ECOLOGY

The danger is that global warming may become self-sustaining, if it has
not done so already. The melting of the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps
reduces the fraction of solar energy reflected back into space, and so
increases the temperature further. Climate change may kill off the
Amazon and other rain forests, and so eliminate once one of the main
ways in which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere. The rise in
sea temperature may trigger the release of large quantities of carbon
dioxide, trapped as hydrides on the ocean floor. Both these phenomena
would increase the greenhouse effect, and so global warming further. We
have to reverse global warming urgently, if we still can. Physicist
Stephen Hawking

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HOLLAND TRIES FLOATING HOUSES

AP - For centuries, the Dutch have built dikes to protect themselves
from the sea. Now, with predictions of more frequent flooding due to
climate change, they are looking for ways to live with water, not fight
it. That change of thinking is reflected at a new housing project in
this central Dutch village about 60 miles southeast of Amsterdam. It is
a community of amphibious homes.

Unlike the houseboats that line many Dutch canals or the floating
villages of Asia, the several dozen homes are being built on solid
ground. But they also are designed to float on flood water. Each house
is made of lightweight wood, and the concrete base is hollow, giving it
ship-like buoyancy. With no foundations anchored in the earth, the
structure rests on the ground and is fastened to 15-foot-long mooring
posts with sliding rings, allowing it to float upward should the river
flood. All the electrical cables, water and sewage flow through flexible
pip
es inside the mooring piles.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4852739/

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LED BY AMERICA, GREENHOUSE GASES INCREASE FOR RICH NATIONS

WIRED - Industrialized nations' emissions of greenhouse gases edged up
to the highest level in more than a decade in 2004 despite curbs meant
to fight global warming, data compiled by Reuters showed on Thursday. .
. Emissions from 40 industrial nations climbed 1.6 percent overall to
17.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide -- mainly from power plants,
factories and cars -- in 2004 from in 2003 even though oil prices were
surging. . . Most of the 2004 rise was caused by a 1.7 percent gain in
emissions in the United States, the world's biggest source of greenhouse
gases, to a record 7.07 billion metric tons. Emissions in the European
Union and Canada also rose while Japan's dipped. . . Overall emissions
were 4.6 percent below 1990 levels in 2004, according to the data. Last
October, the U.N. Climate Secretariat had said 2003 emissions were 5.9
percent below 1990.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71701-0.html?tw=rss.index

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TOP U.S. SCIENTIST: SEA COULD RISE 13 FEET IN NEXT CENTURY

ROGER HARRABIN BBC - One of America's top scientists has said that the
world has already entered a state of dangerous climate change. In his
first broadcast interview as president of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, John Holdren told the BBC that the climate
was changing much faster than predicted. . . "We are experiencing
dangerous human disruption of the global climate and we're going to
experience more," Professor Holdren said. He emphasized the seriousness
of the melting Greenland ice cap, saying that without drastic action the
world would experience more heat waves, wild fires and floods. He added
that if the current pace of change continued, a catastrophic sea level
rise of 4m (13ft) this century was within the realm of possibility; much
higher than previous forecasts. To put this in perspective, Professor
Holdren pointed out that the melting of the Greenland ice cap, alone,
could increase world-wide sea levels by 7m (23ft), swamping many cities.
He blamed President Bush not only for refusing to cut emissions, but
also for failing to live up to his rhetoric on harnessing technology to
tackle climate change.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/5303574.stm

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Leaked Memo: BLM Fails to Track Environmental Data on Gas Fields
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/090106EA.shtml
The Bureau of Land Management has neglected its public commitments to monitor
and limit harm to wildlife and air quality from gas drilling on public land in
western Wyoming, according to an internal BLM assessment.

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Defense Department Continues to Stall Wind Power Projects
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/090106EB.shtml
Environmental groups are accusing the Defense Department of "paralyzing" the
development of wind energy projects, and costing citizens the environmental
benefits of clean energy in the process.

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US State CO2 Laws Won't Prevent Coal Boom
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/090106EC.shtml
US states' plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could lead to little change
in national carbon output - simply pushing coal-fired power plants and other
dirty industries to relocate in states without rules - experts said on Thursday.

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