Best of our wild blogs: 28 Mar 09

Marriage Central’s mass balloon release: So who is speaking the truth? on Dee Kay Dot As Gee

5 things to do during Earth Hour
on Dee Kay Dot As Gee

A special on Earth Hour 2009: Does it matter?
on the Champions of the Environment blog and what it means to me and baby steps in the right direction.

Light kills
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Ocean Conservancy: International Coastal Cleanup Report 2009
on the News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore blog

Re-introduction of a male Rhinoceros Hornbill
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Ella Bay: magical stories
an inspiration to writing to save habitats on the wild shores of singapore blog

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Have we done homework on hornbills in Singapore?

Straits Times Forum 28 Mar 09;

I REFER to Tuesday's article, 'Wild hornbill seeks Mr Right'.

While I applaud the effort taken by agencies and their partners to focus on wildlife issues in Singapore, I cannot help but ask what the scientific purpose of this introduction is.

The lonesome Rhino Hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros), though wild, has an unknown citizenship. Its origin is questionable. It has historical presence but the species almost became extinct 50 years ago due to rapid urban development and massive deforestation.

This escapee is not alone. It has a companion in another specimen of a different species, the Great Pied Hornbill (Buceros bicornis), also a female. There is also a lone Narcondam Hornbill (Rhyticeros narcondami), as well as the native Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthrococeros albirostirs convexus) which has made a healthy comeback in Pulau Ubin thanks to the Singapore Hornbill Project. This diverse exotic presence speaks volumes about the Singapore bird trade.

My question is: Are there any markers of the Singapore Rhino Hornbill sub-species to compare DNA with? Wouldn't the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the National University of Singapore have these markers since it is a native species?

If there are no genuine, credible markers of the Singapore sub-species, how are we to make comparisons with the DNA of other Rhino Hornbill sub-species? There is no point introducing sub-species from Indonesia, Malaysia or Thailand just for the sake of reintroduction. That is not how science works.

Reintroduction is a noble gesture, but it requires an immense amount of homework. Do we have enough habitat cover to sustain the species viably? Hornbills nest in old tree cavities. How many of these old tree cavities are left?

Artificial nestboxes should be a temporary solution, not a permanent fixture.

After its long absence, will the re-emergence of the Rhino Hornbill create an imbalance in the ecosystem? Should it flourish, who will guarantee it is safe from poachers? The very rare, less charismatic Straw-headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus) is often poached from reserves.

The project is well-intended but I feel the objective is not clear. We did well with the Oriental Pied Hornbill. There is nothing wrong with being ambitious, but let us be realistic. I suggest funding be directed at greening remaining vacant land and that the clearing of forest patches be stopped.

Public education is also important. The species will come back if the habitat is stable and protected. There is no point breeding birds if there is not enough habitat to sustain them.

Haniman Boniran

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Earth Hour Singapore

The greening of Singapore
Straits Times 28 Mar 09;

The Republic seems serious about climate change. Research on energy-savers is in top gear, and firms and homes are ditching energy-guzzlers. And tonight, many are switching off their lights to support a greener Earth. Amresh Gunasingham looks at some developments.

MORE than 10,000 individuals and 450 companies in Singapore have pledged to 'switch off' for one hour tonight to mark Earth Hour, the global initiative by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to raise awareness about climate change.

The event heralds a sea-change from a year ago, when Singapore did not even officially take part in the campaign and only a small number of companies here participated.

'If the support for Earth Hour this year is any indication, Singapore is getting more serious about climate change.' said Ms Amy Ho, managing director in Singapore for WWF. 'The issue can only be addressed by the Government, private sector, media and society coming together to be a catalyst for change.'

This year, famous local landmarks such as the Merlion, the Singapore Flyer and the Underwater World in Sentosa are showing their support by switching off their facade lights and other external lighting.

And despite business on a Saturday night usually being brisk, many hotels, including Four Seasons, Parkroyal on Beach Road and Hotel Rendezvous will offer candlelight meals and special refreshments to mark the occasion in their food and beverage outlets.

Even Changi Airport will mark the occasion by having decorative and non-operational lighting switched off in the three main terminals for one hour.

Amidst the soaring corporate and individual pledges to Earth Hour, a group of 1,200 student volunteers is also taking the message to the heartlands.

The students, from schools such as Damai Secondary and Singapore Polytechnic and aged 15 to 25 years old, will knock on the doors of 30,000 households to raise awareness about environmental issues and encourage residents' participation in the global 'switch off'.

Their efforts are estimated to reach out to over 105,000 residents in areas such as Bukit Panjang, Bedok and Eunos.

