StraightGoods.ca

Burning coal also costs companies and governments billions of pounds in disease treatment and lost working days.

from The Guardian

"Air pollution from Europe's 300 largest coal power stations causes 22,300 premature deaths a year and costs companies and governments billions of pounds in disease treatment and lost working days, says a major study of the health impacts of burning coal to generate electricity.

"The research, from Stuttgart University's Institute for energy economics and commissioned by Greenpeace International, suggests that a further 2,700 people can be expected to die prematurely each year if a new generation of 50 planned coal plants are built in Europe. 'The coal-fired power plants in Europe cause a considerable amount of health impacts,' the researchers concluded. …"

Full story

"A new report says that the world will need to more than double food production over the next 40 years to feed an expanding global population. But as the world's food needs are rapidly increasing, the planet's capacity to produce food confronts increasing constraints from overlapping crises that, if left unchecked, could lead to billions facing hunger.

"The UN projects that global population will grow from today's 7 billion to 9.3 billion by mid-century. According to the report released last week by the World Resources Institute (WRI), 'available worldwide food calories will need to increase by about 60 percent from 2006 levels' to ensure an adequate diet for this larger population. At current rates of food loss and waste, by 2050 the gap between average daily dietary requirements and available food would approximate 'more than 900 calories (kcal) per person per day.'

"The report identifies a complex, interconnected web of environmental factors at the root of this challenge – many of them generated by industrial agriculture itself. About 24 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, encompassing methane from livestock, nitrous oxide from fertilizers, carbon dioxide from onsite machinery and fertilizer production, and land use change.

Industrial agriculture, the report finds, is a major contributor to climate change which, in turn is triggering more intense 'heat waves, flooding and shifting precipitation patterns', with 'adverse consequences for global crop yields.' …"

Full story

US forest service chief says hotter, drier conditions mean longer wildfire season.

from The Guardian

"America's wildfire season lasts two months longer than it did 40 years ago and burns up twice as much land as it did in those earlier days because of the hotter, drier conditions produced by climate change, the country's forest service chief told Congress on Tuesday.

"But the forest service was forced to make sharp cuts to fire prevention programmes, and reduce the numbers of fire-fighters and engines because of budget pressures, Thomas Tidwell, the chief of the United States Forest Service, told the Senate committee on energy and natural resources.

"'Hotter, drier, a longer fire season, and lot more homes that we have to deal with,' Tidwell told the Guardian following his appearance. 'We are going to continue to have large wildfires. …"

Full story

UN secretary general says freshwater supply and water quality under pressure.

from The Guardian

"Ban Ki-moon has warned the world is on course to run out of freshwater unless greater efforts are made to improve water security.

"Speaking on the UN's International Day of Biological Diversity, Ban said there was a 'mutually reinforcing' relationship between biodiversity and water that should be harnessed.

"'We live in an increasingly water insecure world where demand often outstrips supply and where water quality often fails to meet minimum standards. Under current trends, future demands for water will not be met,'" Ban said.

Full story

James Hansen rebukes oil firms and Canadian government over stance on exploiting fossil fuel.

from The Guardian

"Major international oil companies are buying off governments, according to the world's most prominent climate scientist, Prof James Hansen. During a visit to London, he accused the Canadian government of acting as the industry's tar sands salesman and 'holding a club' over the UK and European nations to accept its 'dirty' oil. …"

"'Oil from tar sands makes sense only for a small number of people who are making a lot of money from that product,' he said in an interview with the Guardian. 'It doesn't make sense for the rest of the people on the planet. We are getting close to the dangerous level of carbon in the atmosphere and if we add on to that unconventional fossil fuels, which have a tremendous amount of carbon, then the climate problem becomes unsolvable.'

"Hansen met ministers in the UK government, which the Guardian previously revealed has secretly supported Canada's position at the highest level. …"

Full story