Hot Topics. Click on the links below to select the article of your choice. The articles listed below are organised in chronological order, with monthly sub-headings. July to December links are listed separately. You can search for articles on a particular subject by using the Keyword Search function in the top right hand corner of the screen or by using the page search function in your web browser (Ctrl-F in Internet Explorer).

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2007 Hot Topics.

June

Flat screens are energy hungry- theage.com.au, 30th June 2007
MELBOURNE, Australia- Plasma televisions are sending home power bills sky high as more people install bigger and more energy-intensive screens.
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Starbucks Signs Up To Promote "Green" Movie- Reuters, 29th June 2007
LOS ANGELES, US- Coffee shop chain Starbucks Corp. on Thursday unveiled plans to promote a new summer movie, "Arctic Tale," as part of its long-standing commitment to supporting environmental causes.
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Scientists Look At Droppings For Extinct Tiger- Reuters, 29th June 2007
CANBERRA, Australia- Scientists in Australia plan to examine 50-year old animal droppings to try to answer one of the nation's great mysteries -- is the Tasmanian tiger truly extinct?
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China now world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter- csmonitor.com, 28th June 2007
World- It's now official: China emits more greenhouse gases than any other country. Which is to say, more than the United States, which had that dubious distinction until now.
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World Cannot Afford Nuclear Climate Solution - Report- Reuters, 28th June 2007
LONDON, UK- The world must start building nuclear power plants at the unprecedented rate of four a month from now on if nuclear energy is to play a serious part in fighting global warming, a leading think-tank said on Wednesday.
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Slow to turn green- Herald Sun, 28th June 2007
MELBOURNE, Australia- AUSTRALIA'S big coal miners are spending less than 1 per cent of their profits on developing clean coal technology, despite the industry being threatened by moves to combat climate change.
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India's Emissions May Be Higher Due To Dams - Study- Reuters, 28th June 2007
NEW DELHI, India- India's greenhouse gas emissions could be 40 percent higher than official estimates if methane released from dams is taken into account, according to a new study.
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Green power and green heat need more support, says IEA report- ReFocus, 27th June 2007
PARIS, France- Renewables are “well placed” to reduce the risk of energy supply disruptions and the current reliance by many countries on imported fuels, according to the International Energy Agency.
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Prince Charles Shows Off Smaller Carbon Footprint- Reuters, 27th June 2007
LONDON, UK- Britain's Prince Charles disclosed his "carbon footprint" for the first time on Tuesday -- and the crusading environmentalist showed it was getting smaller.
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UN Declares Ecuador's Galapagos Islands In Danger- Reuters, 27th June 2007
QUITO, Ecuador- The United Nations on Tuesday declared Ecuador's Galapagos islands in danger as booming tourism and immigration threaten giant tortoises and blue-footed boobies unique to the archipelago.
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Desert Dust Cuts Mountain Snow, May Spur Warming- Reuters, 26th June 2007
WASHINGTON, US- Desert dust blown onto Rocky Mountain peaks has cut the duration of snow-cover by a month or more, and the same thing is probably happening in the Alps and Himalayas, researchers reported on Monday.
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San Francisco Bans Bottled Water For City Staff- Reuters, 26th June 2007
SAN FRANCISCO, US- Thirsty San Francisco city workers will no longer have bottled water to drink under an order by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who says it costs too much, worsens pollution and is no better than tap water.
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Going the extra mile- theage.com.au, 26th June 2007
MELBOURNE, Australia- Transporting food chews up fossil fuel so how about trying to eat only what's grown within 160 kilometres of your house? That means no bread, no sugar and no coffee. Richard Cornish tried it and found his basket a good deal lighter.
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Armies Must Ready For Global Warming Role - Britain- Reuters, 26th June 2007
LONDON, UK- Global warming is such a threat to security that military planners must build it into their calculations, the head of Britain's armed forces said on Monday.
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Galapagos On, Everglades Off World Heritage Danger List- ENS, 26th June 2007
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand- A UN panel today declared that the outstanding natural values of Ecuador's Galapagos islands are in danger, threatened by invasive species, growing tourism and immigration. The World Heritage Committee placed the Galapagos, as well as Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal, on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger in hopes of rallying support for their conservation.
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Greenland Ice May Melt Much Faster - UN Scientist- Reuters, 26th June 2007
LONDON, UK- New research shows that man-made climate change could cause the Greenland ice sheet to break up in hundreds, rather than thousands, of years, the chair of a United Nations panel of scientists said on Monday.
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Carbon trading or carbon tax?-theage.com.au, 25th June 2007
MELBOURNE, Australia- Australia's long awaited move to a carbon trading regime raises a number of questions about costs for business and households.
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UK May Have To Do Without Nuclear Power - Darling- Reuters, 22nd June 2007
LONDON, UK- The British government will not subsidise new nuclear power plants, so if the private sector does not provide the huge investments needed, the country will have to do without, the minister responsible for energy said on Thursday.
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Indian Waste Food Project Wins Green Award- Reuters, 22nd June 2007
LONDON, UK- A project in India to turn waste food into cooking gas was among the winners of environmental awards announced on Thursday.
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Booming China Bids To Save Threatened Plants- Reuters, 22nd June 2007
LONDON, UK- China appealed on Thursday for international financial backing for a major new plan to save its vast and unique set of wild plants from the ravages of booming economic growth and global warming.
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World Needs Rules For Burying Greenhouse Gases - IEA- Reuters, 22nd June 2007
OSLO, Norway- The world needs legal guidelines for burying greenhouse gases to help the still tiny business become one of the main ways of fighting global warming by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday.
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Missing: Large Lake In Southern Chile- Reuters, 22nd June 2007
SANTIAGO, Chile- A lake in southern Chile has mysteriously disappeared, prompting speculation the ground has simply opened up and swallowed it whole.
