By Will Dunham
Reuters

WASHINGTON - Agricultural problems caused by global warming in the next two decades could be most damaging in southern Africa, India and Pakistan, according to researchers who urge action now to avert a wave of hunger.

Many scientists have predicted that climate change could harm agriculture in many places, fueling hunger and malnutrition. These researchers examined climate predictions and the types of crops grown in various developing regions to figure out which ones would be hit hardest by 2030.

Writing on Thursday in the journal Science, the researchers said the nations of southern Africa -- Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- could lose about 30 percent of their main crop of corn, also known as maize.

Agricultural losses also could be significant in the South Asia region encompassing India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, with a drop-off of at least 5 percent in many regional staples, including millet, maize and rice, the researchers said.

"We still have time to avoid these impacts, but we don't have much time," David Lobell of the Program on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University in California, who led the research, said in a telephone interview.

"It's certainly our hope not to scare people, but to show them that there is some basis for focusing efforts and trying to get things done in a relatively speedy time frame," Lobell added.

The researchers projected how global warming would affect agriculture in 12 developing regions worldwide, looking at local climate projections and at the sensitivity of key local crops to warming temperatures and rainfall changes. They determined that average temperatures in most of the regions could rise by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree C) by 2030.

"We were surprised by how much and how soon these regions could suffer if we don't adapt," Marshall Burke, another Stanford scientist involved in the study, said in a statement.

Some places could be spared serious problems including China, a generally cooler region where climate change is not projected to be as bad for local crops, the researchers said.

Relatively inexpensive adaptations like planting earlier or later in the season or changing crops could reduce the harm from climate change, but the biggest benefits probably would stem from more expensive steps like developing new crop varieties and expanding irrigation, the researchers said.

"These adaptations will require substantial investments by farmers, governments, scientists, and development organizations, all of whom face many other demands on their resources," the researchers wrote.

By Michael Kahn
Reuters

LONDON - British researchers say they have shown that a half-degree Celsius temperature rise in the Atlantic ocean can fuel a 40 percent increase in hurricanes.

The finding by the team from University College London is a contentious one in the debate over how climate change affects weather and, especially, storms.

"A 0.5 degree C increase in sea surface temperature is associated with a 40 percent increase in hurricane frequency and activity," the British researchers wrote in their report, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

The team showed ocean warming is directly linked to the frequency, strength and duration of hurricanes, said Adam Lea, the research scientist who co-led the study.

The study, which did not look at whether greenhouse gases linked to global warming played a role in increasing water temperature, will help scientists better predict how warmer oceans might affect hurricanes, he added in a telephone interview.

By Sylvia Westall

Reuters

BERLIN - The global wind energy market is set to keep growing in 2008, despite pressure on turbine makers from raw materials prices, but it is likely to slow in Germany, the German Engineering Federation said on Tuesday.

Thorsten Herdan, head of VDMA power systems, said Germany, one of the world's biggest markets, would probably experience a further slowdown after shrinking by 25 percent in 2007.

"Worldwide we see further growth," Herdan said.

"The situation in the supply markets is a little tight and that has to do with the fact that lots of companies have invested in new capacity," he told a news conference.

The world market for wind energy grew by 30 percent in 2007, with around 20,000 megawatts installed, the VDMA said. This was compared with 32 percent growth in 2006.

Herdan said China had experienced three-fold growth while the U.S. market had doubled in size.

by Laura MacInnis
Reuters

GENEVA - Climate change is making it harder for many people to access clean water and food, and widening the spread of malaria and dengue fever, the world's largest humanitarian aid agency said on Monday.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is asking donors for $292 million per year for 2008 and 2009 to help communities steel themselves for the threats of global warming.

"Response alone is no longer enough," said Markku Niskala, secretary-general of the Swiss-based federation. Health care and disaster management make up 75 percent of the appeal.

The 186 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies around the world pledged at a strategy-setting conference in November to boost aid to those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, a phenomenon scientists have linked to emissions from cars, factories and power plants.

