L'ancien premier ministre a quitté, à 78 ans, son mandat de député européen pour un poste d'ambassadeur chargé des relations internationales relatives aux pôles Arctique et Antarctique.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Rocard nommé Ambassadeur pour les pôles...
L'ancien premier ministre a quitté, à 78 ans, son mandat de député européen pour un poste d'ambassadeur chargé des relations internationales relatives aux pôles Arctique et Antarctique.
How to save 10-20% on auto gas bills?
Easy!
1 - Just make it mandatory for ALL car manufacturers to install a data screen like you have in the Prius: simple, easy to read, fun. 5-10% saved right there.
2 - As part of getting a driving license, teach new drivers how to SAVE gas while driving. Another 5-10% saved.
TOTAL = 10-20%. It is that easy...
1 - Just make it mandatory for ALL car manufacturers to install a data screen like you have in the Prius: simple, easy to read, fun. 5-10% saved right there.
2 - As part of getting a driving license, teach new drivers how to SAVE gas while driving. Another 5-10% saved.
TOTAL = 10-20%. It is that easy...
Monday, March 16, 2009
Drowning islands...
(CNN) -- There is one holiday destination that should shake the faith of even the most vehement climate change skeptic: the Carteret Islands, part of Papua New Guinea, located northeast of Bougainville.http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/03/15/eco.climaterefugees/
Friday, March 13, 2009
THE YEAR OF CLIMATE CHANGE
LEADERS OF UN, US DECLARE 2009 THE YEAR OF CLIMATE CHANGE
New York, Mar 12 2009 6:00PM
With nations set to conclude negotiations on an ambitious new
greenhouse gas emissions agreement this December, Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon and United States President Barack Obama have stressed
the need for 2009 to be the year of climate change.
Mr. Ban, who met with the “visionary” American leader earlier this
week at the White House in Washington, <"http://www.un.org/apps/news/
infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=449">told journalists in
his monthly press conference at UN Headquarters today that they both
agree that climate change poses an “existential threat.”
The two men share a commitment that “2009 must be the year of climate
change,” he said, stressing the importance a comprehensive successor
pact to the Kyoto Protocol – the legally binding emissions reduction
regime whose first commitment period ends in 2012 – at December’s UN
climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“With US leadership, in partnership of the United Nations, we can and
will reach a climate change deal that all nations can embrace,” the
Secretary-General noted.
Reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (<"http://
www.ipcc.ch/">IPCC) – the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate – have
shown unequivocally that the world is warming, almost certainly due
to human activity, with potentially disastrous effects including
worsening drought in some regions and heavier rainfall in others.
Mr. Ban said today that he and Mr. Obama were of the same opinion
that ‘green’ investments are an essential part of any stimulus
package targeting the current global economic turmoil.
“If we are going to spend such tremendous sums of money, let us be
smart about it,” he said.
He said that during his two-day visit to Washington, climate change
also dominated his discussions with key American officials, including
Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, and Congressman Howard Berman, Chairman of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee.
Last week, the top UN climate change official said that he sees
“enthusiasm” in the current US Government to pass laws to reduce gas
emissions and a willingness to work towards a new global climate
change pact.
Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (<"http://unfccc.int/2860.php">UNFCCC), said he was
“very much encouraged” following his recent meetings with officials
in Mr. Obama’s administration and members of Congress.
“There is, I believe, a huge enthusiasm and energy in both the House
and the Senate to put cap and trade climate change legislation in
place in this country,” he added.
Mr. de Boer also underscored the willingness in the current US
administration “to work towards an agreement in Copenhagen, to come
with an ambitious domestic policy [and] to engage with international
partners” to come to an accord.
New York, Mar 12 2009 6:00PM
With nations set to conclude negotiations on an ambitious new
greenhouse gas emissions agreement this December, Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon and United States President Barack Obama have stressed
the need for 2009 to be the year of climate change.
Mr. Ban, who met with the “visionary” American leader earlier this
week at the White House in Washington, <"http://www.un.org/apps/news/
infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=449">told journalists in
his monthly press conference at UN Headquarters today that they both
agree that climate change poses an “existential threat.”
The two men share a commitment that “2009 must be the year of climate
change,” he said, stressing the importance a comprehensive successor
pact to the Kyoto Protocol – the legally binding emissions reduction
regime whose first commitment period ends in 2012 – at December’s UN
climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“With US leadership, in partnership of the United Nations, we can and
will reach a climate change deal that all nations can embrace,” the
Secretary-General noted.
Reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (<"http://
www.ipcc.ch/">IPCC) – the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate – have
shown unequivocally that the world is warming, almost certainly due
to human activity, with potentially disastrous effects including
worsening drought in some regions and heavier rainfall in others.
Mr. Ban said today that he and Mr. Obama were of the same opinion
that ‘green’ investments are an essential part of any stimulus
package targeting the current global economic turmoil.
“If we are going to spend such tremendous sums of money, let us be
smart about it,” he said.
He said that during his two-day visit to Washington, climate change
also dominated his discussions with key American officials, including
Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, and Congressman Howard Berman, Chairman of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee.
Last week, the top UN climate change official said that he sees
“enthusiasm” in the current US Government to pass laws to reduce gas
emissions and a willingness to work towards a new global climate
change pact.
Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (<"http://unfccc.int/2860.php">UNFCCC), said he was
“very much encouraged” following his recent meetings with officials
in Mr. Obama’s administration and members of Congress.
“There is, I believe, a huge enthusiasm and energy in both the House
and the Senate to put cap and trade climate change legislation in
place in this country,” he added.
Mr. de Boer also underscored the willingness in the current US
administration “to work towards an agreement in Copenhagen, to come
with an ambitious domestic policy [and] to engage with international
partners” to come to an accord.
Friday, February 20, 2009
350 Max!!
American climatologist Dr. James Hansen of NASA says we already have too much CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the air: "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted ... CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm."
Monday, February 16, 2009
Acceleration of Planet's warming :((
For those who still doubt:
By Clive Cookson in Chicago
Published: February 16 2009
The world is warming far more quickly than scientists forecast just two years ago when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its last reports, according to a series of assessments presented over the weekend.
Chris Field of Stanford University, a senior member of the IPCC, told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that the unexpectedly rapid increase in the burning of fossil fuels, especially coal, since 2000 would have dire consequences because of “feedback loops” in the global climate.
“We are looking now at a future climate that’s beyond anything we’ve considered seriously in climate model simulations,” Prof Field said.
The IPCC’s fourth assessment in 2007 concluded that the average global temperature would increase by between 1.1°C and 6.4°C by 2100, depending how much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were released into the atmosphere over the coming decades. Prof Field said that seriously underestimated the potential severity of global warming, based on the new evidence.
Prof Field warned that there were early signs of melting in the Arctic tundra and increased fires in tropical forests – over and above deliberate deforestation – that could add billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
“There is a real risk that human-caused climate change will accelerate the release of carbon dioxide from forest and tundra ecosystems, which have been storing a lot of carbon for thousands of years,” Prof Field said.
“We don’t want to cross a critical threshold where this massive release of carbon starts to run on autopilot.”
Al Gore, the former US vice-president turned climate change campaigner, responded with a passionate plea to an audience of 1,600 scientists, urging them to become more politically active in the fight against global warming.
“Scientists can no longer in good conscience accept this division between the work you do and the civilisation in which you live. This is a historic struggle.”
Mr Gore focused particularly on the accelerating loss of Arctic ice and the global increase in coal burning.
However there was optimism at the AAAS meeting – based on the professed determination of the new US administration to promote effective action, both in its domestic energy policies and in taking a lead in international climate change negotiations.
James McCarthy, a climate change expert at Harvard University and this year’s AAAS president, said: “The scientific talent President [Barack] Obama has recruited is of extraordinary calibre. He could not have found anyone better to look after energy and the environment.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
By Clive Cookson in Chicago
Published: February 16 2009
The world is warming far more quickly than scientists forecast just two years ago when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its last reports, according to a series of assessments presented over the weekend.
Chris Field of Stanford University, a senior member of the IPCC, told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that the unexpectedly rapid increase in the burning of fossil fuels, especially coal, since 2000 would have dire consequences because of “feedback loops” in the global climate.
“We are looking now at a future climate that’s beyond anything we’ve considered seriously in climate model simulations,” Prof Field said.
The IPCC’s fourth assessment in 2007 concluded that the average global temperature would increase by between 1.1°C and 6.4°C by 2100, depending how much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were released into the atmosphere over the coming decades. Prof Field said that seriously underestimated the potential severity of global warming, based on the new evidence.