Mr Wilson Ang, 27, president of Eco Singapore, an environmental group that advocates sustainable lifestyles among youth here and is the co-organiser of the activities, said: 'The awareness of issues related to climate change has gained significant traction here, particularly with increased media coverage.

'But this campaign is about putting a face to the message and engaging people at a human level to participate.'

Student volunteer Kephren Ayanari, 19, added: 'Education and awareness of environmental issues have been stepped up in the last few years. People realise that global warming is an issue that affects everyone.'

Mr Howard Shaw, executive director of the Singapore Environment Council, said: 'The Government has shown the way in many aspects, elevating the issue to a certain level.'

Changes made in the education curriculum at schools and work done through community organisations have also been important, he added.

At least 2,700 cities in 84 countries around the world have committed to mark Earth Hour. The symbolic gesture will take place at 8.30pm.

Global switch-off
Nancy Ang, Today Online 28 Mar 09;

If you’ve always kept your torch lights, spare batteries and candles for an emergency, well, Saturday night’s the time to take them out for a good cause.

By switching off your lights at home for one hour from 8.30pm to 9.30pm, you’ll be joining millions of others who’ve pledged their support to Earth Hour, a WWF initiative that started in Sydney, Australia, in 2007 to fight global warming.

This year, WWF hopes to gather up to 1 billion people to vote with their light switch. The vote will then be presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, where world leaders will meet to decide on a new action plan to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

The energy saved from the switch-off may not be phenomenal, but it’s really about generating awareness and rallying people to reduce their carbon footprint.

As managing director of WWF Singapore Amy Ho said: “Adopt one eco-tip every month. This month, you may want to switch off all unnecessary lights before you leave home. The second month, you can unplug all your electrical appliances. The third month, if you drive, you can a pick a day to hop onto a bus or the MRT.”

Or you can take a leaf from eco-warrior Nadya Hutagalung, who’s building a green house from scratch. From using recycled glass and sustainable wood to collecting rain water, it’s a challenging project, but the WWF Earth Hour Singapore Ambassador says keeping to the green theme remains close to her heart, “I really believe it has to start from within yourself.”

So what can you do? You could enjoy a dinner by candlelight, organise a treasure hunt or sit around and share ghost stories. How about having a picnic in the park and gazing at the stars in the sky? Or you could simply spend a romantic night at home.

You don’t have to limit yourself to activities at home. After turning off the lights at home, head to one of the many events in town. A blackout party has been organised at the Esplanade Park, together with a green carnival and concert. Watch the Singapore skyline go dark as most major buildings have pledged to turn off their lights. For a list of activities around town, check out www.earthhour.org/singapore.

Don’t let Earth Hour go by without some reflection. As Nadya said during our interview, it may be a feel-good act, but ideally it should be the first step to a long-term commitment to saving the earth.

550 corporations and 8,000 individuals sign up for Earth Hour
Lynda Hong/Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia 27 Mar 09;

SINGAPORE: It is just one day before Earth Hour takes place, and some 8,000 individuals in Singapore have pledged to switch off the lights for an hour on Saturday from 8.30pm.

The numbers fall short of the target of one million participants, but those taking part are already showing their enthusiasm for the green initiative.

Come Saturday, 1,200 volunteers will be knocking on the doors of 30,000 households to share about Earth Hour and some energy-saving tips.

A volunteer from ECO Singapore, Loy Sye Yuet, said: "We find that there's growing support from the ground and that more and more residents are actually supportive of (Earth Hour)."

Datacraft is one of some 550 companies who have registered their commitment to switch off the lights. Employees of Datacraft have been given candles for the global environment initiative.

The company also observed Earth Hour a day earlier by turning off the lights during Friday's lunch break. The bright afternoon sunlight helped minimise the use of candles.

Human resource manager of Datacraft (Singapore), Ivy Chew, said: "What we did was we drew the blinds, so that it became brighter. People felt that there was no difference, we could still continue to work as per normal. There was no disruption to the workforce... Maybe we could do this more often."

The very first Earth Hour in Sydney in 2007 saw a 10 per cent reduction in energy consumption. However, organisers here are not measuring Singapore's success by the amount of energy saved, but on raising awareness on fighting climate change.

- CNA/yt

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Kids learn to appreciate Singapore nature

Group conducts classes on native plants and animals for youngsters
Ang Yiying, Straits Times 28 Mar 09;

GETTING kids to overcome their fear of insects and reptiles is a first step to getting them to be kind to nature.

This is the belief that drives a core group of 10 volunteers in an environment education group called Cicada Tree Eco-Place. It runs classes for kids up to 10 years old, holds nature walks for schools and organisations, and manages a roving exhibition on eco-living.