They also agreed to step up disaster preparedness and risk reduction programs, especially for small island states, in delta regions and across Africa, where shifting patterns of weather, rainfall and temperature are expected to be most acute.

by John Acher
Reuters

OSLO - Exploitation of the Arctic's huge oil and gas wealth poses a growing danger to an icy wilderness that can recover only slowly from heavy oil spills, a report by the eight-nation Arctic Council said on Monday.

"Oil spills can kill large numbers of animals by covering them in oil, and create long-term contamination that can affect populations and ecosystems for decades," an overview report by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, an Arctic Council body, said.

According to some estimates, as much as a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas may lie in the Arctic.

"With rising global demand, oil and gas activity in the region is expected to increase," the report said.

The Arctic already produces about a tenth of the world's crude oil and a quarter of its gas, with about 80 percent of the oil and 99 percent of the region's gas coming from Russia, the report said.

"The Arctic is generally considered to be vulnerable to oil spills due to slow recovery of cold, highly seasonal ecosystems, and the difficulty of clean up in remote, cold regions, especially in waters where sea ice is present," it said.

Around 100 scientists have been working on the report "Arctic Oil and Gas 2007" since 2002.

The report was delayed until this year from 2007, and sources familiar with the process said that the United States and Sweden had blocked publication of policy recommendations.

The difficulty stemmed partly from the identification of vulnerable areas in the Arctic, an official said. The report mentioned the Barents Sea and Bering Sea as two such areas.

The Arctic Council's member states are Canada, Denmark, -- including Greenland and the Faroe Islands -- Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States.

AMAP was established in 1991 to implement parts of an Arctic environmental protection strategy, to provide information on risks to the environment and to advise governments on preventive and remedial actions to deal with them.

By Scott Malone

Reuters

BOSTON - Plans to build the United States' first offshore wind farm cleared a regulatory hurdle on Monday when a preliminary federal environmental review found it would pose no major ecological risks.

The Cape Wind project, which would locate 130 wind turbines off an upscale Cape Cod beach resort area, would have some effect on the area's birds and views, the review by a unit of the U.S. Department of the Interior found, but not enough to block the project.

Homeowners on Cape Cod and the nearby islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, including the Kennedy political dynasty which has a vacation compound at Hyannis Port on the Cape, have complained that the 247-foot turbines, which would be located about 4.7 miles offshore, would spoil their ocean views.

"Any rational observer who reads this report will understand that this project is not going to produce negative environmental impact," Jim Gordon, president of privately held Cape Wind Associates LLC, told reporters. "It will produce significant improvements in our environment."

The $1 billion project, to spread over 24 square miles of the Nantucket Sound, would provide enough power for 400,000 homes.

The environmental review found the wind farm and its construction would mostly have negligible to minor effects on its surrounding environment, with moderate effects on coastal and sea birds, as well as on "visual resources."

"Moderate" impacts, the second most serious rating in the agency's four-level scale, means that a project would have unavoidable effects on the surrounding area, but that those effects could be mitigated.

A 60-day public comment period on the 2,000-page draft statement will begin on Friday, after which the Minerals Management Service will issue its final review.

"The DEIS confirms that Cape Wind is a clean energy opportunity that can't be missed," said Philip Warburg, president of the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental advocacy group, in a statement. "This document is another positive step forward and builds even more momentum for the project to be completed as planned."

The project's supporters, including Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, say the wind farm would save millions of dollars in energy costs and lessen the United States' dependence on imported oil at a time of record-high prices.

Cape Wind has so far spent $30 million in seeking permission to build the wind farm, which would feature white towers with three spinning blades.

SAVE's Community Christmas Tree Recycling Program will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday Jan. 12 at Franconia Township Park on Allentown Road. All community members can drop off their old trees free of charge. SAVE is the Students Against Violating the Earth Club at Souderton Area High School. Students help remove the trees from the vehicle and stack them in the parking lot. Just pull up and stay in the car because the students are there to serve. Monetary donations will be accepted.

I just stumbled across Grist.org, a Web site that offers environmental news and commentary.

It has posted a chart of where the presidential candidates stand on different environmental issues.

See: http://grist.org/candidate_chart_08.html

Grist is based in Seattle, Washington, with contributors scattered the world 'round. It's a nonprofit organization funded by foundation grants, reader contributions, and advertising.

