One month after the Copenhagen climate summit ended in recriminations and and a weak outline of a global deal, key groups of developing countries will meet to try to explore ways to get to agree a legally binding final agreement. As the dust settles on the stormy Danish meeting, environment ministers from the so-called Basic countries - Brazil, South Africa, India and China - will meet on January 24 in New Delhi. No formal agenda has been set, but observers expect the emerging geopolitical alliance between the four large developing countries who brokered the final "deal" with the US in Denmark will define a common position on emission reductions and climate aid money, and seek ways to convince other countries to sign up to the Copenhagen accord that emerged last month.
As the dust settles on the stormy Danish meeting, environment ministers from the so-called Basic countries - Brazil, South Africa, India and China - will meet on January 24 in New Delhi. No formal agenda has been set, but observers expect the emerging geopolitical alliance between the four large developing countries who brokered the final "deal" with the US in Denmark will define a common position on emission reductions and climate aid money, and seek ways to convince other countries to sign up to the Copenhagen accord that emerged last month.
Espinosa told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview that it would be "practically impossible to reverse course" on the EU's target to cut emissions by 20% and boost the participation of renewable power in Europe's energy production to 20% by 2020, as those were targets set by a council of EU ministers. ... Espinosa also said the EU will stick to its promise to provide EUR7.2 billion to aid developing nations in their efforts to fight climate change. ... Espinosa said global climate negotiations should remain the responsibility of the U.N.
...
Espinosa also said the EU will stick to its promise to provide EUR7.2 billion to aid developing nations in their efforts to fight climate change.
Espinosa said global climate negotiations should remain the responsibility of the U.N.
Venezuela's government has imposed rolling blackouts of up to four hours every other day throughout the country to help combat an energy crisis. Hugo Chavez, the president, has said rationing is necessary to prevent water levels in the country's main dam from falling to critical lows and causing a widespread power collapse. The blackouts will begin on Wednesday in the capital, Caracas.
Venezuela's government has imposed rolling blackouts of up to four hours every other day throughout the country to help combat an energy crisis.
Hugo Chavez, the president, has said rationing is necessary to prevent water levels in the country's main dam from falling to critical lows and causing a widespread power collapse.
The blackouts will begin on Wednesday in the capital, Caracas.
Russia rescued British energy consumers by ensuring a steady flow of gas into the power network as supplies from Norway faltered during the cold weather, industry customers users said today. As the National Grid warned of a "high" possibility of shortages in the north-east and south-west owing to another cold snap, the Major Energy Users' Council said Britain had been lucky to survive without shortages. Eddie Proffitt, chairman of the council's gas group, said: "The [British] gas industry has coped very well but we have been lucky. It would have been desperate if we had seen the kind of disputes between Russia and Ukraine that have reduced gas flows on the continent in the past two or three Januaries."
As the National Grid warned of a "high" possibility of shortages in the north-east and south-west owing to another cold snap, the Major Energy Users' Council said Britain had been lucky to survive without shortages. Eddie Proffitt, chairman of the council's gas group, said: "The [British] gas industry has coped very well but we have been lucky. It would have been desperate if we had seen the kind of disputes between Russia and Ukraine that have reduced gas flows on the continent in the past two or three Januaries."
This winter has shown the system we have devised does not have the resilience it should have. It runs on a 'just-in-time' principle which has economic benefits when it works but risks ending up in a 'just-too-late' if all goes wrong," said John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley. "If the Russians had hit the kind of problems with its neighbours seen in previous years then we would have toppled off the knife edge we have been sitting on with our gas supplies." The disruptions to supplies from Norway - normally seen as highly reliable - left Britain importing gas through the interconnector pipeline which runs from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Bacton in north Norfolk. In previous years shortages from Siberia have led German and Dutch suppliers to halt gas exports to Britain.
"If the Russians had hit the kind of problems with its neighbours seen in previous years then we would have toppled off the knife edge we have been sitting on with our gas supplies."
The disruptions to supplies from Norway - normally seen as highly reliable - left Britain importing gas through the interconnector pipeline which runs from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Bacton in north Norfolk. In previous years shortages from Siberia have led German and Dutch suppliers to halt gas exports to Britain.
Russia's lack of usual evilness saved Britain! LOL!
Except that it's never been shortages in Russian deliveires that led to reduced supplies to the UK, just higher local demand and priority given to local clients under existing contracts at times of normal Russian deliveries...
Way to rewrite history. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Now these people discover that efficiency harms resiliency? En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
So, the UK has a "competitive" market but no gas. Europe has a dysfunctional market and all the gas it needs. Tell me again, who it was who got it wrong?
