Reusable News:: Dec. 10, 2009
Podcast: Download (Duration: 9:10 — 10.5MB)
Headlines:
EPA Regulates Carbon
Inhofe Shows His Ignorance
Gorillas in the Midst
UK Gets with the Climate Program
Tidal Power in Oregon
Coke Reduces it’s Footprint
In a bold move well timed to coincide with the US Climate Summit decision at Copenhagen, the EPA has declared carbon dioxide a “Public Danger” – - triggering the certainty of regulation for big greenhouse gas emitters such as power stations, cement kilns, crude-oil refineries and chemical plants.
Jim Inhofe, Senator from Oklahoma, is going to Copenhagen with some of his politician friends, a posse he is calling the “truth squad”, to boycott the Climate Change summit and make a general nuisance of himself.
But with the EPA essentially demanding legislation by naming CO2 a Public Danger, Senator Inhofe and all the other Congressmen who take money from fossil fuel lobbyists are much less likely to make a dent at the Summit.
Years of protecting the mountain gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwest Uganda nearly unraveled four years ago when gorillas began to destroy farm crops outside the reserve. Villagers in Nkuringo, located outside the Bwindi boundary, quickly turned against the endangered species.
Recently, in an effort to stave off the possibility of gorilla killings, villagers and wildlife officials have partnered up to ensure that the community receives economic benefits for helping to conserve Bwindi’s mountain gorillas. The agreement has furthered efforts to ensure the apes’ safety and could serve as a model for protecting gorillas across central Africa.
320 individuals, about half of the wild global gorilla population, live in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, and they are resting a bit easier now thanks to those that care about them, and those that actually live with them.
Oregon Making Waves to Make Energy
Within two years, barring any unforeseen problems, the first wave power station will be up and fully operational off the coast of Oregon, generating about 1.5 Megawatts of energy.
Wave power company Ocean Power Technologies just signed a contract with Oregon Iron Works to start building buoys which harness the energy produced by waves. If all goes well with these first ten buoys, Ocean Power Technologies might get the go ahead to create a 200-buoy project in the area.
The project’s success could mean great things for the future of wave power in America. Studies have shown that wave power could power the world twice over. More on that as the project progresses.
UK Prime Minister Lays the Smack Down on Climate Change Haters
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, launched an outspoken attack on climate-change skeptics amid growing signs of public doubts about the scientific and political consensus on the environment, insisting that the science on climate change was settled, and accusing those who questioned the consensus of being outdated.
He said: “With only days to go before Copenhagen we mustn’t be distracted by the behind-the-times, anti-science, flat-earth climate skeptics. We know the science. We know what we must do.”
Climate skeptics around the world are using the crisis to argue that man made global warming is not proven and therefore there is no need for a deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions or pay to help poor countries adapt.
Coca Cola Green Vending Machines
Coke has announced that it will turn all of its 10 million vending machines worldwide hydrofluorocarbon-free by 2015. This is a major, ambitious move, as those machines emit 15 million tons of greenhouse gases annually and comprise 40% of Coke’s carbon footprint.
By switching to using carbon dioxide as the gas in vending machines rather than more carbon-intensive hydrofluorocarbons, the company expects to save as much as 53 million tons of CO2 emissions over a 10-year-period
Yet again, Coke is taking a step in the right direction. However, continuing to sell their products in bottles that are only used once is still wasting resources.
