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Zichal, who has spent five years in the Obama administration coordinating the work of multiple agencies on issues ranging from air quality to global warming, played an instrumental role in pushing for stricter fuel efficiency standards for automobiles and limits on mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants.
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on December 2nd, 2013 EXIL: BRUCHSTÜCKE UND LEBENSMODELLE JULYA RABINOWICH IN TEXT UND GESPRÄCH. Julya Rabinowich: österreichische Schriftstellerin, Dramatikerin, Malerin und Simultandolmetscherin. Moderation: Isolde Charim, Autorin und Philosophin Anmeldungen unter: Tel.: 3188260/20 Fax: 318 82 60/10 e-mail: einladung.kreiskyforum@ Melitta Campostrini ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on November 29th, 2013
Join a live-streamed science seminar: Improving the quantification of agriculture emissions in low-income countries. When: Wednesday 4 December 2013 Our knowledge of greenhouse gas sources and sinks in smallholder agricultural systems is remarkably limited. The Standard Assessment of Mitigation Potential and Livelihoods in Smallholder Systems project, known as SAMPLES, fills this knowledge gap by applying new and existing methods to generate comparable data on greenhouse gas balances while looking at livelihood-climate synergies in smallholder farming. Organised by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Dr. Todd Rosenstock,Environmental Impacts Scientist with the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), will on Wednesday 4 December give a live-streamed presentation on the SAMPLES project. He will illustrate how the program works with new data and methods to quantify agriculture greenhouse gas emissions in smallholder farming systems for mitigation options. The presentation will be live-streamed to an online audience, and open for questions via an online chat. Discuss the science seminar on Twitter by using #samplesGHG and engaging with: @cgiarclimate Kind regards, Cecilia Schubert CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on November 25th, 2013 We wrote about these issues when we participated at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik a month ago – we smelled there rat. Now the issue is hitting main-shore USA. We said in Reykjavik that the analogy with the DISCOVERY DAYS of Columbus and Balboa are no comparison with the UNCOVERY DAYS when our warming sins that melted the ice allow us easy access to oil, gas, minerals, transportation – you name it. The subject is worthy indeed of a good academic threshing out. ———————————————– Fueling Our Future: The Geopolitics and Economics of Energy in the 21st Century ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on November 6th, 2013 Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, liebe Mitglieder und Interessenten! Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel Präsident der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Außenpolitik und die Vereinten Nationen (ÖGAVN) lädt sehr herzlich zur nächsten Veranstaltung im Rahmen des "Internationalen Clubs" ein: Mittwoch, 13. November 2013, 12:00 Uhr Referent: Dr. Johannes MEIER Direktor der European Climate Foundation zum Thema (in deutscher Sprache ohne Übersetzung): "The End of Business-As-Usual?" Veranstaltungsort: Hofburg/Stallburg A-1010 Wien, Reitschulgasse 2/2. OG Es gilt die "Chatham House Rule": "When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed". Der Club ist von 11:00 bis 15:00 Uhr geöffnet. Das Referat beginnt um 12:00 Uhr pünktlich, bitte kommen Sie zeitgerecht. Die Diskussion mit dem Vortragenden ist bis 13:30 Uhr vorgesehen. ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on November 3rd, 2013 from: Leida Rijnhout
Executive Director
ANPED - Northern Alliance for Sustainability
Fiennesstraat 77, 1070 Brussels
Tel: + 32 (2) 520 1261
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on October 29th, 2013 Exactly a year ago, a record 9.41 foot storm surge flooded Battery Park, Lower Manhattan, Staten Island, Far Rockaway, and Breeze Point, Long Island. New York City tunnels and subways were out of service for weeks, power outages closed schools, hospitals, community centers and whole neighborhoods. Overall there were $64 billion monetary damage, 72 casualties, and more then 6 million displaced. This was the second deadliest and most destructive hurricane in the history of New York. Though as per NOAA – the Deadliest Hurricanes in the US happened in 1900 – the Great Galveston Hurricane that claimed 8,000-12,000 victims and the 1928 Okeechobee Lake Hurricane that claimed 2,500 – 3,000 lives but seems to have cost $180 Billion in today's dollars. By comparison, Katrina cost 81 Billion. The overriding question the panel put out for itself was if we learned from past Hurricanes and are better prepared for the future ones? Let me say already here, that by the time of the Q&A it became clear that the preparation must be done in major part by us – that is the communities at large – and not just wait for a Government intervention that if it even comes will be delayed at best. The panel, organized by Mehmet Kilic, Director of the center for Global Affair of the Institute was led by Ambassador Narinder Kakar (of Turkish Nationality) who after 30 years at UNDP, is now IUCN and the Costa Rica based UN Univercity for Peace representative to the UN. He gave the UN background on climate change. He was followed by Dr. Thomas Chandler and Ms. Meg Sutton from The Earth Institute of Columbia University; Mr. ndrew Martin who is the Response Coordinator for FEMA in the New York Region, and Mr. Martin Cetiner who is Vice President for International Affairs of a Turkish NGO active in humanitarian aid in 103 countries www.KimSeyoKuu.org.tr Mr. Kakar gave examples from South East Asia showing how preparation is leading to decreasing numbers of casualties though there was enhanced storm and flooding activity. He kept saying that Climate Change is the defining issue of our times and Adaptation to Climate change is the most imediate move to avoid hazards. Other needed activities are for mitigation. His examples included the earlier start of seasonal bush fires in Australia's New South Wales, and the Failin Cyclon of the coast of India where anticipation, food storage and early evacuation of 900,000 people has helped reduced – in the cyclon case the number of casualties from 10,000 to 15. Dr. Chandler mentioned that Munich Re estimated that the weather risks in America are the highest in the world. He compared these to what happened in Cuba and it cannot be said that the US is well prepared for Climate Change effects. The FEMA manager was then in no position to make the audience feel any better. The New York City free distribution daily newspaper – amNEWYORK had several pages today "City rebuilds to withstand next superstorm but much still needs to be done." same for new Jersey where Governor Christie wants to build storm surge barriers and artificial dunes to protect the shores. Until then there is no answer in fact. ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on October 8th, 2013 In an effort to keep Zichal on board, White House officials raised the possibility of her chairing the Council on Environmental Quality in the event that its chair, Nancy Sutley, would leave, according to people familiar with the decision who demanded anonymity in order to discuss sensitive personnel issues. Sutley's departure has not been announced, but the people familiar with the situation said she would step down before the end the year. In a statement, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough praised Zichal's work. "Heather is one of the president's most trusted policy advisers," McDonough said. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy said Zichal was "tremendously influential," but that her departure will not affect how the administration's climate action plan moves forward. "We're into implementation," McCarthy said. "We'll miss Heather being there, but it's not going to slow us at all." A former aide to then-Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Zichal worked on Obama's 2008 campaign and has served at the White House since the president took office in 2009. She served under climate czar Carol M. Browner until 2011, when she took over the portfolio. Reuters first reported Zichal's departure Monday. Joshua Freed, vice president for clean energy at the centrist think tank Third Way, said that since "one year in any administration should be measured in dog years, Heather has spent the equivalent of 35 years working at the White House. That's a long time. At a certain time, everyone feels the need to have a change of scenery." ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 25th, 2013 We Just discovered a reference to our website that we want to bring to our readers' attention: That link leads to a lot of ALTNEULAND blog's own information, but to toot our own horn we mention something they posted about us: You can search for all Altneuland's featured articles by clicking on the following search link: The SustainabiliTank website includes substantial coverage of sustainable development and other green issues concerning Israel, which you can find here: from SustainabiliTank: Israel According to Pincas Jawetz, the publisher of SustainabiliTank , Israel is the country that stands most to gain from the world's decreased dependence on oil. We always looked upon the Israelis as the potential natural leaders in developing alternate fuels. Israel has the manpower, scientific institutions, and the private enterprise needed for such an endeavor. In effect, going back to the 1950?s, it had people aware of the problems that come from being dependent on oil when living in an unfriendly neighborhood. Israelis worked on oil shales first, then on solar, biomass, and geothermal technologies; the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) has even created a "Commission for Future Generations" when it became obvious that for environmental reasons, as well as for sustainable development reasons, the world will have to switch to non-fossil fuels. Nevertheless, Israel itself did not implement these technologies, it also did not give away for free the technologies it did develop, perhaps because of political reasons resulting from the government's close relation to the US. In effect the Environment Ministry became a repository for politicians with other aspirations. In its own interest, as journalist Thomas Friedman said – "petrolism" is the main reason for lack of peace in the Middle East – the Israeli government should have taken a more aggressive position on this subject, one seriously wonders why this did not happen. We launched this Israel section on SustainabiliTank.info because we realized that above may change, if not through the leadership of the government, then at least through the push of NGOs and perhaps with the help of aggregates of local government. ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 15th, 2013
Europe – exact location TBC Theme: Addressing the food, water, energy and climate nexus More information will be provided in due course If you would like to be involved in this event, please contact info at cdmgoldstandard.org to discuss potential opportunities and the best way you can help support and participate in this conference. Permalink | | Email This Article
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 15th, 2013
