Biochar proponents slammed over secret “land-grab” agenda

TOKYO ~ Nineteen groups concerned with climate change have  expressed their dismay at an article by leading biochar advocates.
The groups say the article, published in the science magazine Nature and posted online in the August edition of Nature Communications, proposes that an area larger than the land mass of India could be turned into charcoal [...]

Biochar mitigation 25% better than biomass: report

TOKYO ~ Sustainable biochar production has the technical potential to make a substantial contribution to mitigating climate change, according to a report in Nature.
The report, one of the most objective and scientific ever undertaken, shows that maximum avoided emissions in the order of 1.8 Pg CO2-Ce annually, and of 130 Pg CO2-Ce over the course [...]

Greenhouse mafia active down under

ATTITUDES shown at Copenhagen by the world’s major per capita polluters namely the USA, Australia and China, demonstrated that the core thinking has barely changed since Kyoto 20 years ago.
Sure, the presentation is smoother, the denial less strident, and the opposition to change less aggressive; but behind the scenes it is clear that big [...]

Hope in a Changing Climate

HOPE in a Changing Climate – the groundbreaking BBC documentary that shows how ecological damage can be reversed – may provide one of the key solutions to global warming and climate change, but only if it is adopted as a matter of urgency.
The 22-minute film shows how farming and over-grazing led to soil erosion on [...]

Climate change accelerating at a frightening rate: UN report

BEIJING ~ Cities from Beijing to New Delhi are getting darker, weather systems are becoming more extreme, and glaciers in mountain ranges like the Himalayas are melting faster than predicted, says a United Nations report issued today.
And it is all due to human-made Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABCs) and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the United [...]

Coal-fired pollution to cost China US$390 billion

TAIPEI ~ Without significant action, by 2020, air pollution could cost China
US$390 billion per year as a result of disease, illness and premature death, states a report issued last week.
The report, entitled The True Cost of Coal, and commissioned by Greenpeace, WWF and the Energy Foundation, states that China’s coal-fired power stations are the country’s [...]

Massive area of Sarawak to be deforested for oil palm

SINGAPORE ~The Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd (SOPB) is joining with one of its major shareholders - Pelita Holdings Sdn Bhd - to develop oil palm plantations covering a massive swathe of forested area of Sarawak in eastern Malaysia.
According to an SOPB statement issued on 16 September, some 14,500 hectares in the Sri Aman district [...]

Cambodia wants US$4billion for dams

BANGKOK ~ Cambodia has embarked on studies for the construction of a series of dams that will cost in excess of US$4 billion and do untold damage to the country’s fragile environment.
Local reports suggest that the government wants to build more than 10 dams and irrigation systems in four northwestern provinces.

Cheaper solar energy units coming soon

CANBERRA ~ Genuinely affordable solar power units could soon grace rooftops from Mumbai to Shanghai thanks to a new partnership between Australian, American and Chinese researchers.
Scientists from the Australian National University (ANU), Tianjin University in China and a US company called Chromasun, are joining forces to create roof-mounted solar systems that are more cost-effective than [...]

Treeless paper will help environment, says US firm

AN AMERICAN company has started producing paper in commercial quantities without using tree pulp or water.
A spokesman for Gummed Paper of America (GPA), a Chicago-based firm established 70 years ago, told Green Assembly that their new product would make a “world of difference” in mitigating climate change and conserving water resources.