"Grist: it's gloom and doom with a sense of humor. So laugh now -- or the planet gets it."

And don't forget to check out the candidates.

By PETER SVENSSON
Associated Press

Consumer electronics aren’t exactly easy on the environment — they consume electricity that contributes to global warming, and toxins leach out of them when they end up in landfills.
But the industry that’s inviting us to get a new cell phone every year and toss out that old TV in favor of a great new flat panel is also trying to show that it cares.
At the world’s largest trade show for consumer electronics, starting Monday in Las Vegas, manufacturers will be talking not just about megapixels, megahertz and megabytes, but about smart power adapters that don’t waste as much electricity, batteries that are easier to recycle, and components made from plants.
Many of the products on display will be striking rather small blows for the environment, but the industry is realizing that even in electronics, going “green” can be a powerful marketing tool.
“Everything I’ve heard from folks out there is that there is going to be a lot of emphasis on green this year,” said Scot Case, a vice president at consultancy TerraChoice Environmental Marketing Inc.
One of the 2,700 exhibitors at the International Consumer Electronics Show will be Japan’s Fujitsu Ltd., which will show off a laptop with a plastic case made from corn rather than petroleum products. The company has sold such a model in Japan since 2006, but is now considering taking it to the North American market.
Environmental awareness among consumers and corporations has now reached the point where manufacturers really are taking notice, said Richard McCormack, senior vice president of marketing at Fujitsu’s U.S. arm.
“They’re driving manufacturers like us with their pocket book,” McCormack said.
The catch with the corn-based laptop is that the material isn’t biodegradable, meaning it doesn’t decompose any faster than regular plastic. That’s because it still contains some petroleum-based plastic in the mix for rigidity. The plastic still needs to be processed for recycling, after which the corn-based component can biodegrade.

By PETER SVENSSON
Associated Press

The world’s largest trade show for consumer electronics starts Monday in Las Vegas with about 2,700 exhibitors.
One company attacking the recycling angle is Z-Power, which has developed a battery technology that it hopes will replace the lithium-ion batteries that power today’s laptops and cell phones.
Its silver-zinc batteries will show up in laptops from a “major” manufacturer in the summer, according to the Camarillo, Calif., company’s chief executive, Ross Dueber.
Lithium-ion batteries are recyclable but contain little recoverable material. The metals in Z-Power’s batteries will be recoverable, Dueber said, and with a precious metal like silver in them, there will be a strong incentive to do so. The capacity should be 20-30 percent higher than lithium-ion laptop batteries. The company is also in discussions with cell-phone manufacturers.
PC makers have already come a long way toward making their products recyclable, said Jeff Ziegler, chief executive of Austin-based TechTurn Inc., which processes millions of used computers and other gadgets every year for recycling or reuse. Manufacturers have cut down on the number of different materials that go into their products, simplifying recycling a great deal. They’ve also cut back on lead solder and other poisonous components.
But as yet, only a few manufacturers, like Sony Corp., take responsibility for recycling their products. Just 12.5 percent of U.S. electronics waste is offered for recycling each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and much of that is dumped rather than recycled.
Also at the show, manufacturers are expected to trot out computers, especially laptops, that meet the EPA’s new, tougher Energy Star 4.0 power consumption requirements, which went into effect in July. The specification now sets maximum levels for power consumption when the computer is on but idle — previously, Energy Star dealt only with the ability to enter “sleep” mode.
There won’t be many desktop computers qualifying for the Energy Star rating — their power consumption is growing, with many now hitting 400 watts. Marvell Technology Group Ltd. will be demonstrating chips for power adapters that it says can curb that trend, by convert alternating current into the direct current in a more efficient way, potentially power consumption by half.
The Consumer Electronics Association, the organization that also puts on CES, estimated last year that consumer electronics, including home computers, consume 11 percent of residential electricity in the U.S., more than doubling its share in 10 years.
Television sets are another big power draw, and will become more so as analog TVs are replaced with high-definition sets. Though more energy efficient per inch of screen size, their larger size more than makes up for any gain in efficiency. Plasma sets in particular easily draw 400 watts, or as much as four older tube-type TVs.
A much more power-efficient screen technology will be on display at CES: Samsung Electronics Co. will be bringing a 31-inch TV made of organic light emitting diodes, or OLEDs. For now, however, the technology is much too expensive for the mass market, and there’s no word on when or if Samsung plans to sell the screen. Sony has announced an 11-inch OLED display for $1,700.
Cell phones, while hardly power-hungry, are quite wasteful: Nokia says two-thirds of the energy a charger uses is drawn when the connected phone is already fully charged. GreenPlug of San Ramon, Calif., will be previewing a solution to that problem, a universal power adapter that “talks” to gadgets to determine their energy need. Apart from cutting wasted electricity, GreenPlug aims to eliminate the need for a different adapter for every phone, MP3 player, and other portable gadget.
Getting other manufacturers to make their products compatible with the GreenPlug hub looks difficult, however. That points to part of the problem with the consumer electronics industry: innovation is happening in a lot of corners, but no one player is big enough to solve all the problems.