Tom Bawden, The Independent, Thursday 15 August 2013 for graphics – go please to – www.independent.co.uk/environment… Global temperatures are climbing so rapidly that by 2040 Britain will spend up to a fifth of its summer months in an extreme heatwave, a new report warns. Unless something dramatic is done to curb the volume of greenhouse gas emissions widely regarded as responsible for climate change, then conditions currently regarded as "extreme" will become the "new normal" in the UK and most of the world by the end of the Century, the findings say. Under this scenario, by the end of the century Spain and France are likely to be experiencing extreme temperatures during 80 per cent of their summer – across much of June, July and August – with the UK slightly lower at between 50 and 60 per cent, according to Dim Coumou, the lead author of the study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. For Britain, this would mean the July 2006 heatwave – the hottest month since records began in 1659 with an average temperature of 36.5C – or higher by 17.8C from the average since then would become normal. (The United Kingdom's all-time temperature high till now was 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) attained at Faversham, Kent, on 10 August 2003.) "The tropics, the Mediterranean and the Middle East will be worst affected, but in the UK you will definitely see a very strong increase in heat extremes as well," Mr Coumou said, adding that this would be hugely damaging to agriculture and health. "Heat extremes can be very damaging to society and ecosystems, often causing heat related deaths, forest fires or losses to agricultural production. So an increase in frequency is likely to pose serious challenges to society," Mr Coumous said. The extreme heatwaves referred to in the report are known as "3-sigma" events. These are categorised by a hugely complex formula, which compares the average temperature over the course of a month with the average for that time and place for every year since the beginning of the 20th Century. Technically, the chance of experiencing a 3-sigma event is roughly one in a hundred. However, given the impact of human-emitted greenhouse gases in recent decades, such events have gone from being virtually unheard of in 1950s to becoming increasingly common in the past decade, Mr Coumou said. "A good example of a recent three-sigma event is the 2010 heat wave in Russia. In the Moscow region the average temperature for the whole of July was around 7C warmer than normal," said Mr Coumou. Other examples include the European heatwave of 2003, which was the hottest summer on record for the continent as a whole since at least 1540. Last month, while cooler than July 2006, may also qualify as a 3-sigma heatwave, said Mr Coumou, who cannot confirm this because he has not finished analysing the data. The report predicts that by 2020, a tenth of the world's land surface will be on the receiving end of a 3-sigma heatwave at any one time during the summer months – a figure that will double to a fifth by 2040. At the moment, 5 per cent of the world's land surface is affected in this way, compared to just 1 per cent in the 1960s. The changes between now and 2040 will happen regardless of the amount of carbon dioxide that is pumped into the atmosphere over that period because there is typically a ten to 20 year time lag between greenhouse gases being emitted and the resulting warming of the planet, Mr Coumous says. However, beyond 2040 the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere in the coming decades will have a huge bearing on the frequency and intensity of heatwaves as they exacerbate climate change, he says. If carbon emissions keep on growing then by the end of the century, 85 per cent of the global land area will be subject to extreme heatwaves during the summer months, the research found. However, if emissions are severely curtailed, the frequency and severity of heatwaves would stable at 2040 levels, Mr Coumous said. This makes it extremely urgent to take decision action to curb climate change, he said. The Potsdam report comes shortly after research linking a warmer world with droughts with a substantial increase in violent conflict between both individuals and entire societies. A review of 61 detailed accounts of violence published in the journal Science concluded that personal disputes and wider civil conflicts increase significantly with significant changes to weather patterns, such as increases in temperature and lack of rain. ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 14th, 2013 from Sébastien Duyck sebastien.duyck at tcktcktck.org Ten Young People of 18 to 30 years of age can get Climate Action Fellowships to Participate at the Warsaw Cop 19 of the UNFCCC (from November 8th to November 24th, 2013) if they know their Governments' Climate Policy and are ready to be active in influencing their Governments to take more active positions. This Fellowship is a volunteer opportunity. However, support for participation in the Warsaw Climate Change Conference (transportation, accommodation and per diems) as well as continuous support and capacity building is provided by the Global Call for Climate Action. Here are some of the qualities we are looking for: * You understand the landscape. Our Fellows should not only understand climate change, they are also familiar with their country's national and international climate politics; preferably with the UNFCCC itself – its history, its inner workings, and its roles in addressing climate change. * You are an excellent communicator. Our Fellows can quickly translate the complex and hard to communicate developments that happen during climate negotiations and other key moments into compelling, accessible, creative, actionable communications across multiple channels and mediums. Our primary tool is blogging – Fellows must be skilled bloggers – but the ability to leverage other communications tools and channels with strategic and/or large audiences via new and traditional media is also key to their success. * You have informed empathy. Our Fellows seek out a deep understanding of how climate change affects people in different situations, in different ways, all over the world – security, health, livelihood, values, politics, business, etc – and can tap into that understanding to help them connect with with various audiences (including their negotiators). * You are brave. In a short amount of time, each Fellow has to build relationships with experts in our partner network, members of the media, their country's negotiators and other decision makers. Fellows need to quickly absorb and synthesize new information; take public stands on complicated issues; get their ideas and opinions out to fellow activists and media in their home country in meaningful ways. * You are fast. Our Fellows are able to rapidly respond to events and opportunities inside climate negotiations and out. * You are dedicated. Our Fellows understand the stakes involved in responding to climate change, and are dedicated to helping push for progress in spite of the many setbacks, challenges and complications we face along the way. While we expect to count on our Fellows' full-time participation during the Warsaw Climate Change Conference, they also actively participate in the project throughout their Fellowship's duration. Are you looking for an incredible experience on the front lines of an essential fight in the effort to address climate change? Do you think you can excel in the Fellowship role? If so, we want to meet you. Apply here: LEARN MORE & APPLY FOR TO BECOME AN ADOPT A NEGOTIATOR 2013/2014 FELLOW. ———— *** The Opportunity *** The Global Campaign for Climate Action is awarding Adopt a Negotiator (AaN) Fellowships to exceptional young people that we think possess the ability to effectively push their countries toward unlocking climate solutions nationally and internationally. AaN Fellows will have an opportunity to help shape their government's role in solving climate change. They'll join a team of passionate, dedicated and talented activists from around the world; participating in moments that will shape if and how the governments respond adequately to the climate challenge. Their efforts will build on a proud legacy of past 'Negotiator Trackers,' and make important contributions to the climate movement in a creative, challenging and exciting role. Applicants must be 18 to 30 years of age; available to attend the Warsaw Climate Change Conference in Poland (from November 8th to November 24th, 2013); and able to actively contribute to the Adopt a Negotiator project as an activist and blogger from mid-September of this year through May of 2014. LEARN MORE & APPLY FOR TO BECOME AN ADOPT A NEGOTIATOR 2013/2014 FELLOW ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 10th, 2013 Michael T. Klare does it again. He warns us that we are worshiping the old Golden Calf set up there by the Fossil Fuels Establishment. Don't for a second imagine we are heading for an era of renewable energy. Look at it any way you want, and if you're not a booster of fossil fuels on this overheating planet of ours, it doesn't look good. Hardly a month passes, it seems, without news about the development of some previously unimaginable way to extract fossil fuels from some thoroughly unexpected place. The latest bit of "good" news: the Japanese government's announcement that natural gas has been successfully extracted from undersea methane hydrates. (Yippee!) Natural gas is gleefully touted as the "clean" fossil-fuel path to a green future, but evidence is mounting that the newest process for producing it also leaks unexpected amounts of methane, a devastating greenhouse gas. The U.S. cheers and is cheered because the amount of carbon dioxide it is putting into the atmosphere is actually falling. Then Duncan Clark at the British Guardian does the figures and discovers that "there has been no decline in the amount of carbon the U.S. is taking out of the ground. In fact, the trend is upwards. The latest year for which full data is available – 2011 – is the highest level on record." It's just that some of it (coal, in particular) was exported abroad to be burned elsewhere. In the meantime, the next set of articles come out of scientific circles suggesting that the results of all this are far from cheery. An example: a recent paper in the prestigious journal Scienceindicates that "climate change is now set to occur at a pace 'orders of magnitude more rapid' than at any other time in the last 65 million years," and we should prepare for a wave of species extinctions. In other words, the much-ballyhooed coming of North American energy "independence" is an upbeat way of saying that we will continue to heat the planet till hell boils over. Of course, those who run the giant energy companies, the politicians in their pay, and their lobbyists and associated think tanks — the real global "terrarists" for their urge to make historic profits off the heating of the planet — will, of course, continue to cheer. Though it is notoriously hard to claim climate change as the author of any specific weather event, in theever-hotter continental U.S., the experience of what's being called "extreme weather" — fromdrought to record wildfires, record heat waves to devastating tornadoes — is increasingly part of the warp and woof of everyday life. In this context, the latest TomDispatch post by Michael Klare, author of The Race for What's Left, is singularly important, if also singularly unnerving. Klare, who has long been ahead of the curve in his work on energy and resources, offers a clear-eyed look at the energy road chosen, and the view to the horizon is anything but pretty. ————— —————