The world's population is burning through the planet's resources at such a reckless rate - about 28 per cent more last year - it will eventually cause environmental havoc, said the Worldwatch Institute, a US think-tank. In its annual State of the World 2010 report, it warned any gains from government action on climate change could be wiped out by the cult of consumption and greed unless changes in our lifestyle were made. Consumerism had become a "powerful driver" for increasing demand for resources and consequent production of waste, with governments, including the British, too readily wanting to promoted it as necessary for job creation and economic well-being. More than £2.8 trillion of stimulus packages had been poured into economies to pull the world out of the global recession, it found, with only a small amount into green measures.
In its annual State of the World 2010 report, it warned any gains from government action on climate change could be wiped out by the cult of consumption and greed unless changes in our lifestyle were made.
Consumerism had become a "powerful driver" for increasing demand for resources and consequent production of waste, with governments, including the British, too readily wanting to promoted it as necessary for job creation and economic well-being.
More than £2.8 trillion of stimulus packages had been poured into economies to pull the world out of the global recession, it found, with only a small amount into green measures.
the cult of consumption and greed
It certainly agrees with me - and I don't find cult too strong a word at all in this context.
I don't find cult too strong a word at all in this context.
The idea that we are all, somehow, part of a cult of consumption and greed, while true, is confounding and demoralizing. How do we get out of a cult of which we were, until recently, unaware? Boy, we must be dumb. Given this, how can we be trusted to do better? Etc.
Far more effective to identify those who created the cult, to show how it benefits their interests to the detriment of our own, to subvert the hold that The Myth of the Cult has over our perceptions and to show how that has led to the current organization of our economies and societies.
That's all. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
Human civilisation 'will collapse' unless greed culture is stopped,
So let me get this straight. Unless the "greed culture" which is the major theme of the current Human civilisation, is stopped, Human civilisation 'will collapse'? What?? So let it collapse along with the "greed culture". Done. Problem solved. Pay me. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
Pay me
See !! That's the problem. right there keep to the Fen Causeway
A new study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences....was a reanalysis of various studies performed on rats which ran for 90 days (which is actually long for this sort of research). An overview of the study: There is a world-wide debate concerning the safety and regulatory approval process of genetically modified (GM) crops and foods [1, 2]. In order to scientifically address this issue, it is necessary to have access to toxicological tests, preferably on mammals, performed over the longest time-scales involving detailed blood and organ system analyses. Furthermore, these tests should, if possible, be in accordance with OECD guidelines. Unfortunately, this has been a challenge since usually these are regulatory tests performed confidentially by industry prior to commercialization of their GM crops, pesticides, drugs or chemicals. As a result, it is more instructive to investigate the available data that allows comparisons of several GMOs consumptions on health effects. This will allow the most appropriate statistical analyses to be performed in order to avoid possible false positive as well as false negative results. The physiological criteria used to either accept or reject any GM significant effect as relevant should be made clear. Here we discuss sex-related, temporal, linear and non-linear dose effects which are often involved in the establishment of chronic and endocrine diseases. We investigated three different GM corn namely NK 603, MON 810 and MON 863, which were fed to rats for 90 days. The raw data have been obtained by European governments and made publically available for scrutiny and counter-evaluation. These studies constitute a model to investigate possible subchronic toxicological effects of these GM cereals in mammals and humans. These are the longest in vivo tests performed with mammals consuming these GMOs. The animals were monitored for numerous blood and organ parameters. From the conclusion: .... in the three GM maize varieties that formed the basis of this investigation, new side effects linked to the consumption of these cereals were revealed, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others [4]. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity. This can be due to the new pesticides (herbicide or insecticide) present specifically in each type of GM maize, although unintended metabolic effects due to the mutagenic properties of the GM transformation process cannot be excluded.
There is a world-wide debate concerning the safety and regulatory approval process of genetically modified (GM) crops and foods [1, 2]. In order to scientifically address this issue, it is necessary to have access to toxicological tests, preferably on mammals, performed over the longest time-scales involving detailed blood and organ system analyses. Furthermore, these tests should, if possible, be in accordance with OECD guidelines. Unfortunately, this has been a challenge since usually these are regulatory tests performed confidentially by industry prior to commercialization of their GM crops, pesticides, drugs or chemicals. As a result, it is more instructive to investigate the available data that allows comparisons of several GMOs consumptions on health effects. This will allow the most appropriate statistical analyses to be performed in order to avoid possible false positive as well as false negative results. The physiological criteria used to either accept or reject any GM significant effect as relevant should be made clear. Here we discuss sex-related, temporal, linear and non-linear dose effects which are often involved in the establishment of chronic and endocrine diseases. We investigated three different GM corn namely NK 603, MON 810 and MON 863, which were fed to rats for 90 days. The raw data have been obtained by European governments and made publically available for scrutiny and counter-evaluation. These studies constitute a model to investigate possible subchronic toxicological effects of these GM cereals in mammals and humans. These are the longest in vivo tests performed with mammals consuming these GMOs. The animals were monitored for numerous blood and organ parameters.