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Antarctic Icebergs Become Floating Islands of Life- ENS, 21st June 2007
CALIFORNIA, US- Global climate change is causing Antarctic ice shelves to shrink and split apart, yielding thousands of free-drifting icebergs in the nearby Weddell Sea. The icebergs in the study were up to a dozen miles long and more than 120 feet high, with one extending nearly 1,000 feet into the depths.
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Hope Still Alive for World's Rarest Gorillas- ENS, 21st June 2007
NEW YORK, US- There are only 300 of them left, but scientists say the situation of the world's rarest great ape is far from hopeless.
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UK Retailers See Strong Demand For Organic Food- Reuters, 21st June 2007
LONDON, UK- Sales of organic food are rising strongly in Britain despite a downturn in overall consumer spending, with locally produced supplies struggling to keep pace with demand, leading retailers said on Wednesday.
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Kyoto Carbon Trade: Market Solution Or Illusion?- Reuters, 21st June 2007
LONDON, UK- Carbon trading is splitting opinions: for some it uses the profit motive and the ingenuity of markets to find the cheapest way to cut greenhouse gases. For others, it's just about smoke and thin air.
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World Generators Go For Nuclear Power To Save World- Reuters, 21st June 2007
LONDON, UK- The world must embrace nuclear power if it is to create a low carbon economy this century and beat global warming, electricity generators said on Wednesday.
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Brown Bears Almost Extinct In Alps - Wildlife Group- Reuters, 21st June 2007
VIENNA, Austria- Brown bears face extinction in Europe's Alps with only 38 known to remain in the mountain region, environmentalists said on Wednesday, a year after the shooting of a wayward bear shocked animal lovers.
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Google Aims To Go Carbon-Neutral By End 2007- Reuters, 20th June 2007
NEW YORK, US- Google Inc. aims to cut or offset all of its greenhouse emissions by the end of the year, the Web search leader said on Tuesday .
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Canon Tops List Of Climate-Friendly Companies- Reuters, 20th June 2007
WASHINGTON, US- Canon Electronics Inc., athletic gear leader Nike Inc. and food and consumer goods giant Unilever Plc topped a list rating climate-friendly companies released on Tuesday.
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Indian Kashmir Plans To Breed Endangered Red Deer- Reuters, 20th June 2007
SRINAGAR, India- Conservationists in Indian Kashmir are planning to breed rare red deer to save a species found only in the Himalayas from the verge of extinction.
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French Co-Op To Offer Homes Eco-Friendly Power- Reuters, 20th June 2007
PARIS, France- Enercoop, France's first green power co-operative whose founders include Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, aims to sign 10,000 customers by 2009 although they will have to pay for their principles, it said on Tuesday.
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Cheap, green, food-friendly biofuel produced in India- SciDev.Net, 19th June 2007
NEW DELHI, India- The first commercial batch of biofuel from the stalks of a new sweet sorghum hybrid has been produced this month (13 June) at a distillery in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India.
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Five Facts About Fashion And Recycling- Reuters, 19th June 2007
LONDON, UK- Payment card provider Visa teamed up with TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development) to stage its first fashion "swap shop".
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Fashionistas Protect Bank Balance And Planet- Reuters, 19th June 2007
LONDON, UK- Dawn had barely broken and 200 fashionistas were beginning to gather for the opening of London's newest shopping experience.
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Desalination No Answer To Water Crisis - WWF- Reuters, 19th June 2007
GENEVA, Switzerland- Removing salt from sea water to overcome a worldwide shortage of drinking water could end up worsening the crisis, environmental group WWF warned on Tuesday.
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Ecuador Weighs Galapagos Turtles Vs Tourists- Reuters, 19th June 2007
PUERTO AYORA, Ecuador- Marauding Europeans are nothing new to the Galapagos Islands, which long ago were the haunt of English pirates preying on Spanish galleons laden with Inca gold.
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China Now Number One in Carbon Emissions; USA Number Two- ENS, 19th June 2007
BILTHOVEN, The Netherlands- In 2006, China's carbon dioxide emissions were greater than those of the United States, according to an analysis by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. With this, China tops the list of carbon dioxide, CO2, emitting countries for the first time.
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Orangutans Flee Illegal Loggers in Indonesian Parks- ENS, 19th June 2007
JAKARTA, Indonesia- Indonesia's efforts to crack down on illegal logging are holding out some hope for endangered oranguntans, the red-haired apes that inhabit the Indonesian rainforest, the UN Environment Programme says. But hundreds of orangutans have fled their homes and ended up in "refugee" camps as illegal logging rapidly destroys the last remaining rainforests of Southeast Asia.
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China To Promote Green Farming For Food Safety- Reuters, 19th June 2007
BEIJING, China- The Chinese government will support the development of environmentally friendly farming practices, like growing organic produce, to help raise food safety standards, the agriculture ministry said on Monday.
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'Arctic Tale' Puts Faces To Global-Warming Threat- Reuters, 18th June 2007
MARYLAND, US- A new movie showing young polar bears and walruses struggling toward adulthood in a melting Arctic puts a pair of charismatic faces on the global warming threat.
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Nuclear Power Can't Curb Global Warming - Report- Reuters, 18th June 2007
WASHINGTON, US- Nuclear power would only curb climate change by expanding worldwide at the rate it grew from 1981 to 1990, its busiest decade, and keep up that rate for half a century, a report said on Thursday.
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Easyjet Promotes New "Green" Aircraft Design- Reuters, 15th June 2007
LONDON, UK- British low-cost airline easyJet has unveiled its vision of a shorthaul aircraft that it hopes will generate 50 percent less CO2 than its current planes and can be delivered by 2015.
