Climate Change

Global Warming (Still) Accelerating Water Crises

Prolonged dry episodes in the US
Prolonged dry episodes in the US WRI It's not breaking news, but then again, most global problems aren't. A new report by the World Resources Institute continues to confirm not only that human activity is the primary cause of rising temperatures, but also that global warming impacts are accelerating. Climate Science 2008: Major New Discoveries is a compilation of peer-reviewed research from 2008 and includes evidence that melting rates for mountain glaciers around the world doubled between 2004 and 2006. Other examples of water supply and hydrological impacts include the rapi

Critics Fault Climate-Change Legislation

Monday, June 22, 2009
Originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle At the Joseph Farms dairy in Atwater (Merced County), farmers aren't just transforming milk into cheese. They've also figured out how to turn manure into fuel - and a paycheck. By storing waste from the dairy's 5,000 cows in a covered 7-acre lagoon and removing methane from it using sophisticated equipment, the farm is generating power that keeps refrigerators, lights and pumps running at its cheese plant. The project keeps the heat-trapping greenhouse gas methane out of the atmosphere, thereby netting the farm another payback in the form of

Comments to the Western Climate Initiative on Offsets

Friday, June 19, 2009
Quantity and Quality Criteria for Offsets Under the WCIInternational Rivers submission to the WCI Offset Committee and the Cap Setting and Allowance Distribution (CSAD) Committee International Rivers provides the following comments regarding the Offset Limit White Paper and the overall offsets protocol as proposed in the Working Plan. International Rivers is in a unique position to offer comments on the WCI's offset program due to our having closely monitored the development and implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), by far the world's largest offset scheme, over the past dec

Spreadsheet Showing Impacts of Offsets Upon ACES Targets

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
This spreadsheet shows the impact upon the targets in the Waxman-Markey climate bill of allowing pulluters to use up to two billion offsets every year to meet emission reduction obligations. The bill is formally known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES). It was introduced by Representatives Waxman (D-CA) and Markey (D-MA).

Using Offsets to Push Climate Bill

Sunday, June 14, 2009
Originally published in the Albany Times Union WASHINGTON -- When Connie Patterson began expanding her Auburn. Cayuga County, dairy farm in the 1990s -- growing from 100 cows to a 950-cow operation -- she went from spreading manure over fields to housing the liquid waste in lagoons. But that, she soon discovered, was a pretty smelly situation. "It just sits in there, and it cooks, and it has a horrible odor," Patterson said. "It's like nothing you can believe." Patterson spent years searching for a solution, and ultimately installed an anaerobic digester to remove methane from the manure lagoo

CDM Auditors Flunking Additionality

DNV and BV Cert both received an F
DNV and BV Cert both received an F http://www.isletsofhope.com/pic/grade%20f.jpg Misbehaving school children aren't the only ones in need of remedial classes this summer. Auditors (or DOEs) of CDM projects have been given abysmal scores in a new report by WWF and the Öko Institute for Applied Ecology. The report states as its objective: "To assess to what extent DOEs are fulfilling the requirements and expectations of the CDM Executive Board (EB)." The rating system is also meant to provide greater transparency for project participants and the rest of the intern

Analysis of the Waxman-Markey Draft

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Analysis by International Rivers and Rainforest Action Network of the first draft of the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

Climate Change Partner Organizations

Payal Parekh, Tom Goldtooth and other CJN! activists
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Payal Parekh, Tom Goldtooth and other CJN! activists International Rivers' Climate Change campaign works with organizations in California, the US and worldwide to curb the use of carbon offsets from destructive hydropower projects in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in climate legislation. Through workshops and conferences, letter-writing, research, and advocacy, the Climate Change team seeks accountability in climate change legislation and emissions reporting, and demands attention for those most impacted by climate change and water (in)security. Some of our partners and n

Coalition Global Warming Letter to Ways and Means

Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Honorable Charles Rangel Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means United States House of Representatives 1102 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman Rangel, On behalf of the millions of members represented by our organizations, we are writing to urge the Ways and Means Committee to take legislative action that helps lead our country and the rest of the world in combating global warming. We believe that the environmental, economic, public health and international security threats of global warming require full and fair consideration by the multiple

Carbon Trading's Inconvenient Truth

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle In the face of unwavering Republican opposition, Californian Rep. Henry Waxman last week successfully guided a mammoth energy and climate bill through the House Energy and Commerce Committee that he chairs. This should be a thrilling moment for environmentalists. Nineteen years after the U.N.'s panel of scientists first reached consensus on the threat posed by global warming, the United States, for long the world's biggest polluter, is finally poised to take action. But unfortunately, the feeling among many climate-change campaigners is more

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