By John Acher
Reuters

OSLO- Britain's Prince Charles has offered to team up with Norway in projects to save forests around the world, Norwegian officials said on Thursday.

The Prince of Wales's offer to Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg followed Norway's announcement earlier this month that it aimed to provide about 3 billion crowns ($541.2 million) per year to prevent deforestation in developing countries.

Charles, who has said saving the world's rainforests is key to combating global warming, sent a letter to Stoltenberg suggesting that his Rainforests Project send representatives to Norway to discuss ways to cooperate, a spokesman at the prime minister's office said.

Stoltenberg said Norway would be glad to receive them and is willing to work with all who want to put systems and regulations in place to halt deforestation.

Norway has said that fighting deforestation is a quick and low-cost way to achieve cuts in greenhouse gas emissions blamed by scientists for global warming, in addition to maintaining biodiversity and securing people's livelihoods.

The Labor-led government has said that deforestation in developing countries is releasing carbon dioxide corresponding to about a fifth of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

Norway has said that commitments to reduce emissions from deforestation in developing nations should be included in a global climate change regime from 2012 and that it will work to develop funding and certification systems to promote the effort.

In April, Stoltenberg announced a goal to make Norway carbon neutral by 2050 by reducing emissions at home and by offsetting Norwegian greenhouse gas emissions by investing in environmental projects in the developing world.

NY judge dismisses Spain's claims over oil spill

By Christine Kearney

Reuters

NEW YORK - A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday dismissed damage claims filed by Spain against an organization that inspects and certifies ships in connection with one of the world's largest oil spills in the past decade.

U.S. District Judge Laura Swain ruled Spain must pursue its claims against the American Bureau of Shipping in its own courts.

Spain filed suit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan against the non-profit bureau, which has offices in Houston, after the Bahamas-flagged oil tanker Prestige sank off the northwest coast of Spain in November 2002, spilling most of its load of 77,000 metric tonnes of fuel oil.

It was Spain's worst environmental disaster, coating much of its rocky northwest coastline with the gooey, foul-smelling byproduct and damaging the fishing and tourism industries.

Spain said the bureau, which determines the structural and mechanical fitness of ships, was negligent in classifying the 26-year-old, single-hulled vessel as fit to carry fuel cargoes six months before the disaster.

The bureau disputed Spain's allegations, saying the sinking of the ship could have been avoided if Spain had better handled the disaster.

After the Prestige got into trouble, Spain refused to give it port and the leaky vessel was tugged around stormy seas for several days before it split in two and sank.

ABS claimed it was protected from Spain's pollution damage claims under the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage.

Under the rules of the convention, which both Spain and the Bahamas are a part of, the owner of a vessel that has spilled oil carries liability for pollution damage, and exempts third parties unless they acted recklessly.

"Spain, as a signatory to the CLC, is bound by CLC's provisions and, therefore, must pursue its claims under that convention in its own courts," the judge ruled.

At the time of the sinking, the ship's registered owner was Mare Shipping Inc., a Liberian corporation. It was registered in the Bahamas and flew the Bahamian flag.

Following the disaster, the environmental group WWF said the spill could damage fishing, tourism and natural habitats in the region for a decade, at a cost of 5 billion euros.

The European Union also banned Prestige-type singled-hulled tankers from its ports.