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Google, Intel Launch Energy Efficiency Program- Reuters, 14th June 2007
CALIFORNIA, US- Web search leader Google Inc. and semiconductor maker Intel Corp. launched a broad-based program Tuesday to introduce more energy-efficient personal computers and server systems to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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Human-Spewed Nitrogen Helps Forests Absorb Carbon- Reuters, 14th June 2007
WASHINGTON, US- Small doses of human-spewed nitrogen -- emitted by cars, factories and farm chemicals -- can help forests grow more and absorb climate-warming carbon dioxide, researchers reported on Wednesday.
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Polluted, Drought-Stricken China Eyes Sea Water- Reuters, 14th June 2007
BEIJING, China- China, where hundreds of millions lack regular access to drinking water due to drought and pollution, plans to build a huge sea water desalination plant south of Shanghai, state media said on Wednesday.
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Kilimanjaro's Shrinking Snow Not Sign Of Warming- Reuters, 13th June 2007
WASHINGTON, US- The snows of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania have been diminishing for more than a century but probably not due to global warming, researchers report.
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Australia increases rebate for solar PV- ReFocus, 13th June 2007
CANBERRA, Australia- The government of Australia will rebate Aus$8 per watt for solar PV systems, up from $4 under the Photovoltaic Rebate Programme.
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Are You Eating Dinner On A Piece Of Rainforest?- Reuters, 12th June 2007
LONDON, UK- Love your new dining room table ... but did you ask the salesman whether it's made from chopped up rainforest trees?
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Cyclists Bare All To Protest Car Culture- Reuters, 12th June 2007
LONDON, UK- Hundreds of naked cyclists, some sporting strategically-placed body paint, toured the streets of London and other cities around the world on Saturday to protest oil dependency and the car culture.
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Poor Nations Vow To Do "Fair Share" On Climate- Reuters, 12th June 2007
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany- Major developing nations pledged to do an unspecified "fair share" to fight climate change on Friday after a summit with G8 leaders during which President George W. Bush appealed for their help.
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World's Tigers On "Catastrophic" Path To Extinction- Reuters, 12th June 2007
NEW DELHI, India- The world's wild tigers are on a "catastrophic" path to extinction as numbers continue to decline because of increased poaching, habitat destruction and poor conservation efforts by governments, a new report has said.
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First zero-emission home unveiled- BBC News, 11th June 2007
UK- The UK has unveiled its first zero emission home that will set the environmental standard for all new homes in the future.
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Chimps Can Learn and Teach Cultural Traditions- ENS, 11th June 2007
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland- Chimpanzee communities can adopt their own local customs and maintain their own "multiple-tradition cultures," an international team of researchers has found. The study demonstrates that chimpanzees, like people, can acquire new traditions, and spread those new "cultural practices" to other groups.
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Environmentalist Dreams Of New York Rooftop Farms- Reuters, 8th June 2007
NEW YORK, US- New York is better known for tall buildings and crowded streets than farms but a group of environmentalists say Gotham's rooftops could be used to grow enough vegetables to feed the entire city and reduce dependence on far-away farms.
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Most Chinese, Indians Back Carbon Cuts - Survey- Reuters, 8th June 2007
LONDON, UK- Most Chinese and Indian people agree developed countries have the right to demand that emerging countries cut their carbon emissions, according to a survey by market research firm Global Market Insite.
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Global Warming Melts Andean Glaciers Toward Oblivion- Reuters, 8th June 2007
CHACALTAYA, Bolivia- Global warming will melt most Andean glaciers in the next 30 years, scientists say, threatening the livelihood of millions of people who depend on them for drinking water, farming and power generation.
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Global Warming, War, Development Threaten Historic Sites- Reuters, 7th June 2007
NEW YORK, US- Bombs in Iraq, better commutes in Ireland and melting ice caps are threatening the world's architectural and cultural gems, a nonprofit group said on Wednesday as it named 100 endangered monuments.
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Climate Challenge Bigger Than Moon Shot - PG&E CEO- Reuters, 7th June 2007
LOS ANGELES, US- The chief executive of California's largest electric utility said cutting global warming greenhouse gases will take more effort than the United States put into landing a man on the moon in the 1960s.
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Climate Change Battle Could Spell New Disasters- Reuters, 7th June 2007
LONDON, UK- Rich countries meeting in Germany this week will agree that they need to confront climate change, but unpleasant tradeoffs are already emerging.
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UK Scientists Change Weather Measures, World Warms- Reuters, 7th June 2007
ENGLAND, UK- Global warming is forcing weather scientists at Britain's Met Office to change the way they compare seasonal temperatures, they said on Wednesday.
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Al Gore Wins Spanish Prize For Climate Change Fight- Reuters, 7th June 2007
MADRID, Spain- Former US Vice President Al Gore was awarded Spain's prestigious Principe de Asturias prize on Wednesday for his role in raising awareness of climate change.
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Global Warming And The Melting Of Greenland- Reuters, 7th June 2007
SWISS CAMP, Greenland- Dr. Konrad Steffen is the director of University of Colorado at Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and a veteran researcher of Arctic climate. He discussed the accelerating melting of Greenland's ice cap and its effects on global ocean levels in an interview with Reuters on May 18 at his field research camp.
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G8 Leaders Agree to Substantial Cuts in Climate Emissions- ENS, 7th June 2007
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany- Six of the world's eight largest industrialized nations today agreed to "at least halve global carbon dioxide emissions by 2050" and to achieve this goal together "as part of a United Nations process." The United States and Russia were the only G8 holdouts. As a compromise, all eight nations agreed to "substantial" emissions cuts.
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Sydney Needs A Future Plan To Be Sustainable - Mayor- Reuters, 7th June 2007
SYDNEY, Australia- If Sydney's obsession with the car continues at its current rate, by 2030 air pollution could kill one resident every four hours -- eight times the number of people killed in road accidents, its mayor said on Wednesday.
