August 2008

These are news articles that we have featured on our home page in the month of August 2008:

Bike-sharing program at US Democratic National Convention

Aug 29, 2008 - Tree Hugger

DENVER - Across Denver, Humana has placed roughly a dozen solar-powered bicycle distribution and collection tents. They are lending these bicycles out to convention goers for unlimited use from 7am to 7 pm at no charge.

Liberals to air carbon tax at meeting in Winnipeg

Aug 29, 2008 - Winnipeg Free Press

OTTAWA - At next week's summer caucus meeting, the Liberals will spend a lot of time discussing the green shift, Leader Stephane Dion's tax plan. It proposes to introduce a new tax on carbon while cutting income taxes to help offset the new carbon tax.

Arctic ice 'is at tipping point'

Aug 28, 2008 - BBC News

BOULDER - The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) says that the arctic ice-covered area has fallen below its 2005 level, which was the second lowest on record. Melting has occurred earlier in the year than usual, meaning that the iced area could become even smaller than last September, the lowest recorded.

Industry groups file lawsuit over polar bear rule

Aug 28, 2008 - Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Five industry groups have sued the Interior Department over a rule to protect the polar bear that they say unfairly singles out business operations in Alaska for their contribution to global warming.

Toronto gives green light for 'pedestrian scramble'

Aug 28, 2008 - Globe and Mail

TORONTO - Starting today, one of Toronto's busiest downtown intersections - Yonge and Dundas streets, where 10-storey flashing billboards, Eaton Centre shoppers and Ryerson University students converge - will undergo a small but radical change meant to symbolize the city's plans to put pedestrians ahead of drivers.

Rich or poor? New faultline in U.N. climate talks

Aug 28, 2008 - Reuters

ACCRA - Rich countries are pushing developing nations with the strongest economies to do far more to combat climate change, opening a faultline between rich and poor in U.N. talks on global warming.

Manitoba studies bats' fatal attraction to wind turbines

Aug 27, 2008 - Winnipeg Free Press

WINNIPEG - Ground-breaking research is underway across Western Canada into how wind turbines affect migratory bats, and how to save the furry mammals from being hurt as they fly around the Prairies.

Scrapping fuel subsidies can help climate: U.N. study

Aug 26, 2008 - Reuters

ACCRA - Abolishing subsidies on fossil fuels could cut world greenhouse gas emissions by up to 6 percent and also nudge up world economic growth, a U.N. report showed on Tuesday.

Big thaw of arctic soil may unleash runaway warming

Aug 26, 2008 - Scientifc American

"Drunken" trees listing wildly, cracked highways and sinkholes—all are visible signs of thawing Arctic permafrost. When this frozen soil warms, it releases carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases as microbes start to thrive on the organic material it contains—a potentially potent source of uncontrollable climate change.

Christians see climate change as moral issue

Aug 25, 2008 - Reuters

ACCRA - Morality should be a spur for stronger action to fight climate change, which threatens food and water supplies for the poorest in Africa, a group of Christian activists said on Saturday during U.N. climate talks.

Who revived the electric car?

Aug 22, 2008 - Globe and Mail

VANCOUVER - The Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association's annual barbecue is just starting and already Harry Snalam's 25 lawn chairs are filled. Nearly as many people stand, paper plates in hand.

American public urge for climate change action

Aug 22, 2008 - Angus Reid Global Monitor

VANCOUVER - Two-thirds of adults in the United States think their country should tackle global warming regardless of what other countries do, according to a poll by TNS, ABC News, Stanford University and Planet Green. 68 per cent of respondents think their country should start combating climate change even if others do less.

World heading towards cooler 2008

Aug 21, 2008 - Associated Press

LONDON - Data from the UK Met Office shows that temperatures in the first half of this year have been more than 0.1 Celsius cooler than any year since 2000.

Climate negotiators reconvene this week in Ghana

Aug 21, 2008 - AP

GHANA - Negotiators meet in Ghana this week to resume work on a new climate change treaty and discuss ways to prod developing countries to join the fight against global warming. But the latest round of talks comes when the world's poor are more worried about the cost of food and fuel than the uncertain long-term effects of climate change.

Global climate change might trigger wars

Aug 21, 2008 - UPI

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A U.S. scientist is warning the effects of global climate change on ecosystems might increasingly serve as potential triggers for wars and other conflicts.

Manitoba Hydro offers $1M to turn pig poop into power

Aug 20, 2008 - Winnipeg Free Press

WINNIPEG - Manitoba Hydro wants hog farmers to turn pig poop into power and is offering companies more than a million dollars to do it.

Court says U,S, EPA air pollution rule is illegal

Aug 19, 2008 - Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A Bush administration rule barring states and local governments from requiring more air pollution monitoring is illegal, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Warming climate threatens Alaska's vast forests

Aug 19, 2008 - Reuters

ALASKA - Here in a 13,700-year-old peat bog, ecologist Ed Berg reaches into the moss and pulls out more evidence of the drastic changes afoot due to the Earth's warming climate.

