Global Pollution and Prevention News - ENN

Green taxes need explaining or risk backlash: study

Reuters — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:49:00 EST

OSLO (Reuters) - Governments must do a better job of explaining environmental taxes such as charges on driving in cities or higher electricity bills or risk a public backlash, a study showed on Friday.

White House Prods Allies to Oppose Limits on Greenhouse Gases

Washington Post — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:27:00 EST

As the Bush administration prepares to issue its ruling on whether to limit greenhouse gases, it's sending out a message to some of its allies: Tell us how much you don't want us to regulate emissions linked to global warming.

Little gain from oil sands carbon capture - report

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:19:00 EST

Canada's government saw only limited opportunities to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the oil sands using carbon capture and storage technology, according to briefing notes obtained by a Canadian media. The notes, prepared by a carbon capture task force, were used by Canadian federal and provincial politicians and were obtained by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, which said it requested them under freedom of information legislation.

Harvard urges rich nations to cut emissions first

http://www.guardian.co.uk — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:53:00 EST

LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Rich nations should make the first cuts in greenhouse gases while developing countries carry on business-as-usual for the time being, according to a report published on Monday by Harvard University. This is among proposals by the American university's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs to negotiators who meet for U.N. climate talks next week in Poland. The current climate pact, the Kyoto Protocol, expires in 2012 and governments are scrambling to agree a new treaty by the end of next year.

Putting a green cap on garbage dumps

Inderscience Publishers — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:39:00 EST

Landfill sites produce the greenhouse gases, methane and carbon dioxide, as putrescible waste decays. Growing plants and trees on top of a landfill, a process known as 'Phytocapping', could reduce the production and release of these gases, according to Australian scientists writing in a forthcoming issue of International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management.

Trees for kids: Indonesia's way of beating global warming

Reuters — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:21:00 EST

JAKARTA (Reuters) - An Indonesian city battling the effects of deforestation has come up with a novel way of tackling the problem. Would-be families must plant a tree. "Everyone who wants to get married or apply for a birth certificate must plant a tree," Syahrum Syah Setia, the head of Balikpapan city's Environmental Impact Management Agency, said.

The silent emergency

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:13:00 EST

Ajocular former paratrooper, Amadou Toumani Touré was once dubbed Mali's "soldier of democracy", the man who ousted a dictator in a 1991 coup before organising elections and handing power to a civilian administration the following year. He was elected president himself in 2002 and has since acquired a new title: he is, in the pantheon of world leaders, the biggest champion of clean water and functioning toilets. That is what development workers call him and he describes it as a compliment.