Today’s Climate: March 28-29, 2009

Share This Article

Share This Article

Obama Calls Major Economies Climate Change Meeting (Reuters)

Pres. Obama is launching a "Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate" to help facilitate a UN agreement on global warming, the White House announced.

US Hopes to Avoid Repeat of Kyoto Protocol (AP)

The Obama administration wants a politically viable international climate deal that avoids the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, which failed to win US domestic support, Climate Change envoy Todd Stern said on the eve of climate talks in Bonn.

Dem Sens Press to Sidestep GOP on Climate Change (The Hill)

A group of junior Democratic senators are pressing their more senior colleagues to push a cap-and-trade climate bill past a GOP filibuster by attaching it to a special budget legislative maneuver.

Antarctica to Pyramids — Lights Dim for Earth Hour (AP)

Some 4,000 cities in 88 nations went dark Saturday for Earth Hour, a campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

Emissions-Reduction Bill Passed by MD House (Baltimore Sun)

The Maryland House of Delegates voted 107-31 for a climate measure that would require the state to cut greenhouse gases by 25% by 2020. The Senate approved its version earlier this month.

Human-Made CO2 on Exponential Rise (Discovery News)

Human-produced CO2 in the atmosphere has been growing at a steady 2.3% since recording began in 1958, according to a new study by US scientists. At that rate, CO2 doubles every 30 years.

Report: Big Oil Controls Billions of Gallons of Colo. River Flows (Greenwire)

Oil companies have gathered up rights to more than 6.5 billion gallons of water in preparation for future efforts to extract oil from shale deposits in the Rocky Mountains, according to a new report by Western Resource Advocates.

Renewable Energy Generation Climbs in 2008, Fossil Fuels Dip (ClimateBiz)

Non-hydro renewable energy increased 17.6% in 2008 compared to last year, according to new figures by the US Energy Information Administration. In comparison, generation from coal and natural gas declined by 1.1% and 2.2%, respectively.

New Solar Subsidies in China Set to Reduce Installed Cost by Half (Cleantech Group)

The Chinese Ministry of Finance revealed a new subsidy for installed solar that is expected to help the industry recover from recent price drops along the value chain.

Carbon Projects Get $140M (The Edmonton Journal)

Ottawa will pump $140 million into eight demonstration projects in Western Canada, which aim to capture and store CO2 produced by power plants and the fertilizer and petroleum industries.

Scotland ‘Ahead of the Game’ on Renewables (The Observer)

Plans to make Scotland 50% reliant on renewable energy sources are ahead of schedule, new figures released by the Scottish Parliament suggest.

Russia Plans Military Force to Patrol Arctic as ‘Cold Rush’ Intensifies (Guardian)

Russia has released plans to create a dedicated military force to patrol the Arctic, which is thought to contain up to a quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas.

Nuclear Power Cannot Solve Climate Change (Scientific American)

Nuclear power plants cannot be built quickly enough and in a safe and secure manner to be a major global solution for climate change, according to a report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

About This Story

Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That’s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.

That’s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can’t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We’ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.

Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.

Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don’t already, will you support our ongoing work, our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places?

Please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. Every one of them makes a difference.

Thank you,

Share This Article