Province sweetens pot to convert to geothermal systems

Aug 19, 2008 - Winnipeg Free Press

WINNIPEG - The province is handing out more cash goodies to green-minded Manitobans willing to go geothermal.

Slower Economy Saps Climate Action; Oil a Prop

Aug 18, 2008 - Planet Ark

OSLO - An economic slowdown is sapping enthusiasm for a costly drive to fight climate change but persistently high oil prices are a lifeline for a "green revolution" of renewable energy technology, experts say.

Record number of cruise ships in Canadian Arctic this summer

Aug 17, 2008 - Canadian Press

NUNAVUT - Polar bears and glaciers may be icons of northern climate change but they are also swelling the sails of Nunavut's tourism industry.

Ontario launching three offset pilot projects

Aug 17, 2008 - Canadian Press

TORONTO - Ontario farmers are being recruited for carbon offset testing as the province prepares to participate in a cap-and-trade system, which officials say is the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

Grande Prairie struggles with drought disaster

Aug 15, 2008 - CBC News

GRANDE PRAIRIE, AB — The worst drought in decades has prompted local officials in northwest Alberta to declare an agricultural disaster as hot weather and a lack of rain have created dry, cracked fields and shriveled crops.

High gas prices cut U.S. driving for 8th month: US government

Aug 13, 2008 - Reuters

WASHINGTON - Americans scaled back their driving during June by almost 5 percent in response to soaring fuel costs, the government said on Wednesday - a day after announcing the biggest six-month drop in U.S. petroleum demand in 26 years.

DC bike-sharing program launches today - first in USA

Aug 13, 2008 - Tree Hugger

WASHINGTON - The District of Columbia joins Barcelona and Paris today with the launch of its high-tech Smart Bike Program (other cities have bike-share initiatives, but not as big and sophisticated as Paris Vélib-style programs). At first, 120 bikes will be available at 10 self-service racks, mostly in the downtown area.

Manitoba, B.C. get top marks for energy efficiency

Aug 12, 2008 - Winnipeg Free Press

OTTAWA - Manitoba and British Columbia score highest in a new report card grading governments on energy efficiency. The Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance, an industry group, says the two provinces received A-plus grades because they have the most stringent policies on conserving power.

Bush could weaken Endangered Species Act

Aug 11, 2008 - Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration wants federal agencies to make changes to ensure that the Endangered Species Act would not be used as a "back door" to regulate the gases blamed for global warming. In May, the polar bear became the first species declared as threatened because of climate change.

Arctic melt could pass 2007 record

Aug 11, 2008 - Canwest News Service

OTTAWA — The Arctic Ocean ice cover, which appeared earlier this summer to be headed for a moderate recovery after last year's record-setting retreat, has begun disintegrating so rapidly in recent weeks that experts now say the ice loss by mid-September could exceed even 2007's history-making meltdown.

Polar bear surprise sends scientists fleeing

Aug 8, 2008 - MSNBC

ALASKA — Five scientists studying shorebirds in northern Alaska had to themselves take flight after a polar bear showed up at a time of year it should have been out on ice floes hunting seals.

Cement from CO2: A concrete cure for global warming?

Aug 7, 2008 - Scientific American

CALIFORNIA — By simply bubbling a power plant's carbon dioxide (CO2) exhaust through nearby seawater, a new California-based company called Calera says it can use more than 90 percent of that CO2 to make something useful: cement.

Northwest Passage expected to open up again this year

Aug 6, 2008 - Globe & Mail

OTTAWA — Even though this summer's ice melt hasn't approached last year's record conditions, the once-frozen Northwest Passage through Canada's Arctic is expected to open again soon, for only the second time in recorded history.

IPCC underestimated logging threat to climate

Aug 5, 2008 - NewScientist

CANBERRA — Pristine temperate forest stores three times more carbon than currently estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and 60% more than plantation forests, according to research in Australia.

Denver reels under record heat

Aug 5, 2008 - BBC Weather

DENVER — A number of states across south east USA have been reeling under intense heat, which has broken a number of records. Saturday marked the 21st consecutive day in Denver that the top temperature hit 32C or higher, breaking the record set in 1901. Friday saw the hottest August day in 130 years, as temperatures rocketed to 40C.

Deal lets Ontario join climate-change drive

Aug 4, 2008 - Globe & Mail

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty struck a bargain with the auto sector and leaders of a North American climate change initiative that paved the way for the province to join the group, sources say.

Record heat, floods force closure of Arctic park

Aug 1, 2008 - Reuters

OTTAWA - A major national park in Canada's Arctic has been largely closed after record high temperatures caused flooding that washed away hiking trails and forced the evacuation of tourists, an official said on Friday.

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Expert report questions Tory greenhouse-gas claims

Aug 1, 2008 - Canadian Press

OTTAWA - The Harper government might be overestimating how much its climate-change plan will lower greenhouse gases, says a federal advisory panel.

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