When it comes to energy and economics in the climate-change era, nothing is what it seems. Most of us believe (or want to believe) that the second carbon era, the Age of Oil, will soon be superseded by the Age of Renewables, just as oil had long since superseded the Age of Coal. President Obama offered exactly this vision in a much-praised June address on climate change. True, fossil fuels will be needed a little bit longer, he indicated, but soon enough they will be overtaken by renewable forms of energy. Many other experts share this view, assuring us that increased reliance on "clean" natural gas combined with expanded investments in wind and solar power will permit a smooth transition to a green energy future in which humanity will no longer be pouring carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. All this sounds promising indeed. There is only one fly in the ointment: it is not, in fact, the path we are presently headed down. The energy industry is not investing in any significant way in renewables. Instead, it is pouring its historic profits into new fossil-fuel projects, mainly involving the exploitation of what are called "unconventional" oil and gas reserves. The result is indisputable: humanity is not entering a period that will be dominated by renewables. Instead, it is pioneering the third great carbon era, the Age of Unconventional Oil and Gas. That we are embarking on a new carbon era is increasingly evident and should unnerve us all. Hydro-fracking – the use of high-pressure water columns to shatter underground shale formations and liberate the oil and natural gas supplies trapped within them -is being undertaken in ever more regions of the United States and in a growing number of foreign countries. In the meantime, the exploitation of carbon-dirty heavy oil and tar sands formations is accelerating in Canada, Venezuela, and elsewhere. It's true that ever more wind farms and solar arrays are being built, but here's the kicker: investment in unconventional fossil-fuel extraction and distribution is now expected to outpace spending on renewables by a ratio of at least three-to-one in the decades ahead. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), an inter-governmental research organization based in Paris, cumulative worldwide investment in new fossil-fuel extraction and processing will total an estimated $22.87 trillion between 2012 and 2035, while investment in renewables, hydropower, and nuclear energy will amount to only $7.32 trillion. In these years, investment in oil alone, at an estimated $10.32 trillion, is expected to exceed spending on wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels, hydro, nuclear, and every other form of renewable energy combined. In addition, as the IEA explains, an ever-increasing share of that staggering investment in fossil fuels will be devoted to unconventional forms of oil and gas: Canadian tar sands, Venezuelan extra-heavy crude, shale oil and gas, Arctic and deep-offshore energy deposits, and other hydrocarbons derived from previously inaccessible reserves of energy. The explanation for this is simple enough. The world's supply of conventional oil and gas – fuels derived from easily accessible reservoirs and requiring a minimum of processing — is rapidly disappearing. With global demand for fossil fuels expected to rise by 26% between now and 2035, more and more of the world's energy supply will have to be provided by unconventional fuels. In such a world, one thing is guaranteed: global carbon emissions will soar far beyond our current worst-case assumptions, meaning intense heat waves will become commonplace and our few remaining wilderness areas will be eviscerated. Planet Earth will be a far – possibly unimaginably – harsher and more blistering place. In that light, it's worth exploring in greater depth just how we ended up in such a predicament, one carbon age at a time. The first carbon era The first carbon era began in the late eighteenth century, with the introduction of coal-powered steam engines and their widespread application to all manner of industrial enterprises. Initially used to power textile mills and industrial plants, coal was also employed in transportation (steam-powered ships and railroads), mining, and the large-scale production of iron. Indeed, what we now call the Industrial Revolution was largely comprised of the widening application of coal and steam power to productive activities. Eventually, coal would also be used to generate electricity, a field in which it remains dominant today. This was the era in which vast armies of hard-pressed workers built continent-spanning railroads and mammoth textile mills as factory towns proliferated and cities grew. It was the era, above all, of the expansion of the British Empire. For a time, Great Britain was the biggest producer and consumer of coal, the world's leading manufacturer, its top industrial innovator, and its dominant power – and all of these attributes were inextricably connected. By mastering the technology of coal, a small island off the coast of Europe was able to accumulate vast wealth, develop the world's most advanced weaponry, and control the global sea-lanes. The same coal technology that gave Britain such global advantages also brought great misery in its wake. As noted by energy analyst Paul Roberts in The End of Oil, the coal then being consumed in England was of the brown lignite variety, "chock full of sulfur and other impurities." When burned, "it produced an acrid, choking smoke that stung the eyes and lungs and blackened walls and clothes." By the end of the nineteenth century, the air in London and other coal-powered cities was so polluted that "trees died, marble facades dissolved, and respiratory ailments became epidemic." For Great Britain and other early industrial powers, the substitution of oil and gas for coal was a godsend, allowing improved air quality, the restoration of cities, and a reduction in respiratory ailments. In many parts of the world, of course, the Age of Coal is not over. In China and India, among other places, coal remains the principal source of energy, condemning their cities and populations to a twenty-first-century version of nineteenth-century London and Manchester. The second carbon era The Age of Oil got its start in 1859 when commercial production began in western Pennsylvania, but only truly took off after World War II, with the explosive growth of automobile ownership. Before 1940, oil played an important role in illumination and lubrication, among other applications, but remained subordinate to coal; after the war, oil became the world's principal source of energy. From 10 million barrels per day in 1950, global consumption soared to 77 million in 2000, a half-century bacchanalia of fossil fuel burning. Driving the global ascendancy of petroleum was its close association with the internal combustion engine (ICE). Due to oil's superior portability and energy intensity (that is, the amount of energy it releases per unit of volume), it makes the ideal fuel for mobile, versatile ICEs. Just as coal rose to prominence by fueling steam engines, so oil came to prominence by fueling the world's growing fleets of cars, trucks, planes, trains, and ships. Today, petroleum supplies about 97% of all energy used in transportation worldwide. Oil's prominence was also assured by its growing utilization in agriculture and warfare. In a relatively short period of time, oil-powered tractors and other agricultural machines replaced animals as the primary source of power on farms around the world. A similar transition occurred on the modern battlefield, with oil-powered tanks and planes replacing the cavalry as the main source of offensive power. These were the years of mass automobile ownership, continent-spanning highways, endless suburbs, giant malls, cheap flights, mechanized agriculture, artificial fibers, and – above all else – the global expansion of American power. Because the United States possessed mammoth reserves of oil, was the first to master the technology of oil extraction and refining, and the most successful at utilizing petroleum in transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, and war, it emerged as the richest and most powerful country of the twenty-first century, a saga told with great relish by energy historian Daniel Yergin in The Prize. Thanks to the technology of oil, the US was able to accumulate staggering levels of wealth, deploy armies and military bases to every continent, and control the global air and sea-lanes – extending its power to every corner of the planet. However, just as Britain experienced negative consequences from its excessive reliance on coal, so the United States – and the rest of the world – has suffered in various ways from its reliance on oil. To ensure the safety of its overseas sources of supply, Washington has established tortuous relationships with foreign oil suppliers and has fought several costly, debilitating wars in the Persian Gulf region, a sordid history I recount in Blood and Oil. Overreliance on motor vehicles for personal and commercial transportation has left the country ill-equipped to deal with periodic supply disruptions and price spikes. Most of all, the vast increase in oil consumption — here and elsewhere — has produced a corresponding increase in carbon dioxide emissions, accelerating planetary warming (a process begun during the first carbon era) and exposing the country to the ever more devastating effects of climate change. The age of unconventional oil and gas The explosive growth of automotive and aviation travel, the suburbanization of significant parts of the planet, the mechanization of agriculture and warfare, the global supremacy of the United States, and the onset of climate change: these were the hallmarks of the exploitation of conventional petroleum. At present, most of the world's oil is still obtained from a few hundred giant onshore fields in Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Venezuela, among other countries; some additional oil is acquired from offshore fields in the North Sea, the Gulf of Guinea, and the Gulf of Mexico. This oil comes out of the ground in liquid form and requires relatively little processing before being refined into commercial fuels. But such conventional oil is disappearing. According to the IEA, the major fields that currently provide the lion's share of global petroleum will lose two-thirds of their production over the next 25 years, with their net output plunging from 68 million barrels per day in 2009 to a mere 26 million barrels in 2035. The IEA assures us that new oil will be found to replace those lost supplies, but most of this will be of an unconventional nature. In the coming decades, unconventional oils will account for a growing share of the global petroleum inventory, eventually becoming our main source of supply. The same is true for natural gas, the second most important source of world energy. The global supply of conventional gas, like conventional oil, is shrinking, and we are becoming increasingly dependent on unconventional sources of supply — especially from the Arctic, the deep oceans, and shale rock via hydraulic fracturing. In certain ways, unconventional hydrocarbons are akin to conventional fuels. Both are largely composed of hydrogen and carbon, and can be burned to produce heat and energy. But in time the differences between them will make an ever-greater difference to us. Unconventional fuels – especially heavy oils and tar sands – tend to possess a higher proportion of carbon to hydrogen than conventional oil, and so release more carbon dioxide when burned. Arctic and deep-offshore oil require more energy to extract, and so produce higher carbon emissions in their very production. "Many