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Coke Vows To Reduce Water Used In Drink Production- Reuters, 6th June 2007
NEW YORK, US- The Coca-Cola Co. said on Tuesday it will reduce the amount of water used to produce its beverages and put more effort into recycling the water it uses in manufacturing.
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Renewables must be adopted within five years to impact climate change- ReFocus, 6th June 2007
GLAND, Switzerland- The world can avoid the worst impacts from climate change if it invests in clean energy within five years, according to the environmental group WWF.
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Honda To Discontinue Accord Hybrid Sedan- Reuters, 6th June 2007
DETROIT, US- Honda Motor Co Ltd said on Tuesday it is planning to discontinue the slow-selling Accord hybrid sedan sold in North America.
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Whales Win, Black Rhinos Lose at CITES Meeting- ENS, 6th June 2007
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands- Japan and Iceland once again failed to remove whale protections, as their proposals to the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES, were defeated today. But the future of black rhinos is at risk after Kenya lost its attempt to repeal hunting quotas granted to Namibia and South Africa for these endangered animals.
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World Warmer Than Average In Year To May - UK- Reuters, 6th June 2007
LONDON, UK- The world was slightly warmer than average in the first four months of this year, but 2007 may not turn out to be the hottest on record, Britain's official weather forecaster said on Tuesday.
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Worries About Global Warming Are Growing - Survey- Reuters, 5th June 2007
OSLO, Norway- Worries about global warming have increased around the world this year and many people want more government action to slow climate change, a survey showed on Tuesday.
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Global Warming May Be Good For Greenland- Reuters, 6th June 2007
TROMSOE, Norway- Greenland believes global warming can help attract tourists and open up the vast Arctic island to resources' exploration.
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Biofuel Can Help Poor As Well As Climate - FAO- Reuters, 6th June 2007
ROME, Italy- Biofuel -- "environmentally friendly" energy created from plants rather than oil -- should not be seen as a threat to the world's poor and may help increase food production, a UN food and energy expert said.
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Tree Planting, Worm Farming On World Environment Day- Reuters, 6th June 2007
SYDNEY, Australia- Australian protesters held a "picnic rally" against the logging of native forests while hundreds of Indian policemen swapped guns for spades to plant trees on Tuesday to highlight World Environment Day.
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Purple Frog Among 24 New Species Found In Suriname- Reuters, 5th June 2007
WASHINGTON, US- A purple fluorescent frog is one of 24 new species found in the South American highlands of Suriname, conservationists reported on Monday, warning that these creatures are threatened by illegal gold mining.
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Melting Ice, Snow To Hit Livelihoods Worldwide - UN- Reuters, 5th June 2007
OSLO, Norway- Global warming that is melting ice and snow will affect hundreds of millions of people around the globe by disrupting rivers in Asia, thawing Arctic ice and raising ocean levels, a UN report said on Monday.
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Global Warming Threatens New Zealand "Dinosaurs"- Reuters, 5th June 2007
WELLINGTON, New Zealand- It has survived ice ages, volcanic eruptions and the intrusion of humans on its South Pacific island home, but New Zealand's last survivor of the dinosaur age may become extinct due to global warming.
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Vanishing Himalayan Glaciers Threaten A Billion- Reuters, 5th June 2007
KATHMANDU, NEPAL- Himalayan glaciers could disappear within 50 years because of climate change, having far-reaching implications for more than a billion people living in the region, experts said on Monday.
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Indonesia World's No.3 Greenhouse Gas Emitter - Report- Reuters, 5th June 2007
JAKARTA, Indonesia- Indonesia is among the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters because of deforestation, peatland degradation and forest fires, a World Bank and British government climate change report released on Monday showed.
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Cyclonic Storm Stalls India's Monsoon, Not Unusual- Reuters, 5th June 2007
NEW DELHI, India- India's monsoon rains have been static over the southern coast since last Tuesday because of a cyclonic storm in the Arabian Sea but the situation is not unusual, a weather department official said on Monday.
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Global Warming Brings Vampire Moths To Finland- Reuters, 5th June 2007
HELSINKI, Finland- Global warming is bringing more warmer-climate creatures to Finland, including moths that feast on human blood, according to nature researchers.
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China Could Lose Western Glaciers By 2100- Reuters, 5th June 2007
BEIJING, China- China's western glaciers are melting so fast that they may have largely disappeared by the end of the century, drying up parts of the rivers they currently feed, the official Xinhua agency reported on Monday.
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Airlines Seen Having To Buff Up Green Reputation- Reuters, 5th June 2007
VANCOUVER, Canada- World airlines have a "reputation crisis" on the environment, but governments are not helping them reduce carbon emissions, the head of the International Air Transport Association said on Monday.
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Global Warming Overheats Australian Politics- Reuters, 5th June 2007
SYDNEY, Australia- Australian Prime Minister John Howard, behind in polls ahead of a 2007 election, was accused on Monday of trying to scare voters by saying opposition plans to cut greenhouse gases would cause an economic recession.
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2006: Second Most Extreme Weather Ever- Climate Progress, 4th June 2007
US- Global warming has long been predicted to make the weather more extreme. Wouldn’t it be great if there were an official government index of extreme weather — of heat, drought, rainfall, and hurricanes — that would let us know if in fact the prediction had come true?
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Funding agreement to save Macquarie Island: WWF- WWF Australia, 4th June 2007
MACQUARIE ISLAND, Australia- A major threat to the survival of the grey-headed albatross will be removed thanks to a joint decision today by the Australian and Tasmanian governments to fund a pest eradication program on World Heritage Macquarie Island.
