The Australian
By: Matthew Warren, Environment writer
Tensions are emerging between major greenhouse emitters and Climate Minister Penny Wong after a number of hostile meetings before the release of the Government's green paper on emissions trading in July.
Senator Wong has told small groups of chief executives from major power and other energy-intensive companies that the Rudd Government's election promise of a renewable energy target was "not negotiable''.
The Australian
By: Matthew Warren
Modelling the economic effects of an emissions trading regime is no simple matter
Predicting the effects of a policy reform as big and complex as a national emissions trading scheme is like trying to work out who the murderer is in an Agatha Christie mystery, except the crime hasn't been committed yet.
Climate Minister Penny Wong is now getting down to the grisly business of trying to frame a scheme that will cut emissions without igniting inflation, public outcry or an exodus of heavy industry.
The Mercury
By: Steve Newman
Climate Change Trigger
The Earth may be on the verge of a massive, cascading release of methane similar to one that caused a global warming that ended the last "snowball" ice age, according to a team of California scientists. Writing in the journal Nature, lead researcher Martin Kennedy of University of California, Riverside suggests the same kind of warming could be about to occur, not over thousands of years, but within a human lifetime.
Courier Mail
By: Markus Lambert
The Government has blown its climate-change credentials by means-testing the solar rebate, writes Markus Lambert
'Rudd has ensured there will be fewer solar panels on Australian roofs'
By means-testing the $8000 solar rebate, the Rudd Government has done irreparable damage to Australia's burgeoning solar industry. To fix it, and at the same time reclaim its tattered climate-friendly credentials, the Government must immediately introduce country-wide gross feed-in tariff laws.
Australia is once more being denied the environmental and economic benefits which a well-developed local solar power installation network could bring. The sudden demise of the solar industry is taking place despite the Rudd Government's pre-election hype about climate change. By excluding households earning more than $100,000 from the solar rebate, Rudd has ensured there'll be fewer solar panels on Australian roofs.
The Advertiser
By: David Derbyshire, London
Some of the world's leading ski resorts are running out of snow, say researchers.
The number of "snow days'' in the Swiss Alps has plummeted over the past 20 years - and there is a real danger some resorts will struggle to survive.
The warning follows a study into snowfall across Switzerland over the past 60 years.
It found that amounts declined dramatically in the late 1980s and - despite the occasional snowy winter since - have not recovered.
"From the data it looks like a change in the large-scale weather pattern,'' Dr Christoph Marty, who carried out the study, told New Scientist journal.
Source: news.com.au
Article from: Reuters
By: Deborah Zabarenko in Washington
Human-generated climate change made flowers bloom sooner and autumn leaves fall later, turned some polar bears into cannibals and some birds into early breeders, a vast global study has found.
Hundreds of previous studies have noted these specific changes and most suggested a link to so-called anthropogenic (human-generated) global warming, but a new analysis published in the journal Nature has correlated earlier studies with changes in temperature, the study's lead author said.
The study found the early arrival of migratory birds in Australia, declining water levels in western Victoria and a 50 per cent decline in Antarctica's Emperor Penguin population were linked to rising temperatures.
The Mercury (Hobart)
Australians see climate change as the nation's biggest problem but appear unwilling to change their lives to reduce their large environmental footprint, an international survey has found.
Australia is tied in seventh place among 14 developed and developing nations in the National Geographic's Greendex, a measure of sustainable consumption and behaviour.
Brazil and India tied for the highest score for their small footprint per capita, and US consumers were ranked the most wasteful.
Centralian Advocate
As one of five Solar Cities in Australia, Alice Springs is set to become a town filled with energy-savvy residents over the next six years.
Brian Elmer, General Manager of Alice Solar City said: "More than 140 residents have already signed up to the program since the official launch on March 10.
"That reflects the enthusiasm of people to really make a difference, not only in their own home but to climate change as well.''
The Courier-Mail
By: Renee Viellaris
Households and business will receive a windfall in rebates, grants and low-interest loans if they become greener after tomorrow's Budget.
The tab for climate change initiatives is expected to hit $2 billion with Treasurer Wayne Swan yesterday signalling a key plank of his first Budget was dedicated to the environment.
However, many may miss out on the incentives because money has only been set aside for several hundred thousand households and businesses.
The Daily Telegraph
By: Clare Masters
A revolution is quietly taking place in homes across NSW, with a 300 per cent increase in the numbers of people switching to environmentally friendly power in just 12 months.
Alarmed by climate change, residents of the Emerald City are going green, with concern about the changing world more than doubling in the past year.
Data gathered by The Daily Telegraph shows the number of people in NSW swapping to renewable energy has risen from 68,053 to 202,083 in 12 months.
The Australian
By: Christian Kerr
Kevin Rudd has described climate change as the overarching national challenge, in his closing address to the 2020 Summit.
Climate change and sustainability emerged as key subjects for discussion across a range of themes over the weekend, with impacts for the economy, agriculture, health and national security.
"Australia faces an unprecedented challenge from climate change,'' delegates stated. "We have a brief opportunity to act now to safeguard and shape our future prosperity.''
The Courier-Mail
By: Clinton Porteous
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has declared his intention to be known as a climate change fighter by moving to ratify the Kyoto Protocol within minutes of being sworn-in as the nation's leader.