new breeds of petroleum fuels are nothing like conventional oil," Deborah Gordon, a specialist on the topic at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in 2012. "Unconventional oils tend to be heavy, complex, carbon laden, and locked up deep in the earth, tightly trapped between or bound to sand, tar, and rock." By far the most worrisome consequence of the distinctive nature of unconventional fuels is their extreme impact on the environment. Because they are often characterized by higher ratios of carbon to hydrogen, and generally require more energy to extract and be converted into usable materials, they produce more carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy released. In addition, the process that produces shale gas, hailed as a "clean" fossil fuel, is believed by many scientists to cause widespread releases of methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas. All of this means that, as the consumption of fossil fuels grows, increasing, not decreasing, amounts of CO2 and methane will be released into the atmosphere and, instead of slowing, global warming will speed up. And here's another problem associated with the third carbon age: the production of unconventional oil and gas turns out to require vast amounts of water – for fracking operations, to extract tar sands and extra-heavy oil, and to facilitate the transport and refining of such fuels. This is producing a growing threat of water contamination, especially in areas of intense fracking and tar sands production, along with competition over access to water supplies among drillers, farmers, municipal water authorities, and others. As climate change intensifies, drought will become the norm in many areas and so this competition will only grow fiercer. Along with these and other environmental impacts, the transition from conventional to unconventional fuels will have economic and geopolitical consequences hard to fully assess at this moment. As a start, the exploitation of unconventional oil and gas reserves from previously inaccessible regions involves the introduction of novel production technologies, including deep-sea and Arctic drilling, hydro-fracking, and tar-sands upgrading. One result has been a shakeup in the global energy industry, with the emergence of innovative companies possessing the skills and determination to exploit the new unconventional resources — much as occurred during the early years of the petroleum era when new firms arose to exploit the world's oil reserves. This has been especially evident in the development of shale oil and gas. In many cases, the breakthrough technologies in this field were devised and deployed by smaller, risk-taking firms like Cabot Oil and Gas, Devon Energy Corporation, Mitchell Energy and Development Corporation, and XTO Energy. These and similar companies pioneered the use of hydro-fracking to extract oil and gas from shale formations in Arkansas, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Texas, and later sparked a stampede by larger energy firms to obtain stakes of their own in these areas. To augment those stakes, the giant firms are gobbling up many of the smaller and mid-sized ones. Among the most conspicuous takeovers was ExxonMobil's 2009 purchase of XTO for $41 billion. That deal highlights an especially worrisome feature of this new era: the deployment of massive funds by giant energy firms and their financial backers to acquire stakes in the production of unconventional forms of oil and gas — in amounts far exceeding comparable investments in either conventional hydrocarbons or renewable energy. It's clear that, for these companies, unconventional energy is the next big thing and, as among the most profitable firms in history, they are prepared to spend astronomical sums to ensure that they continue to be so. If this means investment in renewable energy is shortchanged, so be it. "Without a concerted policymaking effort" to favor the development of renewables, Carnegie's Gordon warns, future investments in the energy field "will likely continue to flow disproportionately toward unconventional oil." In other words, there will be an increasingly entrenched institutional bias among energy firms, banks, lending agencies, and governments toward next-generation fossil-fuel production, only increasing the difficulty of establishing national and international curbs on carbon emissions. This is evident, for example, in the Obama administration's undiminished support for deep-offshore drilling and shale gas development, despite its purported commitment to reduce carbon emissions. It is likewise evident in the growing international interest in the development of shale and heavy-oil reserves, even as fresh investment in green energy is being cut back. As in the environmental and economic fields, the transition from conventional to unconventional oil and gas will have a substantial, if still largely undefined, impact on political and military affairs. US and Canadian companies are playing a decisive role in the development of many of the vital new unconventional fossil-fuel technologies; in addition, some of the world's largest unconventional oil and gas reserves are located in North America. The effect of this is to bolster US global power at the expense of rival energy producers like Russia and Venezuela, which face rising competition from North American companies, and energy-importing states like China and India, which lack the resources and technology to produce unconventional fuels. At the same time, Washington appears more inclined to counter the rise of China by seeking to dominate the global sea lanes and bolster its military ties with regional allies like Australia, India, Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea. Many factors are contributing to this strategic shift, but from their statements it is clear enough that top American officials see it as stemming in significant part from America's growing self-sufficiency in energy production and its early mastery of the latest production technologies. "America's new energy posture allows us to engage [the world] from a position of greater strength," National Security Advisor Tom Donilon asserted in an April speech at Columbia University. "Increasing US energy supplies act as a cushion that helps reduce our vulnerability to global supply disruptions [and] affords us a stronger hand in pursuing and implementing our international security goals." For the time being, the US leaders can afford to boast of their "stronger hand" in world affairs, as no other country possesses the capabilities to exploit unconventional resources on such a large scale. By seeking to extract geopolitical benefits from a growing world reliance on such fuels, however, Washington inevitably invites countermoves of various sorts. Rival powers, fearful and resentful of its geopolitical assertiveness, will bolster their capacity to resist American power – a trend already evident in China's accelerating naval and missile buildup. At the same time, other states will seek to develop their own capacity to exploit unconventional resources in what might be considered a fossil-fuels version of an arms race. This will require considerable effort, but such resources are widely distributed across the planet and in time other major producers of unconventional fuels are bound to emerge, challenging America's advantage in this realm (even as they increase the staying power and global destructiveness of the third age of carbon). Sooner or later, much of international relations will revolve around these issues. Surviving the third carbon era Barring unforeseen shifts in global policies and behavior, the world will become increasingly dependent on the exploitation of unconventional energy. This, in turn, means an increase in the buildup of greenhouse gases with little possibility of averting the onset of catastrophic climate effects. Yes, we will also witness progress in the development and installation of renewable forms of energy, but these will play a subordinate role to the development of unconventional oil and gas. Life in the third carbon era will not be without its benefits. Those who rely on fossil fuels for transportation, heating, and the like can perhaps take comfort from the fact that oil and natural gas will not run out soon, as was predicted by many energy analysts in the early years of this century. Banks, the energy corporations, and other economic interests will undoubtedly amass staggering profits from the explosive expansion of the unconventional oil business and global increases in the consumption of these fuels. But most of us won't be rewarded. Quite the opposite. Instead, we'll experience the discomfort and suffering accompanying the heating of the planet, the scarcity of contested water supplies in many regions, and the evisceration of the natural landscape. What can be done to cut short the third carbon era and avert the worst of these outcomes? Calling for greater investment in green energy is essential but insufficient at a moment when the powers that be are emphasizing the development of unconventional fuels. Campaigning for curbs on carbon emissions is necessary, but will undoubtedly prove problematic, given an increasingly deeply embedded institutional bias toward unconventional energy. Needed, in addition to such efforts, is a drive to expose the distinctiveness and the dangers of unconventional energy and to demonize those who choose to invest in these fuels rather than their green alternatives. Some efforts of this sort are already underway, including student-initiated campaigns to persuade or compel college and university trustees to divest from any investments in fossil-fuel companies. These, however, still fall short of a systemic drive to identify and resist those responsible for our growing reliance on unconventional fuels. For all President Obama's talk of a green technology revolution, we remain deeply entrenched in a world dominated by fossil fuels, with the only true revolution now underway involving the shift from one class of such fuels to another. Without a doubt, this is a formula for global catastrophe. To survive this era, humanity must become much smarter about this new kind of energy and then take the steps necessary to compress the third carbon era and hasten in the Age of Renewables before we burn ourselves off this planet. This piece, including a new Tom Engelhardt introduction, is reposted on UK's OpenDemocracy.net from TomDispatch.com with the original site's permission. ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 3rd, 2013
