Agence France-Presse: Climate change is pushing some bird species "towards extinction," US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar warned Thursday as a new report on the threats facing North American birds was released. "For well over a century, migratory birds have faced stresses," Salazar said. "Now they are facing a new threat -- climate change -- that could dramatically alter their habitat and food supply and push many species towards extinction." Birds that depend upon the ocean for survival "are among ...

Associated Press: Major European polluters are buying their way out of making big cuts to greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing carbon offsets that pay for environmental programs in developing nations, a nonprofit group said Friday. To avoid the high cost of becoming greener, power companies and steel makers are using offsets to meet emissions-reduction requirements, and thus undermining the EU's cap-and-trade program that would otherwise punish them financially for not cleaning up their operations, ...

Agence France-Presse: Illegal fishing and climate change are decimating shrimp and lobster populations in Central America, threatening a two-billion-dollar industry and 136,000 jobs, regional experts said Thursday. "Pollution and warmer waters are impacting our species," especially shrimp and lobster, said Central American Organization of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectors (OSPESCA) regional director Mario Gonzalez. "The Pacific shrimp population, Panama excluded, has fallen dramatically" because ...

Business Green: A previously unheralded electric car maker emerged as an unlikely saviour for the US auto industry this week, announcing plans to step in and take over a Toyota factory in Fremont, California when the Japanese car manufacturer vacates the plant at the end of the month, potentially saving 4,700 jobs. Aurica Motors said that when Toyota vacates the NUMMI plant on 31 March it wants to convert the facility to make its planned E-Car -- an all-electric vehicle featuring swappable battery ...

Business Green: The emerging US smart grid industry has vowed to accelerate the roll out of new intelligent grid systems, after the government this week confirmed the sector will not be taxed on the federal grants that will largely fund the first wave of projects. Economic stimulus legislation introduced last year included a $3.4bn fund for Smart Grid Investment Grants, designed to kick-start the installation of smart-grid systems that promise to enhance the reliability of transmission networks, ...

Reuters: The White House is finalizing rules on the first U.S. greenhouse gas emission standard for automobiles, which would raise average fuel economy 42 percent by 2016 in a bid to slash oil imports and fight climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department sent the final rules this week to the White House's Office of Management and Budget, according to a notice posted on the OMB website. The higher mileage requirements will reduce U.S. greenhouse ...

Associated Press: Global climate change poses a significant threat to migratory bird populations, which are already stressed by the loss of habitat and environmental pollution, according to a report released Thursday. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar joined scientists and conservation organizers at an Austin news conference to release the study, "The State of the Birds: 2010 Report on Climate Change." The report says oceanic birds, such as petrels and albatrosses, are at particular risk from ...

Stabroek News: The Office of Climate Change (OCC) last night described the objections by some indigenous leaders to the LCDS and REDD+ policies as "malicious misrepresentations and distortions" and a deliberate attempt to mislead the public on the two policies. The OCC referred to articles published in this newspaper and the Kaieteur News following a statement issued after a workshop on 'Indigenous Peoples Rights, Extractive Industries and National Development Policies in Guyana.' The statement had, ...

USA Today: Nearly one-third of U.S. bird species "are endangered, threatened or in significant decline," due to climate change, Department of the Interior chief Ken Salazar said Thursday. Salazar issued a report, "The State of the Birds: 2010 Report on Climate Change", created by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in collaboration with conservation groups. In it, researchers looked at five factors affecting bird species and weighed them against climate change effects. The factors were ...

Associated Press: Opponents of uranium mining in Southside Virginia and the people who want to end a state moratorium on mining the fuel for nuclear power plants have one more difference of opinion: the size of the deposit. A speaker at a forum Thursday organized by environmentalists said the deposit totals 5.5 million pounds, not the 119 million pounds estimated by Virginia Uranium Inc. Environmental analyst Paul Robinson said much of the uranium deposit is "too diluted to be reasonably mined" ...

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A deputy director of China's most powerful economic ministry has come out swinging against climate change denial. Senior Chinese government figures have described the view that climate change is not man-made as an "extreme" stance which is out of step with mainstream thought. The comments were made during China's annual sitting of the National People's Congress. During the congress, a series of press conferences are held which, in many cases, are the only chance to put ...

Associated Press: A judge ruled Thursday that Chevron can proceed with an international arbitration claim against Ecuador related to a 17-year-old court battle over rain forest contamination in that South American nation. U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand in Manhattan rejected an attempt by Ecuador to block the arbitration but also said his decision was limited in scope and left the arbitration panel to decide what, if anything, it will hear and when. His ruling does not directly affect the ...

Guardian: Companies across Europe are hoarding permits to produce greenhouse gas emissions worth hundreds of millions of pounds, the Guardian can reveal. The surplus credits have been amassed from over-allocation of permits to pollute from the European emissions trading scheme, and by buying cheap credits from carbon-cutting projects in developing countries and holding on to their more expensive official EU allowances. The saved permits can be used to meet future targets to cut the ...

Mongabay: Birds may see pleasanter skies in the US soon, if Congressman Mike Quigley has his way. Quigley, a democrat from Illinois, has introduced legislation that would require all federal buildings to become bird-friendly, potentially saving the lives of millions of birds every year. "Building collisions are arguably the single greatest man-made killer of birds. From three hundred million to one billion birds or more die each year from collisions with glass on buildings--from skyscrapers to ...

Guardian: More than two animals and plants a year are becoming extinct in England and hundreds more are severely threatened, a report published today reveals. Natural England, the government's agency responsible for the countryside, said the biggest national study of threats to biodiversity found nearly 500 species that had died out in England, all but a dozen in the last two centuries. The losses recorded compare with a natural rate of about one extinction every 20 years before humans ...

Associated Press: Wildlife officials lauded Washington's "holistic approach" to conservation in Hawaii after the Obama administration declared 48 species as endangered and announced plans to set aside more than 40 square miles on Kauai as critical habitat to allow the plants and animals to flourish. Two Honeycreeper birds, a fly and 45 ferns, trees and shrubs found only on the island of Kauai were among the species named Wednesday, boosting the number of such classifications by the Obama administration ...

Reuters: Big business is now free to blitz the airwaves to attack politicians who support action against climate change, which could smother messages from environmentalists. But it is not yet clear whether corporations have the will or the budgets to use the advertising weapon the climate change wars that emerged in January when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same right as individuals to free political speech, including spending on advertising. The decision ...

Associated Press: The Cove Production year: 2009 Country: USA Cert (UK): 12A Runtime: 90 mins Directors: Louie Psihoyos More on this film Federal prosecutors filed charges yesterday against a sushi chef and a Santa Monica restaurant following allegations that they served illegal and endangered whale meat. Typhoon Restaurant Inc, which owns The Hump restaurant, and sushi chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, 45, were charged with illegally selling an endangered ...

Business Green: The two steps forward, one step back nature of international climate change negotiations was again underlined yesterday after it emerged that China and India's support for the Copenhagen Accord remains highly conditional. The two countries this week wrote to the UN confirming they could be "listed " in the agreement, which they helped to broker at the Copenhagen climate change summit last year. All large emitters barring Russia have now signalled formal support for the ...

Inter Press Service: Battling the pain from a boil on his left thigh, 45-year-old Inggit Tukino pulled his two-wheeled cart through the overcrowded alleys of a slum in Rawabebek, Penjaringan hamlet in here North Jakarta. "Garbage, garbage!" he shouted, announcing his arrival at every house. Upon hearing his voice, the residents, mostly women and children, rushed out and placed solid household waste into Tukino's wooden cart. He also collected garbage bags hanging outside a number of other ...