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The Generator news service publishes articles on sustainable development, agriculture and energy as well as observations on current affairs. The news service is used on the weekly radio show, The Generator, as well as by a number of monthly and quarterly magazines. A podcast of the Generator news is also available.
As well as Giovanni’s articles it picks up the most pertinent articles from a range of other news services. You can publish the news feed on your website using RSS, free of charge.
 

Climate change toll is crucial evidence

admin /3 June, 2009

Climate change toll is crucial evidence

With the deadly effect of global warming quantified, international law can be invoked and the perpetrators punishe 

It’s a tsunami every year. According to a report released today, a third of a million people die annually because of climate change – mostly because of malaria and malnutrition, although weather-related disasters are also taking a rising toll. The number of deaths is equivalent to the lives lost in the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster of 2004.

This report is the first effort to quantify global warming-related deaths since the World Health Organisation estimated in 2003 that 150,000 people die each year due to climate-related factors, mainly disease – but aggravated by shortages of food and clean water.

Analysis Finds Elevated Risk Risk From Soot Particles in the Air

admin /3 June, 2009

Analysis Finds Elevated Risk From Soot Particles in the Air

By FELICITY BARRINGER

Published: June 2, 2009

A new appraisal of existing studies documenting the links between tiny soot particles and premature death from cardiovascular ailments shows that mortality rates among people exposed to the particles are twice as high as previously thought.

Dan Greenbaum, the president of the nonprofit Health Effects Institute, which is releasing the analysis on Wednesday, said that the areas covered in the study included 116 American cities, with the highest levels of soot particles found in areas including the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles and the Central Valley of California; Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta; the Ohio River Valley; and Pittsburgh.

The review found that the risk of having a condition that is a precursor to deadly heart attacks for people living in soot-laden areas goes up by 24 percent rather than 12 percent, as particle concentrations increase.

Big business ‘ failing to disclose climate risks ‘to investors

admin /3 June, 2009

Big business ‘failing to disclose climate risks’ to investors

Leading companies are offering only minimal information to shareholders on how global warming might affect their bottom line, research shows

 

 

The world’s major corporations are failing to provide a full account to investors of the risks and potential costs of climate change, a new report said today.

 

The report, from the Ceres network of green organisations and investors and the Environment Defence Fund, found companies offered only minimal information to their shareholders last year on how global warming might affect their bottom line..

 

It arrives at a time when there is growing support among US corporations for a push by Congress to pass the first US law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

NSW Premier Nathan Rees approves Australia’s largest wind farm

admin /3 June, 2009

NSW Premier Nathan Rees approves Australia’s largest wind farm

June 03, 2009

Article from:  Australian Associated Press

AUSTRALIA’S biggest wind farm with almost 600 turbines, is to be be built in far western NSW.

State government approval has been given for the project, which will generate enough electricity for 200,000 homes.

Premier Nathan Rees said on Wednesday the $2.2 billion venture near Broken Hill would help secure NSW’s future energy needs.

“The construction of Silverton Wind Farm Developments (SWFD) wind farm is great news for jobs and the economy in the far west and even better news for the environment,” Mr Rees said.

“A single wind turbine will generate enough energy to power up to 732 homes per year which is the equivalent of taking around 1,170 cars off the road annually.”

Carbon scheme ‘ like a GST from hell’

admin /3 June, 2009

Carbon scheme ‘like a GST from hell’

By Catherine McGrath for the ABC’s Australian

One of Australia’s most eminent economists says the Federal Government’s planned emissions trading scheme is like a ‘GST from hell’ that is bound to fail economically and environmentally.

Geoff Carmody, a co-founder of Access Economics, says the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme should target consumers, not producers.

City birds sing higher than country cousins, scientists find

admin /3 June, 2009

City birds sing higher than country cousins, scientists find

Team of scientists from Aberystwyth University recorded the song of birds living in and around 20 urban areas in the UK

 

A Great Tit pauses on a washing line with an insect in its beak

A great tit. The males are territorial birds and sing to defend their patch. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Birds that live in cities sing higher-pitched songs than their country-dwelling cousins in order to be heard above the urban din, according to scientists who have compared the songs of birds in different locations.

In a survey of great tits living in and around 20 urban areas in the UK, researchers also found that city birds were more likely to recognise the songs of their fellow urban dwellers than those in the country. These birds may only live a few miles away from the city-slickers but sing lower-pitched songs.

“Most man-made noise is of a fairly low frequency – the rumble of traffic, the clatter of machinery, that sort of thing,” said Rupert Marshall of Aberystwyth University, who led the survey. “So the great tits in the city sing at a higher pitch to overcome that.”

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