Polar Bears Going Hungry as Arctic Ice Diminishes. Don't Let the Koch Brothers Win. Dear Pincas, High summer temperatures are melting away Arctic ice at alarming levels. And in response, Alaska's polar bears are going without food for longer and longer. Meanwhile, a recent report by American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop has uncovered that billionaire fossil fuel tycoons, Charles and David Koch, have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to block climate change legislation. {David Koch also eliminated the New York City Opera from the Lincoln Center and bought the right to rename the building for himself. Lots of things you can do with Oil-Money. Just look at the Washington Post that allowed itself – for everybody to see – to be bought by the American Petroleum Institute. That is our own comment.} The two brothers are creating a network of climate change-denier groups of unprecedented size and scope, and are even persuading many members of Congress to sign a pledge to vote against any meaningful bill to combat climate change. We're running out of time to make a critical difference for polar bears' future. Please speak up for starving polar bears today! Despite obstacles created by the "Koch Brothers," who have made billions off of polluting our planet, this summer marked a turning point in the fight for polar bears' future. In response to pressure from people like you, President Obama recently released a bold new plan to address climate change. The President's plan includes supporting Environmental Protection Agency limits to carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants—and it is not a minute too soon for polar bears. But, the Koch Brothers' are using their influence in Congress to try to block limits on carbon pollution. That's why we must act quickly to tell our members of Congress to let the Environmental Protection Agency do its job. Arctic ice hit a record low last summer—and it is looking bad again this year. Scientists expect polar bears will once again be forced to wait long into the fall before ice returns near Alaska, where the bears so desperately need ice platforms to hunt for food. The lengthening wait for sea ice to freeze is dire for polar bear cubs and the polar bear moms who need more time on the ice to hunt for enough seals to sustain themselves and their young. Unless Big Polluters and their allies in Congress stop attacking the Environmental Protection Agency, the President may not be able to put his new plan into action—and it could be too late for our polar bears. From: ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 25th, 2013 from: pschierl at worldbank.org The 7th Latin American and Caribbean Carbon Forum (LACCF) will take place August 28–30, 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The conference, the foremost event for knowledge sharing and networking on current and future carbon trends, is expected to attract a wide range of government officials, business experts, major international investors and local financial institutions to share experiences on low emissions development, innovative climate finance instruments and domestic initiatives. While the focus is on the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, the agenda will also take stock of global climate policy and market developments such as the mapping of carbon pricing initiatives at regional and domestic levels to put a price on carbon to stimulate climate-smart investments, as well as carbon taxation and what is needed to make the market more attractive for the private sector. The Latin American and Caribbean Carbon Forum (LACCF) is a free of charge regional conference and exhibition platform established in 2006 to promote knowledge and information sharing while facilitating business opportunity environments among main carbon market stakeholders. Building on the success of six previous editions, the 2013 Latin American & Caribbean Carbon Forum (LACCF) will be held on 28-30 August, at the Windsor Barra Hotel, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This annual Conference and Exhibition is jointly organized by the World Bank, the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE), the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and its UNEP Risø Centre, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). With over 800 local, regional and international participants from private, public and the financial sectors and this unique mix of co-organizers, the LACCF is the pre-eminent regional 'Pulse Taking' and 'Business to Business' platform. It brings together leading individuals and organizations in the field to share knowledge and information, discuss new tendencies, propose solutions, and identify business opportunities in a rapidly changing area towards low carbon economies and societies. This event occurs at a crucial moment for global carbon markets: * With the widespread uncertainty as to the architecture of the carbon market post-2012. The increasing fragmentation of the market. The abundance of emerging mechanisms and sources of climate finance. Objectives The core objective of the * Designated National Authorities (DNAs), national climate change focal points, investment promotion agencies; Project owners, project developers and potential CDM sectoral institutions; Financial institutions, national development banks, stock exchanges, service providers and intermediary companies. The LACCF promotes a discussion and exchange of experiences among these stakeholders and provide participants with the latest developments regarding emissions trading schemes, low emission development and the future of the carbon markets . The Forum also facilitates debates around the international and national climate change mitigation policies to promote greenhouse gases (GHG) emission reductions. Finally the LACCF seeks new impulses for increasing a higher volume of low carbon investments in Latin American and the Caribbean. Specifically, the VII Latin American Carbon Forum aims to: * Updating on the different views of the challenges associated with global climate change, and the most recent developments in the international carbon market; ==———–== The Forum is hosted by the Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro and is convened once again by a partnership amongst the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its Risø Centre, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank. ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 23rd, 2013 Shuttle diplomacy under way on global aviation emissions deal. Date: 23-Jul-13 Reported by Valerie Volcovici of the Environmental News Service of Reuters by geting the information by e-mail. Diplomatic talks on a deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions from the global aviation industry have intensified recently as EU and U.S. officials try to stave off the threat of a trade war, lawmakers and observers said. Peter Liese, a member of the European Parliament from the conservative German Christian-Democratic Union, led a delegation to meet with Obama administration officials in Washington last week to discuss the issue. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations' civil aviation body, has until September to complete a resolution on a market-based plan that would curb rising greenhouse gas emissions from global airlines. Should the UN organization fail, the European Union could try to re-impose an emissions trading system on global airlines. The EU postponed the implementation of the law in 2012 to give the ICAO time to devise a global approach. Liese sees only a 50 percent chance the ICAO talks can deliver a deal strong enough to avoid a revival of the law and avoid threats of a trade war. "Unless we have progress in the next six to seven weeks, we will run into a big problem," Liese told Reuters. Liese said drafts of the resolution that ICAO assembly delegates will consider at their triennial meeting, which starts in Montreal on September 24, might not be not ambitious enough to pass muster. "We made very clear that what is on the table now is not enough," Liese said. The ICAO narrowed its options in May to three market-based measures, including a mandatory offsetting scheme. The following month, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), set up to help the UN harmonize aviation after World War II, backed a system in which airlines would offset increased emissions after 2020 by buying carbon credits from projects that cut them in other sectors. A wider coalition of aviation groups endorsed the plan in recent weeks. Nancy Young, vice president for environmental affairs for U.S. airline lobby group Airlines for America, said the strong industry backing of a market-based emissions plan should give the ICAO "very strong momentum to reach an agreement." The agreement, she said, will not be a detailed framework, but "a glide path toward a single market-based measure by 2016," the year the next ICAO assembly takes place. SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY !!! The ICAO's 36-member leadership council is scheduled to meet on September 4, when it is expected to discuss a final resolution. If the council agrees to the draft, it is likely the plan will be endorsed by the full assembly when it convenes in late September-early October, said Annie Petsonk, international counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, who tracks the negotiations. Petsonk and Young said there has been intensive "shuttle diplomacy" over the last few weeks, with European officials coming to Washington and U.S. officials going to the ICAO headquarters in Montreal. In addition, meetings between countries with similar views on the issue have been taking place. For example, China and India, which along with the United States strongly opposed the imposition of the European trading scheme on their airlines, are likely meeting ahead of the assembly to coordinate objections to the ICAO's proposed resolution. But Jos Delbeke, director-general for climate action for the European Commission, was optimistic. "Negotiations inside ICAO are in full swing, and we are confident that a useful resolution is going to be adopted in Sept/Oct," Delbeke told Reuters in an email. ————————- Talking Carbon Credits is just not the way to do something about global emissions – taxation is the way to sharpen the mind of private enterprise and trade wars in this respect are nothing to shrink away from – this is in every environmentalist's balanced mind. ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 19th, 2013
URGENT! * Combine errands into a single trip. The New York State Department of Transportation has declared that tomorrow, Friday, July 19, 2013, is an Air Quality Action Day in the downstate metro area due to forecasted high levels of ground-level ozone pollution in parts of the region (please visit the Clean Air NY Web site for more information cleanairny.org/DoYourPart.html). While tomorrow is still a day when people can go about most of their normal activities, such as going to work, driving may be one of the most polluting activities that people do tomorrow, and we encourage everyone to leave their cars at home if possible. Ground-level ozone is a respiratory irritant that can trigger asthma attacks and aggravate emphysema, bronchitis and other respiratory ailments. Children, people with pre-existing respiratory or heart conditions, people doing strenuous outdoor work or exercise and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to the effects of ozone. To learn more about improving air quality or if you were forwarded this message and want us to send updates to your own e-mail address, visit CleanAirNY.org. Clean Air NY is sponsored by the New York State Department of Transportation in support of regionwide air-quality efforts. 