The first act of the 26th Prime Minister was to sign a document calling for the Governor-General to ratify the climate change agreement.
The swift action was welcomed by environmental groups and sets the stage for Mr Rudd to make a triumphant entry when he attends a UN climate change conference in Bali next week.
The Australian
By: Matthew Warren, Environment writer
Negotiations to establish the groundwork for a new global agreement on addressing climate change could fail unless countries resolve four key areas of disagreement by today, the chief of the UN convention has warned.
Environment ministers were struggling last night to agree on the final text of the Bali mandate that will steer negotiations for the next two years on a post-2012 deal on cutting carbon emissions.
The Courier-Mail
By: Amanda Beck
The average global land surface temperature this year will be the highest since records began in 1880.
Japan's weather agency reported yesterday that the average land surface temperature from January to November this year was higher than in the past in all regions except for southern South America. It said the ocean surface temperature was also higher in most areas except for the eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator.
The Australian
It has been six months since News Limited, publisher of The Australian, launched its One Degree campaign to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
Myriad initiatives have been implemented during that period but, in the festive mood, it's appropriate to pass on One Degree's list of simple ways to reduce the environmental impact of Christmas.
1. Recycle Christmas paper from year to year.
2. Deposit Christmas cards and torn wrapping paper in your recycling bin or a Cards for Planet Ark box at supermarkets.
Herald Sun
By: Dominique La Fontaine
In just one day the future for Australian jobs and the economy looks a whole lot brighter.
With the ALP announcement last Tuesday of a 20 per cent renewable energy target by 2020, the bar has been raised on the Coalition's 15 per cent-by-2020 plan. Politicians are finally taking the issue seriously.
The ALP's Renewable Energy Target means that one-fifth of our electricity will come from clean, zero-emission, renewable sources by 2020.
Herald Sun
In Brief Column
By: Liam Walsh, Cameron England APP
Call to major parties
Business think tank Environment Business Australia has written an open letter to the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party, calling for bipartisan support on climate change action.
EBA's open letter outlines seven key climate change and clean energy actions, and asks each party to indicate by November 16, which of them they would commit to if elected later this month.
Some of the key requests in the letter are for both parties to commit to fast-tracking the national greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme beginning as early as 2009, adopt mandatory national targets, ratify the Kyoto Protocol and provide federal funding for initiatives.
The Advertiser
By: Stuart Martin
Steered by the Sun’s rays and a determination to win, the Dutch Nuna4Solar Team’s jubilant celebrations from the night before spilled into yesterday– and the Victoria Square fountain.
After more than 3000km and five days later, the team from the Netherlands travelled the final leg to Victoria Square after winning line honours on Thursday night, the fourth win for the Dutch.
The Mercury
By: Jennifer Crawley
The fishing industry can expect warmer oceans, stronger winds and bigger fish within the next 20 years as a result of climate change.
This was the forecast Tasmanian scientists Nathan Bindoff and Alastair Hobday gave the Australian Seafood Industry National Conference in Hobart yesterday. Both men are on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the panel of scientists that shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore for increasing public knowledge on the issue.
THE world's most powerful air force is seeking to wean itself from foreign oil and nearly wipe out its carbon dioxide output as part of a sweeping alternative energy drive, a senior Pentagon official said.
By early 2011, the US air force aims to make sure its entire fleet of bombers, fighters, transports and other aircraft can use a domestically produced 50-50 blend of synthetic and petroleum-based fuel.
GLOBAL warming could cut a swathe through the planet's species over the coming centuries, warns a study released today which shows a link between rising temperatures and mass extinctions reaching back half a billion years.
Each of five major eras of declining biodiversity - including one in which 95 percent of the Earth's species disappeared - correspond to cycles of severe warming over the 520-million-year period for which there are fossil records.
WOMEN are the greener of the sexes, a survey has found.
The poll of 2000 Australians by energy company AGL found women were more likely to make eco-friendly decisions, even if that meant forking out more at the cash register.
It found 36 per cent of women actively looked for environmentally sensitive purchases, compared to 29 per cent of men.
Women were also more likely to chose white goods, groceries and electronics that were better for the environment.
Perth Sunday Times
Green-Conscious Australians can now get carbon-neutral car insurance.
Australian Insurance Holdings today launched what it says is the first 100 per cent carbon-neutral motor insurance in Australia.
By: Kim Mckay and Jenny Bonnin
Are you maximising your garden's ability to capture precious rainfall?
Roofs, roads, driveways, footpaths and other water-resistant surfaces stop rainfall from being absorbed into the ground, where it can be used by plants and filtered by the soil before entering the water table.
Instead, the run-off flows, untreated, down drains, from where it is dumped directly into waterways, flooding the ecosystem with chemicals and other pollutants. The amount of water lost down a stormwater drain is many times that used in the average garden.
The Australian
The nation's biggest wind farm -- with the ability to power up to 400,000 homes -- could be operating near Broken Hill by 2009, despite NSW Industry Minister Ian Macdonald's belief that his state does not have enough breeze.
Renewable energy group Epuron said yesterday it would spend $2 billion to install about 500 wind turbines northwest of Broken Hill, in the far west of the state.