Its founders - National Institute of Education lecturer Vilma D'Rozario, personal assistant Teresa Teo-Guttensohn and pharmaceutical sales executive Celine Low - met through their membership in the Nature Society of Singapore.

The trio, who declined to give their ages but said they were 'no longer youths', decided to set up the non-profit group in 2007 to marry their common interests in children and native plants and animals.

Said Ms Low: 'It's easier and better to start them appreciating nature while they are young.'

Dr D'Rozario noted that children here watch nature programmes from other countries and may know more about wildlife elsewhere than that found in Singapore.

'They know the fastest animal is the cheetah. They don't know about our native wildcat, the leopard cat,' she said.

The registered society draws its name from its local roots - the cicada tree is a native of freshwater swamps, a threatened habitat as many of them have already been cleared.

Its volunteers include full-time mothers and a chief financial officer who communicate through e-mail.

Since last year, they have run classes for children along themes such as mammals, insects, butterflies and moths, reptiles, carnivorous plants, and frogs and toads.

The classes are held at the Singapore Botanic Gardens' Jacob Ballas Children's Garden in Bukit Timah.

More than 300 kids have taken part in almost 30 small-group sessions so far at $15 a head, which defrays the administrative cost and pays the fees of a naturalist teacher.

At a recent session called Mad - Make A Difference for Reptiles - nine children aged between four and nine got a lesson on the rugged beauty of snakes, crocodiles and tortoises.

The teacher, Mr Andrew Tay, 45, showed them slides and specimens such as bottled snakes, a star tortoise shell and a small stuffed saltwater crocodile, mostly on loan from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the National University of Singapore.

The lesson ended with art and craft and a written pledge by the children to be kind to reptiles.

Ahmad Ihsan Mohd Idris, seven, twirling his paper mobile shaped like a coiled snake, said of the reptiles: 'They're so special.'

The group has more activities in mind, like nature walks in Sentosa.

It will also launch a website on April 19, ahead of Earth Day on April 22.

For more info, check out the blog www.cicadatree.blogspot.com/

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'Energy Smart' malls in Singapore

Straits Times 28 Mar 09;

VISITORS to the 200 shopping malls here often forget that air-conditioning is the main guzzler of energy in these buildings.

But two malls - Anchorpoint and Liang Court - yesterday became the first two shopping centres to receive the Energy Smart Retail Mall award, for their efforts to cut energy usage and for their indoor air quality. The two recently renovated malls did so by merging separate chiller plants or replacing them.

Anchorpoint now saves $250,000 a year in energy bills. Liang Court, which now saves $100,000 a year, has also installed energy-saving light bulbs and cut the number of escalators.

The Energy Smart Building Scheme, developed by the National Environment Agency and the National University of Singapore, recognised offices with such awards in 2005.

Then, in 2007, energy-efficient hotels were recognised.

The three office buildings and one hotel given Energy Smart awards this year were the Ministry of Manpower building, the TripleOne Somerset building, the Central Provident Fund building and the Holiday Inn Park View hotel.

JALELAH ABU BAKER

A cool idea that is hot
Today Online 28 Mar 09;

By tweaking the air-conditioning system so that it works less hard when there are fewer shoppers, retail malls can optimise energy consumption, leading to cost savings and a smaller carbon footprint — without much capital outlay on mall owners’ part, noted Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor.
On Friday, Anchorpoint and Liang Court were named the two inaugural recipients of the National Environment Agency’s Energy Smart Label for Retail Mall. Anchorpoint spent about $455,000 to retrofit its chiller system, which will help it save about $250,000 a year. Liang Court replaced its chillers, piping system and its old cooling towers, switched to energy saving bulbs and reconfigured the floor layout.

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New terminal's delay worries cruise operators

They fear postponement may cause Singapore to lose out to competitors in the region
Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 28 Mar 09;

CRUISE operators have expressed concern over the one-year delay in the construction of the new International Cruise Terminal at Marina South.

They say that pushing the project back means the industry will - literally - miss the boat in a tourism sector that remains afloat despite the economic turmoil.

Singapore announced in March last year that it was building a new cruise facility capable of berthing the world's largest ocean liners.

It was to be ready by next year to give it a two-year lead over rival ports such as Hong Kong, which is also constructing new berths.

But the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) revealed at an international shipping conference in Miami, Florida, last week that the completion date has been pushed back to 2011.

Luxury cruise liner Silversea's regional director for Asia, Mr Melvyn Yap, said such delays in major investment projects are 'only to be expected' in the current economic climate.

But he also noted that although the Republic is an important base in the region, 'the facilities are falling behind those that we encounter in the region'.

