News extra

1. Temps likely to rise 3-7 degrees F this century, says UN
Governments need to act quickly to curb Global Warming, a draft UN report says. And it's quite likely temperatures will exceed the European Union target of 3.6 degrees F above pre-industrial levels. The report says global average temperatures will go up 3-7 degrees F, and oceans will continue to rise for centuries to come. Sea levels will go up 7-23 inches this century; and even if greenhouse gases are stabilized, will eventually rise 1.3-12 feet as ocean water absorbs warmth and expands, the report says. This does not take into account any melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. This summary of the three Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports earlier this year is due for release in Spain Nov. 17. A draft was obtained last week by Reuters. Options to reduce the damage are listed as efficiency, more renewables, carbon markets and carbon sequestration at coal-fired plants. (Source: Reuters PlanetArk.com)

2. Rich countries disagree about GHG goals for 2020
Rich countries should take the lead in cutting greenhouse gases, delegates urged at a climate change meeting in Vienna last week. But the developed countries were divided on whether they should seek cuts of 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020. The European Union said yes, but Canada, Japan, Sweden, New Zealand and Russia called the cuts too demanding, following on the heels of the Kyoto requirement for 5% below 1990 by 2012. The U.S. was not in the discussion because it didn’t sign on to Kyoto. Also at the Vienna meeting, attended by 1,000 delegates from 135 countries, a UN report said energy efficiency – in buildings, cars and power plants – is the best way to cut GHG in the short run. (Source: PlanetArk.com)

3. Ozone hole opens up early this year, offers GHG warning
While the ozone hole over Antarctic isn’t caused by Global Warming, it shows us that stopping harmful emissions doesn’t get results for a long time. Ozone-depleting substances were banned by the Montreal Protocol in 1989. But the hole is still getting bigger. It appeared early this year and will grow until October, the World Meteorological Organization said last week, possibly surpassing its record size in 2006. By 2050, the ozone layer, which protects us from damaging ultraviolet rays, should be back to pre-1980s levels. The hole likely won’t be gone until 2065, WMO said. Because CO2, the main cause of Global Warming, stays in the atmosphere for 100 years, and methane even longer, we'll be facing similar problems with climate change in the future. (Gee, we cut GHG 50% in 2030. Why is it still getting hotter?) (Source: Reuters)

4. Rice threatened by climate change; why should we care?
Half the world’s 6.6 billion people rely on rice for nourishment, so a group of international scientists in the Philippines are racing the clock to climate-proof the essential food crop. Global Warming already is causing droughts, intrusion of seawater and higher nighttime temperatures (up 1.5 degrees C from 1978 to 2003). Rice yields drop about 10% for each degree, according to the International Rice Research Institute. The future promises shifting rain patterns, so the scientists are working to breed rice that can be grown on dry land as well as handle hotter temperatures. Rising seas also are an “ominous threat,” according to IRRI. About half the rice is grown in India and China. (Sources: Agence France-Presse, truthout.com, E&E News PM)

5. Malaysia criticizes U.S., Australia climate agenda for APEC
Saying Australia and the United States lack the credentials to lead a discussion on Global Warming, Malaysia objected to the two countries’ desire to put climate change high on the agenda at next week’s Asia-Pacific meeting in Sydney. The two are the only industrial nations not to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Plans have been afoot to have the Asia Pacific Economic Council agree next week on voluntary, not binding curbs on greenhouse gases, as a follow-up to Kyoto. Malaysia said they should wait to meet with the international community in the proper forum to discuss ways to manage climate change. (Source: PlanetArk.com)

6. New Texas plant will offset carbon and mercury emissions
In a first, a power company has agreed to offset its emissions. NuCoastal Power Corp. said its new 303-megawatt plant in Port Comfort, Texas, will offset its mercury and carbon emissions by paying for such things as weatherization for low-income people and wind turbine production. In an agreement to end environmental opposition, the company also said it would install carbon-sequestration technology when it becomes available. (Source: E&E News PM)


Xtreme weather watch
Scientists predict: Global Warming will result in more extreme weather events, such as storms, floods, droughts, heat waves and wildfires.

* Record rains pour on Iowa, Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma
Up to a foot of rain fell on central Iowa Aug. 24, as flooding continued to damage large parts of the Midwest. Meanwhile, summer storms have poured record rains on Texas and parts of Kansas and Oklahoma. Corpus Cristi, Texas, recorded 33 inches by mid-August, 15 inches more than normal.
* Australian food-growers face disaster, as drought continues
After a brief respite in May and June, when rains came, Australia’s “food bowl,” the Murray-Darling river basin, is facing crop ruin with little or no irrigation, as a several-year drought continues. In good times the area provides half the country’s fruit and cereal grains and $18 billion (U.S.) in imports. On Thursday, area farmers said they were 10 days from ruin if it doesn’t rain.
* Indians eat raw flour to survive as monsoon rains rage
Nearly 2,000 have died in eastern India and Bangladesh from drowning, disease, collapsed houses and snakebites, as incessant and unusually heavy rains continue to cause flooding. Another 4,000 are sick from polluted water and contaminated food. Unable to cook, some in India are eating raw flour soaked in water. The especially bad monsoon flood season this year is blamed by some on climate change.
* Sudan has worst flooding in memory, surpassing 1988
Aid has been slow in coming to the hundreds of thousands of victims of Sudan flooding. Nearly 74,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed and more than 11,000 cattle have been lost. The flooding is worse than in 1988, when a million people had to flee their homes. Many say it’s the worst they can remember.
(Xtreme Weather Watch sources: PlanetArk.com, Greenwire)