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CITES Permits 60 Tons of Elephant Ivory to Be Sold- ENS, 4th June 2007
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands- The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES, Saturday approved exports of 60 tons of elephant ivory from Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa to Japan. The approval comes over the objections of many African elephant range states and conservation groups who say legal trade will give cover to ivory poachers.
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Dutch Try To Grow Environment-Friendly Meat In Lab- Reuters, 4th June 2007
UTRECHT, Netherlands- Dutch researchers are trying to grow pork meat in a laboratory with the goal of feeding millions without the need to raise and slaughter animals.
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Earth's Climate Approaches Dangerous Tipping Point- ENS, 1st June 2007
NEW YORK, US- A stern warning that global warming is nearing an irreversible tipping point was issued today by the climate scientist who the Bush administration has tried to muzzle.
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Bush Wants Global Meeting On Climate Change- Reuters, 1st June 2007
WASHINGTON, US- US President George W. Bush, under fire for resisting tough action on global warming, on Thursday called on about 15 influential countries to agree by the end of 2008 on a long-term goal to cut emissions.
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Islands Offer Sun, Sand And Climate Change Lessons- Reuters, 1st June 2007
BELIZE CITY, Belize- The palm-fringed islands of the South Pacific offer vacationers an alternative to sunbathing and swimming -- grim lessons on the effects of global warming, delegates at a conference in Belize said.
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Eat Less Meat To Save Planet, Government Says- Reuters, 31st May 2007
LONDON, UK- Eating less meat and dairy could help tackle climate change by reducing the amount of methane gas emitted by cows and sheep, a government agency says.
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IWC Validates Commercial Whaling Ban, Condemns Japan's Hunt- ENS, 31st May 2007
ALASKA, US- The International Whaling Commission today re-authorized the existing moratorium on commercial whaling that has been in place since 1986. A group of 26 pro-whaling nations, including Japan, abstained from the vote.
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May

First Golden Eagle For Century Born In Ireland- Reuters, 31st May 2007
DUBLIN, Ireland- A pair of golden eagles have produced the first chick to be hatched in the Republic of Ireland in nearly a century after the species was hunted to extinction in the country.
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UK To Be 2nd Best Country For Clean Energy - Report- Reuters, 30th May 2007
LONDON, UK- Renewable energy could boom in Britain under planning and energy policy changes announced last week, making it the second most attractive country for investment in clean energy, analysts at Ernst & Young said.
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Kenya Maps Links Between Poverty And Environment- Reuters, 30th May 2007
NAIROBI, Kenya- Kenya launched a new national atlas on Tuesday that seeks to unearth links between poverty and the environment in a country which, like many in Africa, depends heavily on farming and tourism.
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Rich Must Pay Bulk Of Climate Change Bill - Oxfam- Reuters, 29th May 2007
LONDON, UK- Coping with the ravages of global warming will cost US$50 billion a year, and the rich nations who caused most of the pollution must pay most of the bill, aid agency Oxfam said on Tuesday.
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Climate change signal detected in the Indian Ocean- CSIRO, 29th May 2007
Australia- The signature of climate change over the past 40 years has been identified in temperatures of the Indian Ocean near Australia.
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Climate To Push Up Australian Power Costs - Study- Reuters, 29th May 2007
CANBERRA, Australia- Electricity prices could rise by up to 75 percent from 2020 if Australia's government refuses to take strong climate change action and set up a carbon trading system, Australia's Climate Institute said on Monday.
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Unilever To Sell Environmentally Sustainable Tea- Reuters, 28th May 2007
NEW YORK, US- The company that produces Lipton tea, one of the world's biggest black tea buyers, aims to obtain all its tea from plantations deemed sustainable, a US-based watchdog group said on Friday.
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New German Cars May Need Emissions Certificates- Reuters, 28th May 2007
BERLIN, Germany- Germany's environment ministry is proposing an emissions certificate be displayed on new cars that would alert potential buyers to heavily polluting vehicles, a ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
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Killer Hurricanes Thrived In Cool Seas - Study- Reuters, 24th May 2007
NEW YORK, US- Hurricanes over the past 5,000 years appear to have been controlled more by El Nino and an African monsoon than warm sea surface temperatures, such as those caused by global warming, researchers said on Wednesday.
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Noah's Ark Rebuilt To Show Climate Change Threat- Reuters, 24th May 2007
MOUNT ARARAT, Turkey- Noah's Ark, built to save humanity and the animal kingdom in the face of a great flood, is being reconstructed in model form on Mount Ararat as a warning to mankind to act now to prevent global warming.
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Global Warming Blamed For Costa Rica Frog Die-Offs- Reuters, 24th May 2007
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica- Global warming is the top suspect for the disappearance of 17 amphibian species from Costa Rican jungles, scientists said on Tuesday, warning monkey and reptile populations were also plummeting.
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Earth's natural wealth: an audit- NewScientist Environment, 23rd May 2007
UK- "I GET excited every time I see a street cleaner," says Hazel Prichard. It's what they collect in their sacks that gets her juices flowing, because the grime and litter they sweep up off the streets is laced with traces of platinum, one of the world's rarest and most expensive metals. The catalytic converters that keep exhaust pollutants from cars, trucks and buses down to an acceptable level all use platinum, and over the years it is slowly but steadily lost through these vehicles' exhaust pipes. Prichard, a geologist at the University of Cardiff in the UK, reckons that tonnes of the stuff is being sprayed out onto the world's streets and highways every year, and she is hunting for places where it is concentrated enough to be worth recovering. One of her prime targets is the waste containers in road-sweeping machines.
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Global Warming Alarms Infectious Disease Experts- ENS, 23rd May 2007
ONTARIO, Canada- Earth's rising temperature means trouble for health experts trying to fight infectious diseases, microbiologists said at a scientific meeting this week. "One of the first indicators of rising global temperatures could be malaria climbing mountains," said Dr. Stephen Morse of Columbia University.