511NY is New York State's official traffic and travel info source. Whether you drive or take public transit, click here for precisely what you need, or simply dial 511 on your phone. Follow Clean Air NY on Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger. To ensure the delivery of these Bulletins, please be sure to add info at CleanAirNY.org to your e-mail address book or safe list. ================================================ ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 18th, 2013 U.S. Endures Heat Waves, Extended Drought. WASHINGTON, DC, July 16, 2013 (ENS) – Heat waves and drought conditions are touching off wildfires, shriveling grasslands across the western states and stressing eastern urban residents, forcing lawmakers and public lands managers alike to rethink their approach to water supplies. In Washington, the Senate Water and Power Subcommittee is holding a hearing today on the future of the Colorado River. The hearing follows recent deadly wildfires, a record-breaking heat wave and worsening drought conditions in the Southwest that have put the region's residents, wildlife and natural resources at risk. The subcommittee is examining the Bureau of Reclamation's Colorado River Basin Water Demand and Supply study, released last December, which found that there is not enough water in the Colorado River to meet the basin's current water demands or future demand increases. Spanning parts of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, the Colorado River Basin is one of the most critical sources of water in the West. The Colorado River and its tributaries provide water to nearly 40 million people for municipal use, supply water used to irrigate nearly 5.5 million acres of land, and is also the lifeblood for at least 22 federally recognized tribes, seven National Wildlife Refuges, four National Recreation Areas, and 11 National Parks. Climate change will reduce water available from the Colorado River by nine percent, increasing the risk to cities, farms and the environment, the study concludes. "This study serves as a call to action and underscores the importance of prioritizing innovative conservation solutions rather than resorting to costly pipelines, dams and other diversions," said Matt Niemerski, water policy director at the nonprofit American Rivers. "We need to step up our efforts and manage our water wisely in order to meet the current and future needs in the basin." Across the country, more than 40 percent of U.S. freshwater withdrawals are used for power plant cooling. These plants also lose several billion gallons of freshwater every day through evaporation. New research released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists indicates that increasing demand and drought are putting a great strain on water resources. Low water levels and high water temperatures can cause power plants to cut their electricity output in order to avoid overheating or harming local water bodies. John Rogers, a senior energy analyst with UCS's Climate and Energy Program, said, "In our water-constrained world, a 20-year delay in tackling the problem leaves the power industry unnecessarily vulnerable to drought and exacerbates competition with other water users. We can bring water use down faster and further, but only by changing how we get our electricity." A pathway that includes strong investments in renewables and energy efficiency, according to the UCS study, would greatly reduce power generation's water use and carbon emissions. Under such a scenario, water withdrawals would drop by 97 percent from current levels by 2050, with most of that drop within the next 20 years. Meanwhile, hot, dry conditions persist west of the Mississippi River, with at least 15 states experiencing drought. Wild horses and livestock compete for the same scarce water resources. Drought conditions are taking a toll on western rangelands, leaving little water and forage for animals and livestock, prompting the Bureau of Land Management to provide supplemental water and food for wild horses, reduce grazing, and enact fire restrictions. In New Mexico, 93 percent of rangeland and pastures are rated poor or very poor. The figure is 59 percent in Colorado; 35 percent in Wyoming; and 17 percent in Utah. Similar conditions exist in Nevada, where more than 60 percent of the state has been in severe or extreme drought conditions since the beginning of 2013. "Since last fall and winter, we have been working with grazers across the West in anticipation of tough conditions related to drought. In southwestern Montana, for example, the BLM worked with permitted ranchers to graze no more than 70 percent of their alloted forage on BLM-managed lands," said BLM Principal Deputy Director Neil Kornze. "As drought conditions continue, wild horses, livestock, and wildlife that rely on rangeland forage and water will face extremely challenging conditions that may leave them in very poor condition," said Kornze. "We are taking action to address these situations as quickly and as effectively as we can, but our options are increasingly limited by conditions on the land." In Nevada, all BLM Districts have been hauling water to wild horses. There, the BLM is trucking 5,000 gallons of water per day, five days a week to four locations in the Winnemucca District at a cost of $1,000 a day. In the next few days, a USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service veterinarian will join BLM specialists in assessing horses in Lincoln County, Nev., after BLM employees noted that horses were not drinking water from trucked-in troughs and were not eating supplemental hay. This raised concerns about the health of the animals. Over the past week in Nevada, average temperatures have been 10 degrees above normal, hovering around 100 degrees. The state has recently had only 0.1 to 0.5 inches of rain, resulting in sparse, poor-quality forage, according to the BLM. Scarce water sources have put pressure on all users, including wild horses, livestock, and wildlife; causing long-lasting damage to plants, stream channels, spring areas, and water quality. The heat wave continues across the eastern United States, with highs Tuesday expected to reach the 90s across much of the eastern third of the country, says the National Weather Service. Combined with humidity, this will create heat index values of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. The heat and humidity is here for several more days for the Eastern states, including the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, Ohio Valley, and spreading into the Midwest and Great Plains. A large upper level ridge and sinking air in the lower atmosphere are causing the hot conditions, says the National Weather Service, which says, "Although this is the hottest weather so far this season, it is less than the extreme heat observed last summer over these areas." In New York, Con Edison's crews, working 12-hour shifts, are pulling cables, replacing fuses and other equipment to bring power back to customers as the heat wave blankets the metropolitan area. The heat wave is expected to extend into Saturday. Crews have been responding to scattered outages and have restored power to more than 7,600 customers in New York City and Westchester County since the heat settled here on Sunday. New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn called New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly personally after an intern fainted in the heat and paramedics did not arrive for more than 30 minutes. "This whole situation is outrageous and I don't know what happened, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it. It's inexcusable," Quinn told the "New York Daily News." Across the Great Plains, AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski and Head of AccuWeather.com's Long-Range Forecasting Team Paul Pastelok, say heat will be coming in and out of the Plains over the next 30 days. For the next two weeks, the Midwest will have temperatures in the 80s and 90s. Meanwhile, temperatures will remain below normal across parts of the southern and southwestern states, mainly from Texas to Arizona, where heavy rain and flash flooding are possible. The Southwest will catch a break as building monsoon conditions ease the heat down for the Four Corners area, but temperatures will increase over the Great Basin and West, according to AccuWeather forecasters. All this week, the odds favor above-median precipitation over western Alaska, the southern Rockies, the Northern Great Plains, Western and Central Gulf Coasts, and from the Great Lakes to the Mid-Atlantic, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a service of the federal government. Dry conditions are likely across the Pacific Northwest, eastern Alaska, and the Central Great Plains. Temperatures are likely to be above normal west of the continental divide, and from the Midwest to the Northeast, with below-normal temperatures favored over New Mexico and the Southeast. AccuWeather predicts the mercury will soar come September when the Southwest region will reach its hottest point of the year. ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 17th, 2013 Mr. Martin Nesirky, the Spokesperson for The UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, speaking to the UN accredited PRESS, Monday July 15th, ended his daily briefing by saying: "This morning, the Deputy Secretary-General spoke to a large group of representatives from non-governmental organizations and the private sector on international migration and development. He emphasized the need to establish sustained and strong partnerships between different actors to harness the benefits of migration and improve the situation of migrants. He also commended the role played by civil society in building such partnerships. He said that the General Assembly was meeting on international migration and development in October, and that this was an opportunity for member States to lay the foundation for improved local, regional and international migration policies." That's what I have. Questions, please? Yes, Pam? This statement relates to full three days of activities right here at the UN Headquarters in New York and across the street in the Church Center – which followed a full year of preparations outside the UN in a process that was started in 2006 when there was a UN General Assembly mandated first "High-Level" Dialogue on this topic and was succeeded by yearly meetings and further regional meetings. At Rio the recommendations included the removal of the non-producing Commission on Sustainable Development and its replacement with a High-Level Panel that will look into the creation of a system of Sustainable Development Goals that will follow in 2015 after the expiring Millennium Development Goals – and this allows for an unusual opportunity to try for making the avoidance of the need of Migration into a Sustainable Development Goal. But the UN seems to oppose this by all the means it has – and I will explain. You see – when I walk the streets of New York these days I bump into people. This is because the daily temperature reaches 100 degrees Fahrenheit and people do not walk in a straight line. You must try to anticipate which way they will deviate – and I am as guilty as anyone else – this because global warming and Climate Change are already here with us. Relating to our topic here – MIGRATION occurs now not just because people are attracted by magnets of freedom from dictatorships, from religious or sexual oppression, or because of a chance to better education, but now – more and more – there is the push of hunger – climate change has made it impossible to support populations in their country of origin and this migration has become the highest security issue in our days. If heat and Climate Change is impacting New York, just think what this has done in Mali or Darfur! The UN is not blind to this. The UN Secretary-General was supposed to be the opening speaker at the Monday, July 15, 2013 event at the meeting at the UN General Assembly with Mr. Vuk Jeremik, President of the General Assembly as Chairman of the session. But Mr. Ban Ki-moon chose to be on a July fact finding tour of Europe that took him to see the effects of glaciers melting in Iceland, and a visit in Paris on Bastille Day with the French troops fighting in Mali. Both above visits, as well as the meetings in-between, would have made a great story had the UN Secretary-General returned to New York and told on Monday July 15th his impressions to the meeting here. But this seemingly did not cross his mind, and surely this is no reflection on the way