Prof Field warned that there were early signs of melting in the Arctic tundra and increased fires in tropical forests – over and above deliberate deforestation – that could add billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
“There is a real risk that human-caused climate change will accelerate the release of carbon dioxide from forest and tundra ecosystems, which have been storing a lot of carbon for thousands of years,” Prof Field said.
“We don’t want to cross a critical threshold where this massive release of carbon starts to run on autopilot.”
Al Gore, the former US vice-president turned climate change campaigner, responded with a passionate plea to an audience of 1,600 scientists, urging them to become more politically active in the fight against global warming.
“Scientists can no longer in good conscience accept this division between the work you do and the civilisation in which you live. This is a historic struggle.”
Mr Gore focused particularly on the accelerating loss of Arctic ice and the global increase in coal burning.
However there was optimism at the AAAS meeting – based on the professed determination of the new US administration to promote effective action, both in its domestic energy policies and in taking a lead in international climate change negotiations.
James McCarthy, a climate change expert at Harvard University and this year’s AAAS president, said: “The scientific talent President [Barack] Obama has recruited is of extraordinary calibre. He could not have found anyone better to look after energy and the environment.”
Copyright
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Special Envoy for Climate Change!
Wow! the US now has a Special Envoy for Climate Change!! Secretary Clinton Announces Appointment of Special Envoy for Climate Change: Todd Stern
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, welcome to the State Department, but really, many of you work here and work at USAID and do the important business of our country, and I’m so pleased that you could join us today, because it is with great enthusiasm that I am naming today a Special Envoy for Climate Change.
As should be evident by now, the President and I believe that American leadership is essential to meeting the challenges of the 21st century. And chief among those is the complex, urgent, and global threat of climate change. From rapidly rising temperatures to melting arctic icecaps, from lower crop yields to dying forests, from unforgiving hurricanes to unrelenting droughts, we have no shortage of evidence that our world is facing a climate crisis.
For video: http://www.state.gov/video/?videoid=9120359001
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Oil, Trade and Arctic Ice
A simple, brief and informative video from The Economist Website on the geopolitical issues facing the Arctic today:
http://audiovideo.economist.com/?fr_chl=37b523f6e1fab620d03697edb18b1216db2961ca
Friday, January 23, 2009
Warming in Antarctica
Antarctica is warming, that is the conclusion of scientists analyzing half a century of temperatures on the continent.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/science/earth/22climate.html
Saturday, December 27, 2008
2008 cooler than last year, but Planet still warming...
NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies has released its preliminary temperature plot for 2008 (December's not over yet). As the chart (above) shows, overall temps in the past almost-a-year took a dip, with 2008 the coolest year of the past eight.
http://globalwarming.change.org/blog/view/2008_cooler_than_last_year_yes_globe_still_warming_yes
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Antarctic tourist ship leaks fuel...
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An Antarctic cruise ship carrying 122 passengers and crew started to take on water and leak fuel after it ran aground on Thursday, an Argentine naval official said.
Admiral Daniel Martin told local television a nearby passenger ship was on its way to the stricken Panamanian-flagged vessel, called the Ushuaia after the Tierra del Fuego port from which it sailed in Argentina on Sunday.
He said none of the boat's passengers had been injured.
"We've received information from the captain of the Ushuaia that the boat is grounded ... with a minimal amount of water coming in and some fuel loss," Martin said.
He said the ship lay some 186 miles (300 km) southwest of Argentina's Marambio military base on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Cruise travel has grown in Antarctica in recent years, with tourists paying thousands of dollars to see towering icebergs, seals, whales and penguins.
A year ago, more than 150 crew and passengers, many of them elderly, escaped unhurt in a dramatic rescue after their cruise ship hit ice off Antarctica and sank.
The ship is operated by Antarpply Expeditions, based in Ushuaia.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
"I didn't see one cube of ice!"
A commercial ship travels through the Northwest Passage...http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/11/28/nwest-vessel.html
New rifts form on Antarctic ice shelf
Well, ice shelves are breaking in Antarctica too...
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/29/antarctic.ice.shelf.collapse/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/29/antarctic.ice.shelf.collapse/index.html
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Gorbachev-Children ceremony - Nov. 21, 2008
Mikhail Gorbachev listens to children presenting findings of the 2008 Arctic expedition:
more photos at:http://www.sagaxexpeditions.com/2US%20-%204.5%20-%20Russia%20Photos-Videos.html
and videos at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FO1hYmqKPo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvRvr6p5gkk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmcCefS_528
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B956u8QM8IY
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