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Colored Fungi Soak Up The Rays, Study Finds- Reuters, 23rd May 2007
WASHINGTON, US- Dark-colored fungi devour radiation and convert it to fuel, researchers said on Tuesday in a study that may offer applications from more efficient solar cells to feeding astronauts in space.
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World Carbon Emissions Speed Up Since 2000 - Study- Reuters, 23rd May 2007
WASHINGTON, US- World emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide increased three times faster after 2000 than in the 1990s, putting them at the high end of a range of forecasts by an international climate change panel, scientists reported on Monday.
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Britain's Wildlife Faces Shift As Climate Changes- Reuters, 23rd May 2007
LONDON, UK- Climate change may actually help some of Britain's rare wildlife and plants spread to new areas but other species face a threat to their survival, said a report launched by the government on Tuesday.
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One In Six European Mammals Faces Extinction Risk- Reuters, 23rd May 2007
GENEVA, Switzerland- One in six European land mammals faces the threat of extinction, mainly through habitat loss and deforestation, a leading conservation group said on Tuesday.
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Climate Change To Spur Allergies, Ticks, Malaria - UN- Reuters, 23rd May 2007
GENEVA, Switzerland- Climate change could extend the pollen season and encourage more disease-carrying ticks in northern Europe, and allow mosquitoes to thrive in new areas of Africa and Asia, public health officials said this week.
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UN Urges World To Slow Extinctions: 3 Each Hour- Reuters, 23rd May 2007
OSLO, Norway- Human activities are wiping out three animal or plant species every hour and the world must do more to slow the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs by 2010, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
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Wild Potatoes, Peanuts At Risk From Global Warming- Reuters, 23rd May 2007
OSLO, Norway- Global warming may drive many wild varieties of plants such as potatoes and peanuts to extinction by mid-century, wiping out traits that might help modern crops resist pests or disease, scientists said on Tuesday.
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UN Wins Pledges To Plant A Billion Trees- Reuters, 23rd May 2007
NAIROBI, Kenya- The United Nations has received pledges to plant more than a billion trees in a drive to help fight climate change and poverty, it said on Tuesday.
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World Growth Spurs Faster Climate Change - Report- Reuters, 23rd May 2007
SYDNEY, Australia- Global warming is occurring faster than predicted because rapid economic growth has resulted in higher than expected greenhouse gas emissions since 2000, said an Australian report on Tuesday.
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CO2 emissions increasing faster than expected- CSIRO, 22nd May 2007
Australia- Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels – the principal driver of climate change – have accelerated globally at a far greater rate than expected over recent years, according to a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Climbers Face More Risks As Alps Crumble- Reuters, 22nd May 2007
GRINDELWALD, Switzerland- Climbing sheer rock faces has never been the safest of sports, but global warming is increasing the risk factor.
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Indonesian Fisherman Nets Ancient Fish- Reuters, 22nd May 2007
MANADO, Indonesia- An Indonesian fisherman has caught a coelacanth, an ancient fish once thought to have become extinct at the time of the dinosaurs, a fishery expert said on Monday.
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Can America's Masses Get Charged On Electric Cars?- Reuters, 21st May 2007
CALIFORNIA, US- The ZAP Xebra is a three-wheeler running on basic batteries, silent and easy to maneuver. It is more than a golf cart and less than a compact car and costs just under US$10,000.
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Climate Change Threatens Clean Beaches - Report- Reuters, 21st May 2007
LONDON, UK- The number of clean bathing beaches in Britain has quadrupled in a decade, helped by a series of hot, dry summers, an environmental charity said on Friday.
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Nepal Begins Census Of Endangered Rhinos- Reuters, 21st May 2007
KATHMANDU, Nepal- Nepal has begun a census of the endangered Great One-horned Rhinoceros population in a wildlife reserve where sightings of the majestic animal have become rarer, a national parks official said on Sunday.
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Dicaprio To Polluters: Go Green Now- Reuters, 21st May 2007
CANNES, France- Hollywood star and long-time environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio has a message for the world: go green now, before it's too late.
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Climate change and trace gases- Philiosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (James Hansen et al, 2007), 18th May 2007
Publication
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New Software To Track Cities' Carbon Emissions- Reuters, 18th May 2007
NEW YORK, US- The Clinton Foundation and Microsoft Corp. Thursday announced a partnership to develop new technology tools to help large cities create, track and share strategies to reduce carbon emissions.
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Energy efficient desalination – not a pipe dream- CSIRO, 18th May 2007
MELBOURNE, Australia- The delivery of energy efficient desalination received a boost today (Friday 18 May) with the establishment of a major new research collaboration between CSIRO and nine of Australia’s leading universities.
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Southern ocean carbon sink weakened- CSIRO, 18th May 2007
Australia- Scientists have observed the first evidence that the Southern Ocean’s ability to absorb the major greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, has weakened by about 15 per cent per decade since 1981.
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Antarctic Ocean Losing Ability to Absorb Carbon Dioxide- ENS, 18th May 2007
NORWICH, UK- Recent climate change brought on by human activities has weakened one the Earth's natural defenses against global warming. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is not being absorbed by the Southern Ocean as quickly as it once was, an international research team has found.
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UK Plans World's Biggest Offshore Windfarm- Reuters, 18th May 2007
LONDON, UK- Britain's Farm Energy Ltd plans the world's largest offshore wind farm, in southwest England, and hopes an imminent overhaul of Britain's planning system will help speed its development, a company director said on Thursday.
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Big Area Of Antarctica Melted, Satellite Finds- Reuters, 17th May 2007
WASHINGTON, US- Vast areas of snow in Antarctica melted in 2005 when temperatures warmed up for a week in the summer in a process that may accelerate invisible melting deep beneath the surface, NASA said on Tuesday.
