policy

UN Climate Change Panel to Adopt New Procedures, Quality Guidelines

Members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting this past week in Abu Dhabi for their annual conference have announced the adoption of new procedures to address questions of conflicts of interest, data analysis errors and other policy procedures.

The member report comes in the wake of the 2009 pseudo-scandal at the UK-based University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, and more recently, in response to recommendations submitted by the InterAcademy Council, an international group of representatives from top science academies.

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Politics in the U.S. — the Referees Have Left the Building, Obama is Constantly Looking for Them

I normally don’t do this, but this is a stellar post on politics in the U.S. from David Roberts of Grist, and you need to read the full thing, so I’m reposting it in whole. This is the story today. This is where we are and why we are so screwed. There are solutions. They are clear and what we promote here regularly, but they are not what Obama and Democratic leadership are pursuing.

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Where and How? New Carbon Footprint Study Shows Location, Lifestyle Matter

UC Berkeley Researchers Jones and Kammen, working at the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) have conducted a landmark GHG emission analysis of U.S. households, and which also provides a tool for more effective consumer and governmental policy decision-making. The “tool” here is the “carbon calculator” made available for free on the Cool Climate Network website.

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In Midst of Nuclear Disaster in Japan, Another Look at What Energy Professionals Recommend

Two months ago, I wrote a post on a survey of energy professionals and what energy policies they recommended. The results of the survey, which was conducted by Bloomberg Businessweek Research Services and funded by ABB, are worth coming back to in light of the horrible nuclear catastrophe occurring in Japan right now.

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Costco Expands Sustainable Seafood Policy – Sales of 12 'Red-List' Fish Will Cease

Last August, Planetsave reported on voluntary changes made by maga-wholesaler Costco to its seafood procurement practices. Most notably, in response to a letter from concerned share-holders, Costco ceased the sale of seven types of fish currently at risk of collapsing from over-fishing (the Atlantic cod, Atlantic halibut, Chilean sea bass, orange roughy, shark, swordfish, and

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Investing in Bicycling Creates Jobs, Improves Economy

One good way to create jobs, as Obama and his secretary of transportation Ray LaHood know, is to invest in efficient, green transportation, like bicycles. One recent study in Wisconsin showed thatย bicycling adds $1.5 billion/year to its economy. Now, another study by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, โ€œEstimating the

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River Ruin – 80% of World's People Face Water Insecurity

In a first-ever “world-wide synthesis”, an international team of scientists has analyzed data on 23 “drivers of environmental stress” that impact the health and quality of the world’s major rivers. The findings: 65% of the world’s riverine ecosystems are “moderately to highly threatened”. The team’s assessment is the first to “jointly consider human and biodiversity

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180 Groups Push Obama to Protect America's Great Outdoors

A diverse range of historic, cultural, scientific, conservation and environmental groups united today to push President Obama to “create a bold, tangible legacy of conservation, preservation, recreation and restoration through the Americaโ€™s Great Outdoors (AGO) Initiative.” While Obama has been more engaged in this topic than his predecessor, there are still some big goals many

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'Devastating Climate Shock' Needed to Spur Climate Change Policy

In his alarm-ringing NY Times op-ed on Climate Change, professor Homer-Dixon* draws a comparison with the 2008 financial “meltdown” which finally led to new financial regulations, even though warnings of a housing bubble (and an emerging recession) were being made prior to the crisis. He advocates societies designing a contingency plan (‘Plan Z’ ) to deal with the immediate after-effects of one or more climate change disasters.

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Should BP and Federal Regulators Share the Blame for the Gulf of Mexico Disaster?

According to recent reports, BP and federal regulators have a lot of explaining to do regarding the safety standards in place for deep-water drilling. [social_buttons] I, along with the rest of the world, have been following the environmental disaster occurring in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil leak which was triggered by the deadly rig

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An Ocean of Effort

Ocean trash is one of the problems photographed by Christopher Swain on his 1,000-mile ocean advocacy and education journey. [social_buttons] As the Obama Administration’s Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force moves into its sixth public meeting on an interim report in Cleveland this week, one determined ocean advocate is continuing to make his way from Massachusetts

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New California Law Protects Farms Against Genetic Engineering Threats

This is a guest post by Meg Hamill, a freelance writer who also works at LandPaths in partnership with the Open Space District of Sonoma County, California. California passes its first law protecting farmers who have not been able to prevent GE contamination of their non GE crops. We’ve all heard the horror stories:ย  A

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Take Action: Help Dig Up the Details on the Candidates' Energy and Environmental Records

So, what do you know about Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s energy and environmental policy proposals? Probably the basics: Obama supports spending $150 billion over ten years to kick-start the “green economy.” Both support cap-and-trade systems to address climate change. McCain’s become a strong proponent of opening up more offshore areas to oil and gas

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Human Rights Acting as Climate Change Policy Compass

This is another of those studies that, though perfectly necessary, pretty much just get categorized in to the โ€œWellโ€ฆ duh!โ€ category of my reporting. Sadly, just because something can be so categorized, doesnโ€™t mean it was unnecessary. Too often humanity will overlook the blatantly obvious until it is thrust directly in front of their faces.

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