Archive for October 29th, 2012

United Kingdom: Climate activists occupy West Burton gas power station

Guardian: Around 20 climate change protesters have seriously disrupted operations at one of the UK's new generation of gas-fired power stations at West Burton in Nottinghamshire. Police have made five arrests but climbing parties from the campaign group No Dash for Gas successfully scaled two 91m (300ft) concrete cooling towers overnight, securing themselves on ledges with supplies for a week. One of the group tweeted exuberantly with accompanying pictures: "Guess where we woke up this morning! Dawn...

Big Coal Is Putting Climate Targets Hopelessly Out Of Reach

Guardian: Coal is enjoying a renaissance, with the highest consumption of the fuel since the late 1960s. The unexpected development threatens to put climate change targets out of reach -- and much of the reason is the rise of a supposedly "green" fuel, natural gas. The controversial use of shale gas in the US, where it now makes up a quarter of electricity generation, has brought down carbon emissions there -- but the greenhouse gases have simply been exported elsewhere, meaning no net gain for the planet,...

Five protesters held at West Burton power station

Press Association: Five climate change protesters have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass at the site of a gas-fired power station. Nottinghamshire police said some of those involved in the protest had scaled buildings at West Burton power station after gaining access to the site at about 1.20am. A police spokesman said: "Around 10 are thought to have climbed the water towers and have secured themselves to restrict their removal. Searches are ongoing to find a number of other people who are also...

Indonesia: Green film portrays the plight of Merbabu farmers

Jakarta Post: For many people, especially those living in the most remote villages of Indonesia, climate change is unlikely be a familiar term, despite their daily struggles against the incomprehensible changes to the seasons. An internationally acclaimed documentary made by Indonesian film director Shalahuddin Siregar entitled Negeri di Bawah Kabut (The Land Beneath the Fog), intimately captures the daily lives of two humble farming families living in Genikan village on the slopes of Mount Merbabu in Central...

Hurricane Sandy expected to stun US and be a climate change reminder

Times of India: The United States, at least the eastern seaboard of the country, is under attack. Not from Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela or any of the usual suspects. The offender who dares to assault the world's only superpower is a hurricane, innocuously named Sandy. Sandy though is an overgrown progenitor of Mother Nature, who no one messes with; not even a superpower. As if to remind US Presidential candidates that it is not a good idea to put global warming -- or human aggravated climate change -- on...

In aftermath of drought, U.S. corn movement turns upside down

Reuters: The devastating U.S. drought and ensuing crop disease are upending traditional grain movement patterns, with dozens of trains and barges shipping North Dakota or Mississippi corn into the Corn Belt rather than out to the coasts. Processors and ethanol producers in No. 2 corn state Illinois, where the average corn yield was the lowest in nearly 25 years, are "importing" millions of bushels of the grain - an unprecedented volume - from North Dakota, which produced a record crop this year, trade...