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Marine Species Suggest Antarctic 'Cradle Of Life'- Reuters, 17th May 2007
WASHINGTON, US- Carnivorous sponges, 585 new species of crustaceans and hundreds of new worms have been discovered in the dark waters around Antarctica, suggesting these depths may have been the source of much marine life, European researchers reported on Wednesday.
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Arctic Islands Invite Tourists To See Climate Woes- Reuters, 17th May 2007
LONGYEARBYEN, SVALBARD- A remote chain of Arctic islands is advertising itself as a showcase of bad things to come from global warming.
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Indonesia Counts Its Islands Before It's Too Late- Reuters, 17th May 2007
PULAU AYER, Indonesia- Indonesia has so many islands it has not been able to count them all and is having a hard time finding names for them.
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'Bloody big' cane toad found in Seaford- theage.com.au, 17th May 2007
MELBOURNE, Australia- SHARLEEN Milkins was having a cigarette in her Seaford backyard last Sunday when some rustling alerted her to a very ugly predator.
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Health Expert Blames Pollution For Cancer Rise- Reuters, 17th May 2007
BEIJING, China- Worsening air and water pollution and frequent use of food additives and pesticides made cancer the top killer in China last year, state media reported on Wednesday, citing health experts.
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La Nina Stirs Up Pollution In Chilean Capital- Reuters, 17th May 2007
SANTIAGO, Chile- Known best as a catalyst for devastating hurricanes, the La Nina weather anomaly is helping to stir up some of the worst pollution seen in Chile's capital Santiago since 1999, and it could last for months.
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Australian Water Crisis Could Be Worse Than Thought- Reuters, 17th May 2007
CANBERRA, Australia- Water shortages facing Australia's drought-hit prime agricultural area might be worse than expected, the government was told on Wednesday, as river towns braced for unprecedented restrictions on water use.
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Clean Energy Spending Can Curb Climate Change - WWF- Reuters, 16th May 2007
GENEVA, Switzerland- The world can avoid the worst effects of climate change with investments in clean energy so long as the wholesale shift from fossil fuels starts within five years, the environmental group WWF said on Tuesday.
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Ocean Around Japan Warming Up Fast - Report- Reuters, 16th May 2007
TOKYO, Japan- The ocean around Japan has warmed up faster than elsewhere in the world over the last hundred years partly because of global warming, Japan's Meteorological Agency said on Tuesday.
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Climate change: shock findings for Victorians, 16th May 2007
MELBOURNE, Australia- AN ALARMING new report on the impact of climate change in Victoria has warned of risks to some of our most basic services and necessities — including water, electricity, transport, telecommunications and buildings.
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Pollution Turning Taj Mahal Yellow- Reuters, 16th May 2007
NEW DELHI, India- Pollution is turning the Taj Mahal yellow, despite efforts by the Indian government to control air contamination around the poignant 17th century monument and keep it shimmering white, a parliamentary committee has said.
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Biofuel: good idea, bad practice- Down To Earth, 15th May 2007
India- Now that the reality of climate change has been accepted even by its strongest sceptics, there is a rush to find answers. The latest buzz is to substitute the use of greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels with biofuels—fuel processed from plants. Unfortunately, the way we are going about implementing this “good” idea could mean we are headed from the frying pan to the fire.
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Great Wall of China Overrun, Damaged, Disneyfied- nationalgeographic.com, 15th May 2007
BEIJING, China- Archaeologists last week announced the discovery of a new section of the Great Wall of China near the Mongolian border—the northernmost segment ever found.
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Cleaning Up Mount Everest- Worldwide Institute, 15th May 2007
China- Since March, large numbers of visitors from China's national climbing team, the China Meteorological Bureau, and the China Space Technology group have flocked to Mount Everest's base camp to prepare for the delivery of the 2008 Olympic flame to the world’s highest peak. Their presence has expanded the number of visitors now living at base camp to more than 600, including foreign climbers, according to an official from the national climbing team.
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Climate change exiles to top 1 billion- theage.com.au, 15th May 2007
MELBOURNE, Australia- GLOBAL warming will create at least 1 billion refugees by 2050 as water shortages and crop failures force people to leave their homes, sparking local wars over access to resources, a leading aid agency has said.
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Slowing Deforestation Key To Climate Fight - Experts- Reuters, 15th May 2007
SYDNEY, Australia- Even slowing the amount of clearing of tropical forests could significantly cut the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere, international experts say in a new study.
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Yahoo Puts Marketing Muscle Into Climate Campaign- Reuters, 14th May 2007
SAN FRANCISCO, US- Yahoo Inc. aims to wield its power as the biggest US Internet media company to encourage millions of consumers to take basic steps to help the environment as part of its corporate push to confront global warming.
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Bottled Water Has High Environmental Costs - Report- Reuters, 14th May 2007
WASHINGTON, US- Bottled water, the world's fastest growing beverage, carries a heavy environmental cost, adding plastic to landfills and putting pressure on natural springs, the author of a new report said on Thursday.
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Tourism Industry Aims To Go Green - Group Official- Reuters, 14th May 2007
LISBON, Portugal- The world's leading tourism companies are trying to agree on ways to fight climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from hotels, cruise ships and airliners, the head of a major tourism association said.
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Sake May Power Japanese Cars In The Future- Reuters, 14th May 2007
SHINANOMACHI, Japan- Japanese motorists may one day pump their cars full of sake, the fermented rice wine that is Japan's national drink, if a pilot project to create sake fuel is a hit with locals in this mountain resort.
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Tourist Numbers Pose Green Worries In Antarctica- Reuters, 14th May 2007
NEW DELHI, India- The number of tourists visiting Antarctica rose by 14 percent to more than 37,000 over the last season, the Indian government said, as concern mounts at their environmental impact on world's last great wilderness.
