The climate crisis: Five parties, no solutions

(rabble.ca news) - Despite much sound and fury, none of the major political parties is proposing effective measures for dealing with the climate change crisis. The differences between them amount to ?Don’t do anything? versus ?Don’t do much.?

READ MORE HERE [ Source: rabble.ca news, Ian Angus, Sep. 23, 2008 ]

Climate change policy vague: Dunn

(The Edmonton Journal) - EDMONTON - Alberta’s $4-billion climate change policy is too vague and lacks an effective plan for reaching its targets, the province’s auditor general said Thursday in his annual report.

The result is that the province has no way of measuring if it’s on track to meet its goals of reducing emissions intensity by 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2010 and 50 per cent by 2020, Fred Dunn said.

“Alberta could spend substantial resources and not achieve emission targets. Or Alberta could achieve its targets, but not cost-effectively,” Dunn wrote.

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Diseases, heat-related deaths likely to spike from climate change: report

(CBC.ca) - A new Health Canada report warns Canadians of the potential health risks of climate change, including spikes in heat-related deaths, an increase in respiratory and cardiovascular problems, and the spread and emergence of diseases.

“The findings of this assessment suggest the need for immediate action to buttress efforts to protect health from current climate hazards,” says the 500-page report, entitled Human Health in a Changing Climate: A Canadian Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Adaptive Capacity.

It examines the effects under three categories: extreme weather events and natural hazards, air quality and heat, and diseases transmitted by water, food, insects, ticks and rodents.

The projected increase of floods in some areas and drought and forest fires in others are some of the natural disasters caused by climate change that will cause health-related problems, the report says.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca ]

The Real Story Behind the Midwest Floods? Climate Change

Scientists acknowledge an uncomfortable fact long ignored by the media: global warming is the real cause of extreme weather like the Midwest floods.

The floodwaters are rising, swamping cities, breaching levees. Tens of thousands are displaced. Many are dead. No, I am not talking about Hurricane Katrina, but about the Midwest United States. As the floodwaters head south along the Mississippi, devastating communities one after another, the media are overflowing with televised images of the destruction.

While the TV meteorologists document “extreme weather” with their increasingly sophisticated toolbox, from Doppler radar to 3-D animated maps, the two words rarely uttered are its cause: global warming. I asked former Energy Department official Joseph Romm, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, about the disconnect:

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Alternet.org ]

Bush, World-Bank Pushing Bogus ‘Clean Energy’ Funds

Critics say the funds would finance 'clean coal' scams and weigh down developing countries with more debt.

WASHINGTON, Jun 6 (IPS) - "Climate Investment Funds" to be run by the World Bank and backed by the George W. Bush administration are drawing fire from lawmakers and environmentalists who say the initiatives will accomplish little against global warming.

Critics question whether the funds -- including a planned 10-billion-dollar Clean Technology Fund -- set out a clear way to reduce pollution, whether they provide the right type of financing for poorer countries, and whether the World Bank is the right choice to run them.

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Polar bears walking on thin ice

May 23, 2008 - Last week, the U.S. government listed the polar bear as a threatened species under its Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Interior Department made the decision under pressure, including legal petitions, from environmental organizations. Its reluctance to legally protect the species is evident in the caveats it has placed on the listing, most notably limiting the implications for U.S. climate-change policy. Nevertheless, the ruling does give polar bears more protection in the U.S. than in Canada.

READ MORE HERE… [ Source: David Suzuki Foundation ]

Will the Tide on Capitol Hill Shift Enough on Global Warming to Ignite Real Change?

The debate over the Climate Security Act shows how the next Congress, and the next President, will address the most urgent issue facing us.

A day before Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, his colleagues in the Senate began preparing for the biggest global warming vote in Congressional history. America's Climate Security Act would for the first time impose large mandatory cuts on greenhouse gas emissions. The bill is not expected to become law, if only because of George Bush's promised veto. But the Senate debate could reveal a lot about how the next Congress and the next President, whether Obama or John McCain, will address the most urgent issue facing humanity.

In contrast to Bush, McCain and Obama recognize climate change as a top-priority threat that requires action now. Environmentally, Obama's proposals are stronger. The Democrat favors what science says is necessary: an 80 percent cut in emissions, from 1990 levels, by 2050. Obama would achieve this through a "cap and trade" system that sells corporations permits to emit greenhouse gases and then invests the revenue in green energy development and rebates to Americans hit with higher energy prices.

READ MORE HERE