We investigated three different GM corn namely NK 603, MON 810 and MON 863, which were fed to rats for 90 days. The raw data have been obtained by European governments and made publically available for scrutiny and counter-evaluation. These studies constitute a model to investigate possible subchronic toxicological effects of these GM cereals in mammals and humans. These are the longest in vivo tests performed with mammals consuming these GMOs. The animals were monitored for numerous blood and organ parameters.
From the conclusion:
.... in the three GM maize varieties that formed the basis of this investigation, new side effects linked to the consumption of these cereals were revealed, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others [4]. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity. This can be due to the new pesticides (herbicide or insecticide) present specifically in each type of GM maize, although unintended metabolic effects due to the mutagenic properties of the GM transformation process cannot be excluded.
The Obama administration on Tuesday paved the way for the return of jaguars to the American Southwest by agreeing to designate a critical habitat for the biggest cat in the Western Hemisphere, which once roamed from California to Louisiana. Jaguars occasionally are spotted in the Southwest, but usually because they cross from northern Mexico. Arguing that jaguars were native to Mexico rather than this country, the Bush administration refused to designate habitat for the endangered animal, which would give the cat special protection in certain areas. The Center for Biological Diversity filed three lawsuits since 2004 trying to compel that action. Last March, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to agree to designate a habitat. On Tuesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service said it would do so and also draw up a recovery plan for the species. Federal officials have until January 2011 to disclose their intentions, which could include intentionally reintroducing the predator to the Southwestern desert. The notion is likely to be controversial, as ranchers and some rural communities have fought the return of another predator, the Mexican gray wolf, to the region.
Jaguars occasionally are spotted in the Southwest, but usually because they cross from northern Mexico. Arguing that jaguars were native to Mexico rather than this country, the Bush administration refused to designate habitat for the endangered animal, which would give the cat special protection in certain areas. The Center for Biological Diversity filed three lawsuits since 2004 trying to compel that action. Last March, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to agree to designate a habitat.
On Tuesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service said it would do so and also draw up a recovery plan for the species.
Federal officials have until January 2011 to disclose their intentions, which could include intentionally reintroducing the predator to the Southwestern desert. The notion is likely to be controversial, as ranchers and some rural communities have fought the return of another predator, the Mexican gray wolf, to the region.
Scientists find increased methane levels in Arctic Ocean
[Underlines and emphasis added]
A team led by International Arctic Research Center scientist Igor Semiletov has found data to suggest that the carbon pool beneath the Arctic Ocean is leaking. The results of more than 1,000 measurements of dissolved methane in the surface water from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf this summer as part of the International Siberian Shelf Study show an increased level of methane in the area. Geophysical measurements showed methane bubbles coming out of chimneys on the seafloor. "The concentrations of the methane were the highest ever measured in the summertime in the Arctic Ocean," Semiletov said. "We have found methane bubble clouds above the gas-charged sediment and above the chimneys going through the sediment." The new data indicates the underwater permafrost is thawing and therefore releasing methane. Permafrost can affect methane release in two ways. Both underwater and on land, it contains frozen organic material such as dead plants and animals. When permafrost thaws, that organic material decomposes, releasing gases like methane and carbon dioxide. In addition, methane, either in gas form or in ice-like methane hydrates, is trapped underneath the permafrost. When the permafrost thaws, the trapped methane can seep out through the thawed soil. Methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, is thought to be an important factor in global climate change.
The results of more than 1,000 measurements of dissolved methane in the surface water from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf this summer as part of the International Siberian Shelf Study show an increased level of methane in the area. Geophysical measurements showed methane bubbles coming out of chimneys on the seafloor.
"The concentrations of the methane were the highest ever measured in the summertime in the Arctic Ocean," Semiletov said. "We have found methane bubble clouds above the gas-charged sediment and above the chimneys going through the sediment."
The new data indicates the underwater permafrost is thawing and therefore releasing methane. Permafrost can affect methane release in two ways. Both underwater and on land, it contains frozen organic material such as dead plants and animals. When permafrost thaws, that organic material decomposes, releasing gases like methane and carbon dioxide. In addition, methane, either in gas form or in ice-like methane hydrates, is trapped underneath the permafrost. When the permafrost thaws, the trapped methane can seep out through the thawed soil. Methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, is thought to be an important factor in global climate change.