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Australia's Newest Marine Reserve Safeguards Sharks- Reuters, 11th May 2007
CANBERRA, Australia- Habitat for a harmless shark that is one of Australia’s most threatened marine species was protected today by a new marine reserve in Commonwealth waters off Australia's east coast.
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Internet Encyclopedia To List All 1.8 Mln Species- Reuters, 10th May 2007
BONN, Germany- From apples to zebras, all 1.8 million known plant and animal species will be listed in an Internet-based "Encyclopedia of Life" under a US$100 million project, scientists said on Tuesday.
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Methane From Dams: Greenhouse Gas to Power Source- ENS, 9th May 2007
SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil- Scientists from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, INPE, have published a new study showing that large dams contribute to global warming by releasing the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. The authors propose capturing the methane and using it to generate electricity.
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Study Ties Coral Disease To Warmer Oceans- Reuters, 9th May 2007
MIAMI, US- Warmer sea temperatures are linked to the severity of a coral disease, according to a study on Australia's Great Barrier Reef that offers a dire warning about global warming's potential impact on the world's troubled reefs.
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Organic Farmers See Prince Charles As Role Model- Reuters, 7th May 2007
ENGLAND, UK- Warning. You are now entering a GMO-free zone.
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Beating Global Warming Needn't Cost The Earth - UN- Reuters, 7th May 2007
BANGKOK, Thailand- Humans must make sweeping cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in the next 50 years to keep global warming in check, but it need cost only a tiny fraction of world economic output, a major UN report said on Friday.
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New solar plant expensive, but effective- WME, 7th May 2007
SEVILLE, Spain- Last week the most unusual and powerful solar thermal power plant in Europe was opened in Seville, Spain. While substantially more expensive than conventional generation, it is expected to generate around 23GW hours of electricity a year. Also, the EU has released an online map to assess solar potential in Europe.
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China Plans To Hold First "No Car" Day- Reuters, 7th May 2007
BEIJING, China- China's smog-choked capital and the financial hub of Shanghai have agreed to close their roads for the country's first "no car" day, along with over 100 other cities, the official Xinhua agency said on Saturday.
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Baby Nemo Finds No Place Like Home- Reuters, 7th May 2007
CANBERRA, Australia- Nemo, it seems, never needed finding.
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IPCC Reports Quick Action Can Avert Worst Climate Impacts- ENS, 4th May 2007
BANGKOK, Thailand- Catastropic global warming can be avoided without excessive economic cost but the world must begin to act at once, a UN climate change panel representing 2,500 international scientists said today.
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Australian Aborigines Look To Birds For Rain Clue- Reuters, 4th May 2007
CANBERRA, Australia- With wattle trees blooming across southeastern Australia and native birds and cockatoos on the wing, Aboriginal weather watchers say rain is on the way -- giving some hope to parts of the country ravaged by drought.
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US Environment Satellites In Jeopardy - Scientists- Reuters, 3rd May 2007
WASHINGTON, US- Environmental satellites that monitor global warming are in jeopardy because of cost cuts, as military and human spaceflight programs get larger shares of the US budget, a science policy expert said on Wednesday.
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The Pros And Cons Of Going Green In The Home- Reuters, 3rd May 2007
LONDON, UK- "Eco-friendly" is the buzz-word of the 21st century, and the environmental conscience is increasingly determining decisions on the home front.
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Filmmaker: Fewer Than 1,000 Wild Tigers Left in India- ENS, 3rd May 2007
NEW DELHI, India- In his new film on India's tiger crisis, conservation filmmaker Krishnendu Bose argues that there may be less than 1,000 wild tigers remaining in India.
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Keen To Be Green -- But At What Cost?- Reuters, 3rd May 2007
LONDON, UK- Gone are the days when the environment and business met only within the confines of organic carrot, hemp body-wash and recycled toilet rolls.
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Small, Unexciting Steps Can Make Big Climate Leap- Reuters, 3rd May 2007
LONDON, UK- Simple steps to save energy such as changing light bulbs or not quite filling up the kettle can also save carbon emissions, a UN report will say this week.
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France Records Hottest April Since 1950- Reuters, 3rd May 2007
PARIS, France- France recorded its hottest April in almost 60 years and parts of the country have not had any rain for 30 days, weather forecaster Meteo France said on Wednesday.
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Deep Tremors May Hold Key To Predicting Big Quakes- Reuters, 3rd May 2007
HONG KONG, China- Researchers have identified a link between a series of recently discovered earth movements that they believe may hold the key to better forecasting major earthquakes.
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War Spirit Can Beat Climate Change - Prince Charles- Reuters, 1st January 1970
LONDON, UK- Britain can lead the fight against climate change using the same spirit of grit it displayed in World War Two, Prince Charles told business leaders on Tuesday.
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Rainmakers Give Light Relief In Warm, Dry World- Reuters, 2nd May 2007
PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN, Thailand- Every day during the scorching heat of Thailand's dry season, four ageing planes take off from an airstrip southwest of Bangkok carrying cargoes of salt.
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Bacteria Found That Can Clean Up PCBs Without Dredging- ENS, 1st May 2007
GEORGIA, US- Researchers have identified a group of bacteria that can detoxify a common type of polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs. These carcinogenic compounds, once used as coolants and lubricants, have contaminated more than 250 U.S. sites, including lake and river sediments.
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$10b fossil fuel subsidy handicaps renewables, says report- WME, 1st May 2007
Australia- Governments are spending billions on fossil fuels through direct payments and favourable tax treatment while failing to subsidise cleaner energy sources, says research from the Univeristy of Technology, Sydney. It calculated that during 2005-2006 "heavy polluting industries" received 96% of all financial support by governments in the energy and transport sectors.
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Germany In Losing Battle To Save Last Glacier- Reuters, 1st May 2007