Litigation inspires government to act on climate change
CLIMATE change litigation is important for prodding governments to act on green issues.
NSW Land and Environment Court chief judge Brian Preston told the Judicial Conference of Australia he expected “the avenues used to litigate climate change will continue to expand”.
Such actions “raise the public’s awareness of the implications of climate change and, sometimes, solutions are reached at a much faster pace by commencing proceedings”, Justice Preston said.
The law of torts, domestic statutes and international conventions had been used by plaintiffs, he said.
UK commits to 80% reduction
The UK government committed on October 16to cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 80% by the middle of the century in a bid to tackle climate change.
In a move that was widely welcomed by environmental campaigners, Ed Miliband, the new energy and climate change secretary, said that the current 60% target would be replaced by the higher goal in the climate change bill.
Miliband told MPs that the tough economic conditions were not an excuse to “row back” on the commitment to tackle global warming.
Courts fiexw US to protect polar bears
ENVIRONMENTAL groups and the Bush administration yesterday reached a partial court settlement that requires the Department of Interior to designate critical habitat for polar bears by June 30, 2010. The Department of Interior in May listed the polar bear as being threatened by global warming, but did not designate any critical habitat protection. The Centre Continue Reading →
Warmer Arctic releases methane
Arctic scientists discover new global warming threat as melting permafrost releases millions of tons of a gas 20 times more damaging than carbon dioxide
By Steve Connor, The Independent
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| Â Preliminary findings suggest that massive deposits of subsea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats |
The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists.
The Independent has been passed details of preliminary findings suggesting that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats.
Underground stores of methane are important because scientists believe their sudden release has in the past been responsible for rapid increases in global temperatures, dramatic changes to the climate, and even the mass extinction of species.
Greenhouse gases up three percent per annum
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The world pumped up its pollution of the chief man-made global warming gas last year, setting a course that could push beyond leading scientists’ projected worst-case scenario, international researchers said Thursday.
The new numbers, called “scary” by some, were a surprise because scientists thought an economic downturn would slow energy use. Instead, carbon dioxide output jumped 3 per cent from 2006 to 2007.
Friends of the Earth withdraws from Forest Stewardship Council
Friends of the Earth (FoE) is the first major international NGO to confirm they no longer support Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, which falsely suggests primary and old-growth forest logging is desirable and even sustainable, and that plantations are forests. This is a major victory for those including Ecological Internet (EI) and FSC-Watch[1] who have Continue Reading →