Mr. Elliason presented the case. It must be said that seven years ago – at the first dialogue – Mr. Eliasson presided because it was his position of President of the UN General Assembly, so he is well versed with the issues – the roles of Civil Society, Labor Unions and Employers' organizations, diaspora organizations, and academics. He stressed that the challenge is to reach to the help of the media – "Knowing the facts is the source of wisdom" he quoted. Mr. Eliasson said he wants to see as a post 2015 program a five year action program in five areas of priority: What he did not mention is the right of people to avoid migration that was pushed upon them because of changes in the local environment. Mr. Jeremik reminded us of the Rio vision for the post-2015 as an aspiration to strive for equitable approaches to overcome poverty and inequality. At the meeting on Monday participated over 200 Civil Society organizations and 80 UN member States. I sat through the full three days and saw that very good people from all over the globe were present – but by no means was this an objective success. Starting with the strong Swiss presence I must say that as Migration means Emigration from one place and Immigration to another – this except Migration within the same country, Switzerland is a country of poor record as it does not allow citizenship except when the candidate is weighed in gold – and I am not abstract on this – Just think of the Agha Khan and his Swiss based Foundation. So, when A good looking lady presented herself as a migrant from El Salvador to Switzerland, with dual nationality and diamonds sparkling from her earrings, spoke about the Global Economic Forum backing the economic advantages that come from migration – I had to wonder about what I was hearing. Then let us not forget that simple mortals could not stay in Switzerland when their life was in peril. In general – I was more impressed by the people in the room then by some of the presenters, as in UN fashion – the good turns easily into the trite, and good ideas can produce easily flying meetings that are not free to the introduction of ideas born outside the initiating circle. Trying to introduce the notion that the UN is changing and that MDGs are ending with new SDGs taking their place, and the fact that the UN just opened this month the office for Sustainable Energy – the SE4All concept, and that right now there is an opportunity to talk of migration in context of Climate Change – all that was beyond the interest of the organizers and the moderators – but very much of interest of many of the participants. Civil Society is surely a mixed bag, and the stress on remittances from the Migrants back to their families in the homeland become very important part of the economies of some oppressive governments – so, indiscriminately stressing the economic value may not be any better idea then using military from countries in trouble in order to beef up the troops of UN Peace-Keeping forces in other countries in trouble, when the pay for this service is income for the government that sends these troops. This comment may have nothing to do with the subject at hand but is important to the understanding of the depth of the problem when you work in he UN context. Without delving further in depth of what was said, this because the meetings were just an interactive exercise that will generate its own papers, the real news this Monday were not the Civil Society NGOs that were allowed to participate – but rather those organizations that were excluded in total lack of transparency and thus gave a blue eye to the UN institution as a whole. The subject came up when the United States pointed out that three NGOs were eliminated from participation this last week by being BLACKBALLED by some secret member State. These were three organizations – one registered in the UK and two in Israel and the UN does not release the names of the countries that objected to their participation. TO ME THIS WAS THE REAL NEWS OF THE MEETING – COVERING ON ALL THE GOOD THINGS THAT WERE SAID AT THE MEETING. After the US, spoke also Israel and the EU, and eventually this became an important part in the summary of the meeting, when at the end it was presented by the Chef de Cabinet to the UNGA President, Mr. Dejan Sahovic, who is also from Serbia like the UNGA President. Mr. Sahovic explained that this had nothing to do with the organizers of the event but is a UN given. Whenever there is an event at the UN, after Civil Society makes up the list of registered NGOs, these lists are distributed to all governments which have then the veto right against any line on that list. OK, we knew that China will take out any NGO that is based in Taiwan, but how is it that an observer organization at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), that is competent in the subject matter and is very active, could be eliminated? To make it sound even worse – the UN does not release the name of the blackballing country and the delegate for the EU said clearly that the EU is worried about the lately decreasing importance of Civil Society at the UN. In this case it was with two NGOs with interest in Human Rights of Women – specifically women in Arab lands – even more specific – in Saudi Arabia – they DID SPEAK UP. 1. The Institute for Human Rights and Business Limited (IHRB) is the British organization. 2. Microfy – "Microfinance for African refugees and migrant workers in Israel" – an Israeli based NGO that provides assistance to African refugees and asylum seekers, many of them who fled the genocide in Darfur. www.microfy.org Clearly a highly ethical organization that might have difficulty being listened to by despots. 3."The Center for International Migration and Integration (CIMI)" advises governments and NGOs around the world on migration and integration. ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 3rd, 2013 Op-Ed Columnist President Obama delivered his most important national security and jobs speech last week. I think he also mentioned something about climate change. — Josh Haner/The New York Times Opinionator: Let's Not Braise the Planet (July 1, 2013) The headline from Obama's speech was his decision to cut America's carbon emissions by bypassing a dysfunctional Congress and directing the Environmental Protection Agency to implement cleaner air-quality standards. If the rules are enacted — they will face many legal challenges — it would hasten our switching from coal to natural gas for electricity generation. Natural gas emits about half the global-warming carbon dioxide of coal, and it is in growing supply in our own country. As a result of market forces alone, coal has already fallen from about one-half to one-third of America's electric power supply. But I would not get caught up in the anti-carbon pollution details of the president's speech. I'd focus on the larger messages. The first is that we need to reorder our priorities and start talking about the things that are most consequential for our families, communities, nation and world. That starts with how we're going to power the global economy at a time when the planet is on track to grow from seven billion to nine billion people in 40 years, and most of them will want to live like Americans, with American-style cars, homes and consumption patterns. If we don't find a cleaner way to grow, we're going to smoke up, choke up and burn up this planet so much faster than anyone predicts. That traffic jam on the Beijing-Tibet highway in 2010 that stretched for 60 miles, involved 10,000 vehicles and took 10 days to unlock is a harbinger of what will come. Sadly, many Republican "leaders" rejected Obama's initiative, claiming it would cost jobs. Really? Marvin Odum, the president of the Shell Oil Company, told me in an interview that phasing out coal for cleaner natural gas — and shifting more transport, such as big trucks and ships, to natural gas instead of diesel — "is a no-brainer, no-lose, net-win that you can't fight with a straight face." But there is one more huge caveat: We also have to ensure that cheap natural gas displaces coal but doesn't also displace energy efficiency and renewables, like solar or wind, so that natural gas becomes a bridge to a clean energy future, not a ditch. It would be ideal to do this through legislation and not E.P.A. fiat, but Republicans have blocked that route, which is pathetic because the best way to do it is with a Republican idea from the last Bush administration: a national clean energy standard for electricity generation — an idea the G.O.P. only began to oppose when Obama said he favored it. Such a standard would say to every utility: "Your power plants can use any fuel and technology you want to generate electricity as long as the total amount of air pollutants and greenhouse gases they emit (in both fuel handling and its electricity conversion) meet steadily increasing standards for cleaner air and fewer greenhouse gases. If you want to meet that standard with natural gas, sequestered coal, biomass, hydro, solar, wind or nuclear, be our guest. Let the most cost-effective clean technology win." By raising the standard a small amount every year, we'd ensure continuous innovation in clean power technologies — and jobs that are a lot better than coal mining. You can't make an appliance, power plant, factory or vehicle cleaner without making it smarter — with smarter materials, smarter software or smarter designs. Nothing would do more to ensure America's national security, stimulate more good jobs and global exports — the whole world needs these technologies — than a national clean energy standard. And, of course, the climate would hugely benefit. Improving our energy system plays to our innovation strength. Clinging to our fossil-fuel past plays to the strengths of Russia and Iran. Why would we do that? Why would the G.O.P.? It's already losing young voters. Question: How many college campuses today have environmental clubs and how many have coal clubs? "The Germans and the Chinese are already in this clean energy race, and we're still just talking about it," said Hal Harvey, the chief executive of Energy Innovation. "The question is: Do we want to control our energy future, or continue to rent it from other countries?" ### |
