Welcome ! As a young French Marketing professional with a Master's in International Management I have been selecting since January 2007 the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change, cleantech and the world energy sector. Sounds great ? Don't hesitate to subscribe now !
With current outdoors temperatures below the freezing point in large parts of Europe, it is easy to think that climate change is either a hoax or that it will be most welcome as it would get us rid of those patches of ice on the roads.
This won’t be the case as the Independent reports : “The bitterly cold weather sweeping Britain and (…) Europe has been linked by scientists with the ice-free seas of the Arctic, where global warming is exerting its greatest influence.”
This is another example of climate change’s influence on weather extremes, and thus another reason to tackle the problem before it really gets out of our control. Continue »
According to RIA Novosti – the Russian state-owned news agency – quoting the local emergencies ministry : ” Temperatures in Russia in the past century rose at twice the rate of warming in the rest of the world “
The article goes further : ” (…) In addition, as compared to the 100-year trend, the rate of warming grew several times, annual precipitation figures are growing… as is the frequency and intensity of flooding.”
” (…) Water resources will increase in regions with higher precipitation, while arid zones, on the contrary, will face further precipitation decline.”
Here is something we never heard about before. To the Associated Press : ” Environmentalists estimate at least 1 percent of Russia’s annual oil production, or 5 million tons, is spilled every year.
That is equivalent to one Deepwater Horizon-scale leak about every two months. Crumbling infrastructure and a harsh climate combine to spell disaster in the world’s largest oil producer, responsible for 13 percent of global output.
(…) Half a million tons every year get into rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean, the government says, upsetting the delicate environmental balance in those waters.
Here is another reason to act quickly and massively on climate : as we have seen previously, permafrost in Russia and other countries from these latitudes are trapping vast quantities of methane, a very potent greenhouse gas.
But as temperatures rise and rise and as the climate gets weirder and weirder, vast quantities of permafrost could melt by mid-century, thus releasing huge amounts of methane.
As the AFP noted last week : ” Russia’s vast permafrost areas may shrink by a third by the middle of the century due to global warming “ Continue »
According to Terra Daily : ” Europe’s forests have expanded over the past 20 years and are thus absorbing more carbon dioxide, a report published in Oslo Tuesday showed, offering some good news in the battle to limit climate change. ”
” According to the report published during a ministerial conference on the protection of Europe’s forests, the continent, including Russian territory, today counts 1.02 billion hectares of forest, accounting for about a quarter of the world’s woods. ”
“Over the last 20 years, the forest area has expanded in all European regions and has gained 0.8 million hectares each year,” reads the report, entitled “State of Europe’s Forests 2011″. Continue »
Energy efficiency is the very basis of a more sustainable society and Russia seems to have understood that. This is a great news as the country is one of the largest coal consumers. As I note in my latest article for CleanTechies :
“Some interesting news recently went unnoticed. Indeed, last month, Russia unveiled a massive energy efficiency plan as the country wastes as much energy as the French economy consumes.”
The $300 billion plan will save the country up to $35 billion per year. For more please read the full article there. All comments and feedback are welcome !
To the New York Times, 36 years after the construction began, Iran finally opened its first nuclear reactor. The plant has a capacity of one gigawatt (compared to the 1,650 MW of an EPR).
Many around the world are fearing for the region’s peace as the uranium used in the plant could also be used for bombs and missiles. The Iranian government promised to give the spent fuel rods to Russia – who helped building this plant.
This would prevent proliferation. The Bushehr plant will begin producing electricity later this year , once the 82 tonnes of low-enriched uranium will have been delivered by Russia. Continue »
I heard that term before as extreme events are unfolding. But two contributors of the Huffington Post believe that what we are witnessing this summer - fires in Russia, floods in Pakistan, heat waves in America – is a sign of global weirding.
And they make quite a point as in a few weeks, so many weather extremes took and are taking place. Last week a glacier four times bigger than Manhattan broke off into the sea.
I send you to the complete article as I believe it is quite a must read for any responsible citizen. This shows once again it is high time to act !
As TreeHugger noted yesterday the President of the Russian Confederation, Dimitri Medvedev, believes that the current heat wave and assorted droughts and wild fires occurring in his country are a wake up call.
Indeed, having a look at the current situation in Russia and its capital city Moscow sure makes you think about climate change and how associated phenomena can turn any country in a most dramatic situation.
The situation is so dire that Russia may soon change its mind on global warming and may now be willing to avert it before it is too late… or is it already the case ?
We all know it : coal is by far the most greenhouse gases emitting energy source. It is also a major air pollutant. For these two reasons it is the environmental enemy #1. (cf The Economist’s cover, back to 2002)
However, many countries like China, India, Germany or the United States are still relying importantly on this solution to generate their electricity, and some of them to astronomic proportions.
TreeHugger recently published a list of the ten countries that burn coal the most according to the data provided by the US Department of Energy (DoE). Continue »
