeks to preserve up to 1 million acres of tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills -- some of the last stands of tallgrass in the nation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering buying voluntary conservation easements in 14 Kansas counties. Participating landowners would have control over day-to-day operations on their land, and be able to pass it on or sell it. The easements would prevent landowners from developing the land for residential or commercial use. The plan, still being developed, also might govern how much or where wind-energy operations could be placed, said Amy Thornburg with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver. "We want to end up with an intact tallgrass prairie. And although intact is a hard thing to describe, you know it when you see it," Thornburg said. "The tallgrass region includes ranching, fire, grazing and prairie chickens. They are all dependent on each other. If it wasn't for the ranching heritage of the area, we wouldn't have a prairie." The sea of grass and wildflowers, which once stretched from Northern Texas through Manitoba, largely has been plowed up, paved over or built upon. Between 2 and 4 percent of the nation's prairie remains, and much of it is in the Flint Hills. "The prairie is shrinking every day through invasion of trees, homes and roads," said Flint Hills rancher Bill Sproul. "I like to think of the easements as preservation of the horizon. The horizon is important to me because it is one of the few things that you can only view from afar."
The easements would prevent landowners from developing the land for residential or commercial use. The plan, still being developed, also might govern how much or where wind-energy operations could be placed, said Amy Thornburg with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver.
"We want to end up with an intact tallgrass prairie. And although intact is a hard thing to describe, you know it when you see it," Thornburg said. "The tallgrass region includes ranching, fire, grazing and prairie chickens. They are all dependent on each other. If it wasn't for the ranching heritage of the area, we wouldn't have a prairie."
The sea of grass and wildflowers, which once stretched from Northern Texas through Manitoba, largely has been plowed up, paved over or built upon. Between 2 and 4 percent of the nation's prairie remains, and much of it is in the Flint Hills.
"The prairie is shrinking every day through invasion of trees, homes and roads," said Flint Hills rancher Bill Sproul. "I like to think of the easements as preservation of the horizon. The horizon is important to me because it is one of the few things that you can only view from afar."
I grew up in a lightly grazed prairie in Osage County, Oklahoma and remember wading through dew covered grass above my knees in June. It was populated with meadow larks, scissor-tailed fly catchers, cliff swallows, dove, cotton tail rabbits and terrapin that I remember. It seemed a vast, rolling sea of grass to me at age eight. The creek bottoms were covered with trees and held other wonders.
The father of a friend was the foreman for the Boots Adams Ranch many miles to the north east. Adams was the CEO of Phillips Petroleum and that ranch has become a tall grass preserve. It is good to see more of this ecosystem being preserved. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
It's the largest relatively intact tall grass prairie left in the US. And it's importance literally lies in the fact it IS the largest intact prairie. There are "prairie areas" in other states but those are arks, not big enough to support the full ecosystem. The Flint Hills is big enough.
And it's absolutely stunning. Mile after mile of rolling hills, carpeted by Big Bluestem, Buffalo Grass, waving as the wind brushes along their tops like a sea of green.
Down at the base of the hills waterways and water collection points, out of the wind, support a wide range of brush and shrubs.
Creeks run joyously along, creating stands of Cottonwoods and River Birches along their banks.
Occasionally forming ponds or even small lakes.
Fire is part of the ecosystem. Recycling nutrients back into the soil for future generations. The plant and animal species have evolved to coexist with it.
The plants have also evolved to be heavily grazed by herds of Buffalo with thousands upon thousands of members.
So its good to see them reintroduced, even in pitiful numbers.
(That's not me. (Thank god for Google®.))
Richard Whetsell, the father of a highschool friend, was the last foreman of Boots Adam's ranch and was involved in creating the The Tall Grass Prairie Reserve from that ranch and possibly other property. Frank Phillips, founder of Phillips Petroleum, had an estate near Bartlesville, Phillips headquarters until recently. On that estate he had bison and pronghorn antelope. At one time those bison were among the few herds that survived. It would be most fitting were the bison now on The Tall Grass Prairie Reserve to be partly descended from those animals. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