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 2nd, 2013 UN Report Says New Strategies Needed to Meet People's Needs In a world of more than 9 billion by 2050, most of the 6.5 billion urban dwellers Geneva, 2 July 2013 – New strategies are needed to address the impacts of rapid urbanization around the world, including increasing demands for energy, water, sanitation, public services, education and health, according to the World Economic and Social Survey 2013, launched today at the United Nations. The 2013 Survey examines the many challenges that must be addressed to achieve sustainable development. The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development—Rio+20–set out a framework for action and follow-up across a wide range of issues and the Survey zooms in on three critical challenges – food security, energy transformation and sustainable cities. According to the Survey produced by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs, more than 6.25 billion people will be living in cities by 2050. During the period from 2000-2050, developing regions could add 3.2 billion new urban residents, a figure larger than the entire world's population in 1950. The rapid rate of urbanization underlines the urgency to address multiple sustainable development challenges facing the planet, including many outcomes of the Rio+20 Conference in 2012. "Rio+20 reaffirmed commitment to sustainable development and adopted a framework for action and comprehensive follow-up," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote in the foreword to the Survey. "The World Economic and Social Survey 2013 serves as a valuable resource as we look towards translating the outcome of Rio+20 into concrete actions." The Survey found that the vision of sustainable development—promoting economic and social well-being while protecting the environment — has not been achieved, despite encouraging progress. Rising inequality, gaps and shortfalls in development partnership, rapid population growth, climate change and environmental degradation have hampered efforts. Damage to the global environment is reaching critical levels and threatens to lead to irreversible changes in global ecosystems, according to the Survey. The overarching environmental challenge is anthropogenic climate change with the increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere—most importantly, CO2— which is leading to a warming of the planet. Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said the Survey highlighted the need for innovative strategies and investments to promote sustainable development, including in the world's cities. "Cities play an essential role in expanding the possibilities for economic growth, innovation and social development," he noted. "But we have to take actions now that will enhance the benefits of cities, while reducing the threats to sustainable development." If no policy framework is established to address this issue, the Survey says, the number of people living in slums lacking access to basic infrastructure and services such as water, sanitation, electricity, health care and education might triple from one billion at present to three billion by 2050. Sustainable development of urban areas, the Survey states, requires integration and coordination, and investments to tackle land-use issues, food security, employment creation, transportation infrastructure development, biodiversity conservation, water conservation, renewable energy sourcing, waste and recycling management, and the provision of education, health care and housing. The Survey calls for ambitious, action-oriented sustainable development strategies to address the different levels of urban development that are adaptable to different contexts. Strategies must aim at systemically changing consumption and production patterns in all countries. Significant price corrections of goods and services will be needed to reflect scarcity now and in the future and provide the right signals for producers and consumers to switch to less resource-intensive renewable products. Change at all levels of the food chain, from production to consumption, is needed since an estimated 32 per cent of the total food produced globally is wasted, the survey says. Sustainable development would be key to the eradication of poverty, said Shamshad Akhtar, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development. "It is simply not acceptable that hunger and malnourishment, while decreasing in many developing countries, remains persistent in so many others," she said. "One in eight people in the world today are still chronically undernourished. We need to promote an integrated approach to our development goals and ecosystems." Estimates indicate that food production will have to increase 70 per cent globally to feed an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050. Food demand is anticipated to continue to shift towards more resource-intensive agricultural products, such as livestock and dairy products, which will exert even more pressure on land, water and biodiversity resources. Along with food and nutrition security, the provision of energy is among the core elements of the sustainable development agenda. The survey highlights the critical need to find creative mechanisms to promote forward-looking efforts, such as the Secretary-General's Sustainable Energy for All Initiative. This initiative has suggested explicit energy goals to end the dependence on traditional biomass as a source of thermal energy and to improve access to reliable, adequate and high-quality electricity. Unreliable or low-quality energy sources compromise the opportunities of the working poor who are self-employed or run household enterprises. Such efforts must embrace new technologies, which will play a major role in the transformation to sustainable production and consumption. Appropriate technical regulation and social standards need to be adopted, with technical and financial support for developing countries. Markets by themselves will not tackle these enormous challenges. Public resources will need to crowd-in private long-term investments. The Survey emphasizes that economic and financial incentives for creating and adopting new technologies will require policy reforms including taxes and subsidies, as well as regulatory reforms, in order to achieve core targets relating to technology adaptation, the reduction of food waste and enhanced energy efficiency. Background about the World Economic and Social Survey: www.un.org/en/development/desa/po… Media contacts Issued by the UN Department of Public Information ### |


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- The top floor infinity pool, which treats swimmers to panoramic views of the bay
- Relaxing in a hammock at Beach Club 'La Piedra', with waiter service
- Working out on holiday. Seriously - the pool-side spinning, pilates, meditation, tennis courts and smart changing rooms definitely make us 'get' it
Luxury Costa del Sol holiday
THB Reserva del Higueron, Spain
Half-board, a Junior Suite, champagne on arrival and a welcome cocktail at a new and exclusive four-star Fuengirola resort and spa
Say hello - there's a shiny new hotel on the scene. The swanky THB Reserva del Higueron only recently opened its glass doors to a new wave of cosmopolitan travellers, serving a picnic of boutique style, spa tranquility and modern luxe in Fuengirola.
Located on one of the most fashionable areas of Spain's south coast, THB's hot newcomer has it all. Rooms here are spacious, contemporary and dotted with a film-roll full of gorgeous aesthetic finishes. Think ice-white spaces stung with citrus, or softened with tumblers of lilies. The full-service Nagomi Spa is a chrome and slate dream with state-of-the-art facilities, and the choice of swimming options is only exceeded by the wide-ranging gastronomy. Enjoy a little show cooking, or sample first-class seafood in Al-Rolo Restaurant.
We're offering a four or seven-night break in a Junior Suite with half-board, flights and private airport transfers included. You'll also get a lovely bottle of champagne in your room on arrival and a welcome cocktail each.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Saban, Kelly headline Media Day
Published: Saturday, January 5, 2013
Updated: Saturday, January 5, 2013 18:01
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Sitting on the sidelines of the field that will host their titanic matchup in just two days' time, Irish coach Brian Kelly and Alabama coach Nick Saban held court in front of hordes of reporters today at the BCS National Championship Game media day. Each swatted away NFL rumors and talk of his own place in history, instead preferring to talk about the players surrounding them and the dynamics of the game ahead.
Saban, sitting on the field on which he coached the Miami Dolphins for two seasons, emphatically denied he might return to the NFL with six head coaching vacancies still open.
"I don't have any unfinished business in the NFL," he said. "I want to be a college coach. I'm not looking for new challenges.
"I know myself. I know the best path for me ... [My family is] happy with the path that we're on, so there's really nothing to talk about."
A short while later, Kelly — who has spent his entire career in collegiate athletics — said he had no intention of coaching anywhere but Notre Dame.
"When I took the job at Notre Dame, I think I said it was a dream job. But I never went around day to day anything about being the Notre Dame head coach, because the job that I had in hand was what I was thinking about," he said. "I think that's the same thing with the NFL. I think from my perspective I've got the best job in the country, NFL, college, high school, whatever. I just look at the place that I'm at and thankful for the opportunity that I have."
Kelly said he was not aware if any serious offers had been made.
"If that did occur, then all that stuff is secondary to this football game. My focus — this is the biggest game that I've ever been involved in, so my focus is 100 percent on this football game," he said. "It's flattering if there is interest, which I don't know that there is, but again, that is such a secondary topic for me right now, it's all about this game."
Both coaches said history would have no bearing on how they motivate their respective squads.
"As we get into Monday night we're going to play the game the way we've played it all year. We're going to play fast, we're going to play aggressive because we don't carry all those perceived burdens," Kelly said. "They're 18 to 21 year olds, they have no idea what that history means. We do, our fan base certainly does, but what I've tried hard to do is let our kids go play the game and let their actions speak, and not let all of this outside perceived pressure for the entire Notre Dame nation to weigh heavily on them."
Saban dismissed the idea that another national title — which would be his third in four years — would put him in the same league as legendary Crimson Tide coach Bear Bryant.
"I don't think it would be fair at all to Bear Bryant and the tradition that he created and the standard of excellence that he sustained for years and years and years," he said. "There's no one that I know that I would say should be even spoken of in the same sort of circumstance at all."
Saban refused to use the word "dynasty" and said just two days after winning last year's national title, he met with the 2012 squad and set a new challenge for them.
"The first thing I said to this team was, 'you guys are not the national champions,'" he said. "'Some of you played on the national championship team, but the challenges that this team has are all in front of you … and what you did last year is not going to have any impact or effect on what you do next year."
Kelly, however, said Saban had created a consistently successful program he hoped to emulate.
"We're talking about historic success," he said. "I've said this a number of times, your program is defined in consistency, and Alabama is that model. I concede to that. It's where we want to be."
With the countdown to kickoff ticking ever closer to zero, Kelly said he and his squad were anxious for kickoff.
"When you get a chance to go before the media at the venue, it finally hits you that it's getting close. It's been a long journey to get to this point for us. Certainly we're excited to be here. But more importantly, we're here to win a football game, "he said. "Our kids have enjoyed Miami. … But you can sense and you can feel that they're ready to play, and I know as a football team we'll be ready to play Monday night."
Contact Allan Joseph at email@example.com


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Hotel Info
Our hotel is located at 1400m above see level in the centre of Val Badia/Gadertal between the two renowned skiing zones of Alta Badia/Hochabtei and Plan de Corones/Kronplatz.
Colz Family will be glad to welcome you!
- Bar
- "Stüa" sitting room with TV
- Rooms with bathroom, some with balcony
- Dining room
- Playground for children
- Terrace
- Private car parking