In this season of thankfulness, it’s a good idea to move beyond being thankful for more food than we could ever eat and more family than we could ever argue with and take stock of other issues in our lives that deserve a nod.

We are humans, and this species has a lot to be grateful for.

Read the whole article: What humans should really be thankful for

A new development paradigm that is more concern on ecological quality of economic growth should be urgently explored by Asian leaders to minimise the damages from climate change, said Han Seungsoo, United Nations’ Special Envoy for Climate Change.

In his keynote speech delivering at the international conference on Asia’s Emerging Response to Climate change, hosted by The Nation and Krungthep Turakij on Friday, Han said Asian countries have to shift from the old paradigm of “quantitative growth” to the new paradigm of “qualitative growth”.

The shift of paradigm, he said, is a fundamental of the “two birds with one stone” strategy that is to grow fast and at the same time to reduce the green house gases emission.

Read the whole article: New thinking on climate change urged

The Mantaro river basin, one of the main water sources in Peru’s central Andes mountains, is a dump for toxic substances, according to an independent scientific study. Lead levels, for instance, are 180 times higher than those accepted by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The study shows that the river basin is a veritable sewer, containing cyanide, lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury, used in mining, coliform bacteria from human waste, and nitrates from agrochemicals.

“The pollution has multiple causes,” Iván Lanegra, natural resources and environment manager for the regional government of Junín, told IPS. He has signed an agreement to implement urgent measures with the local social organisations that produced the report.

Read the whole article: A (toxic) river runs through it

Leaders of Asian countries, including top polluters India and China, on Wednesday signed an agreement that aims to stabilize greenhouses gas emissions.

According to a copy of the final text obtained by Reuters, the 16 nations of the East Asia Summit “commit to the common goal of stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations in the long run, at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”

Read the whole article: India and China sign deal to stabilize greenhouse gases

Neither the safety nor the effectiveness of ocean fertilization – adding iron or other ‘micronutrients’ to the sea to encourage plankton to grow – have been established and the method should not be touted as a cure for climate change until they have been, cautions the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

This warning is based on a Statement of Concern endorsed by the Parties to the London Convention and London Protocol, the international agreements that regulate dumping of wastes and other matter at sea. According to an International Maritime Organization press briefing of 16 November 2007, Parties to the Convention and Protocol, unanimously adopted the June 2007 Statement of Concern issued by their scientific advisors that “knowledge about the effectiveness and potential environmental impacts of ocean iron fertilization is insufficient to justify large-scale operations”.

Read the whole article:
Proposed global warming solution needs more scientific research

U.S. citizens will buy 30 million new digital televisions this year alone, sending their old lead-laden TVs to the dump, or more likely, overseas to China or India.

“It’s an astonishing number that will send millions of pounds of lead to landfills or overseas,” said Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition.

Non-digital TVs contain up to eight pounds of lead, which is a potent neurotoxin. While new digital flat screen TVs don’t have lead, they do contain mercury, another neurotoxin.

“It’s no longer illegal in the U.S. to export e-waste (electronic waste) to developing countries,” Kyle said.

Read the whole article: An e-waste free-for-all

A small town tucked away in the mountains of southern Tennessee is getting by on just a few hours of water a day because its spring has run dry in the drought sweeping the Southeast.

The worst drought to hit the region in decades prompted Georgia to impose water-use restrictions including a ban on outdoor residential watering.

It has also sparked a political battle between Georgia, Alabama and Florida over how to share water from north Georgia’s Lake Lanier, which serves cities such as Atlanta as well as industries and a nuclear power plant.

Read the whole article: Water runs dry in rural Tennessee town

Russia will limit oil products shipments by river in 2008 after a fuel oil spill from a river barge in the Kerch Strait this month caused damage estimated at $267 million, officials said on Wednesday.

Shipping executives said they suspected the limits on river barges over 25 years old would ruin the industry as it would cut flows of oil products by rivers by 70-80 percent from the current 5 million tons.

Read the whole article: Russia may ban river oil shipments after spill

Leaders from the 27-nation bloc agreed in March to set a binding target for biofuels to make up at least 10 percent of petrol and diesel used by vehicles by 2020, a big rise from current levels of about 1.5 percent. That goal is part of an overall aim of increasing consumption of energy from renewable sources across the bloc to 20 percent by the same year.

But the EU executive, under pressure from environmentalists, has said it would set specific criteria on biofuels used to meet that target to ensure that they are environmentally friendly.

Ewout Deurwaarder, an official in the Commission’s energy division, said one of those criteria would include proving that the biofuel did not emit more climate-warming greenhouse gases than oil.

Specifically, the Commission floated a proposal of requiring biofuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 10 percent on a “lifecycle basis”, meaning from production to actual use, Deurwaarder said.

Read the whole article: EU to require biofuels cut emissions 10% or more

The world’s growing population may be unable to adequately adapt to ecological changes brought about by the expected rise in global temperatures, scientists in China, Hong Kong, the United States and Britain wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“The warmer temperatures are probably good for a while, but beyond some level plants will be stressed,” said Peter Brecke, associate professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.

“With more droughts and a rapidly growing population, it is going to get harder and harder to provide food for everyone and thus we should not be surprised to see more instances of starvation and probably more cases of hungry people clashing over scarce food and water.”

Read the whole article:
History shows climate changes led to famine, war

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Scientists warn of agrarian crisis from climate change
Uganda: climate change increases armed conflict