Bangladesh to dredge rivers as climate change causes salinity intrusion.
| Business Execs Plan to Boost Clean-Tech Investments Next Year Shrugging off concerns about the global recession, business executives plan to boost spending on renewable energy and clean technology next year, according to a new survey by the auditor and consultant Ernst & Young. |
| A National Security Perspective on Climate Change One key aspect of the discussion this week at the Transatlantic Media Dialog EUR part of the ongoing effort of climate and energy cooperation began earlier this years as the “Transatlantic Climate Bridge” was the issue of perception. Specifically how climate change and climate policy is perceived in the US and EU, as well as across the globe. A key conclusion was that climate change is indeed a threat to America’s national security, and key to that finding is the conclusion that global warming is a “threat multiplier” for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world, and that such volatility will reach even the most stable regions due to the tensions caused by climate change. |
| Bangladesh to dredge rivers as climate change causes salinity intrusion. The Bangladeshi government, as part of its all-out efforts to check climate change-induced salinity intrusion, will go for capital dredging in the country’s major rivers shortly, a minister said Tuesday. |
| Press Release: EDF, Asia Society Highlight Threat to Asia’s Water Supply on Eve of Obama-Hu Climate Talks FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Tony Kreindler, 202-572-3378, akreindler@edf.org Andrea Welsh, 202-572-3230, awelsh@edf.org (Washington – November 13, 2009) akreindler@edf.org Andrea Welsh, 202-572-3230, awelsh@edf.org (Washington – November 13, 2009) Environmental Defense Fund and the Asia Society tomorrow will partner on a full-page New York Times advertisement featuring dramatic photos of rapidly melting Himalayan glaciers, highlighting threats to Asian water supplies from climate change. The ad coincides with President Obama’s trip to Asia, during which he is scheduled to meet with China’s President Hu Jintoa to discuss climate change, among other topics.”A picture is worth a thousand good intentions. These pictures show why it’s critical that we act - and act quickly - to fight climate change,” said Environmental Defense Fund Executive Director David Yarnold. “I think the melting of the glaciers, which you can see so graphically in these photographs, is a very concrete visual warning to us. We can see what’s happening. If we do not take heed, we will reap a bitter harvest in the decades to come. They are the alarm system. And the alarm has gone off. The question is, will we hear it,” said Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director, Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society.Billions of people get their fresh water from mountain glacier meltwater flows. The problem is the planet’s glaciers are receding at alarming rates. Nowhere is this more acute than in Asia, where up to two billion people rely on meltwater from thinning Himalayan glaciers.The ad says the Beijing Summit between Presidents Barack Obama and Hu Jintao “presents an incomparable opportunity to begin a major new collaboration to meet the challenge of climate change. The world urgently needs the leadership of the U.S. and China to establish a global framework for accountability and action.”The ad, viewable online at http://edf.org/documents/10583_NYTad_C.pdf, features the work of mountaineer and photographer David Breashears, who is using comparative photography to capture undeniable evidence of the rapid melt rate of Himalayan glaciers.Climate change and Asian water supplies by the numbers:7 – Number of great rivers in Asia fed by meltwater from Himalayan glaciers (Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Huang He).2 billion – Number of people, mostly in India and China, who rely on meltwater from Himalayan glaciers for their fresh water.2035 – Date by which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and India’s Energy and Resources Institute predict that much of the Himalayas could be glacier free.66% — Amount by which the July-September flows would be reduced in the Ganga River if we lose the Himalayan glaciers.37% — Amount of India’s irrigated land located in the Ganga region.1 and 2 – Respective rank of China and India as the world’s producers of wheat and rice, food staples for all of humanity. |
| Brown Pelicans Recovery Offers Hope Today we celebrate the remarkable recovery of the brown pelican from the brink of extinction.The state bird of Louisiana, the brown pelican was nearly wiped out in the state and throughout its ranges along the Gulf Coast, the Atlantic coast and in southern California.Today, more than 650,000 can be found across Florida, and the Gulf [.] |
| U.S. Senators unveil bill to double nuclear power. Two U.S. Senators on Monday unveiled bipartisan legislation aimed at doubling nuclear power in 20 years and increasing funding for research into low carbon sources of energy. |
| Study says global warming cant be undone for 1000 years Global warming ‘irreversible’ for next 1000 years. As reported by AFP, NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) scientists have released a study saying that current levels of global warming will cause irreversible damage, no matter what is done in the future to decrease CO2 and other related emissions.  |