A Star Cruises spokesman said the competition to be Asia's nerve centre for cruising is powering up with the massive Shanghai Post International Cruise Terminal already up since last August.

He added: 'The delay in the opening may present more challenges for Singapore to be ahead of the game.'

However, STB cruise director Chew Tiong Heng told The Straits Times the board is still 'committed' to building the new terminal.

He said the delay was to allow for 'more detailed consultation and study to take place' because of the complexity of the project involving reclamation and marine engineering works.

No time-line was given for the construction of the project. The design for the terminal was awarded in May last year and Mr Chew said the next step is to 'commence the construction of the cruise terminal'.

Even without the new terminal, the Singapore Cruise Centre at HarbourFront is working hard to get more cruise ships to anchor here more often.

Among the ships making their maiden calls in Singapore was the Costa Classica, which arrived yesterday.

Singapore Cruise Centre's president Cheong Teow Cheng said that the number of passengers going through the terminal from January to March is up 10 per cent year-on-year.

Royal Caribbean and Star Cruises said their all-inclusive deals have found favour with customers in the belt-tightening times. And Royal Caribbean is still meeting sales targets despite the economic downturn, its spokesman said.

Looking ahead, cruise operators said 'softer prices' can be expected to pull in the numbers.

The Singapore Cruise Centre expects the number of ships calling this year to be the same as last year's, which was more than 900, said Mr Cheong.

Last year, some 921,000 passengers came through the terminal. Half of them were foreigners.

Although STB has yet to call for tenders to find an operator for the new terminal, Mr Cheong said his team with 18 years of experience in operating here is best suited for the job.

The HarbourFront centre will begin getting a facelift next month with additional check-in and admission gates installed to make sure it can compete successfully when the new terminal opens.

The work is scheduled to be completed by October next year.

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Singapore can help with scheme to reward developing nations for preserving carbon sinks

Go Redd to save the forests
Nicolas Groffman & Swapan Mehra, Strait Times 28 Mar 09;

AS THE world marks Earth Hour today, it is time to reflect on a great opportunity for Singapore to help protect the region's forests.

The forestry sector contributes 17.4 per cent of all greenhouse gases from human activities, according to estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The bulk of this comes from deforestation and forest degradation.

Every year, plants helpfully extract 120 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while humans and other animals breathe out or burn off slightly less than 120 billion tonnes into the atmosphere.

Hence, in addition to being a major source of carbon - deforestation, fires and general decay all lead to the release of carbon in the atmosphere - forests are also a major carbon sink to absorb harmful greenhouse gases. They also play a pivotal role in the carbon cycle which helps sustain life.

Natural forests, because of their species mix and high biodiversity, are more stable carbon sinks.

The Australian National University estimates that they hold up to 60 per cent more carbon than planted forests.

They deliver other benefits as well, such as managing drainage and erosion, and controlling micro-climatic variables such as light intensity, temperature, humidity and wind speed.

Hence, there is an urgent need to preserve natural forests.

It is also clear now that without addressing the economic needs of large populations in countries that are dependent on forests for a living, saving these forests is impossible.

To this end, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has established its Collaborative Programme On Reducing Emissions From Deforestation And Forest Degradation In Developing Countries (Redd).

Redd intends to reward developing countries with financial benefits in return for conservation.

It is a major part of the comprehensive Bali Action Plan laid out by the UNFCCC in its 2007 Conference of Parties. The Bali Action Plan lays the groundwork for achieving a global climate change treaty before the end of the current commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

A UN-led conference in the Danish capital of Copenhagen in December is meant to approve a new global warming treaty for the period after 2012.

For Redd, it is essential to have reliable baselines against which changes in carbon stocks can be gauged, so that we can work out how to reward or penalise participants in Redd schemes.

Two kinds of baselines are needed: the current stock of carbon stored in forests; and the natural carbon-carrying capacity of a forest (the amount of carbon that can be stored in a forest in the absence of human land use).

Singapore is arguably more affected by climate change, because forest fires in neighbouring countries like Indonesia and Malaysia have more immediate effects on the Republic.

The ensuing episodes of haze have led Singapore to collaborate with these nations in fighting deforestation.

For example, it is working closely with the Indonesian province of Jambi to encourage sustainable forest management.

Redd could be a tool to reward these practices.

Indonesia has already drafted rules that govern the use of carbon credits to protect its rainforests, with more than 20 forest projects in various stages of development.

Carbon credits are sold to companies and individuals who pay to lower their carbon footprint. They can be exchanged between businesses or bought and sold in international markets, and are used to finance carbon reduction schemes.

The Indonesia Forest Climate Alliance estimates that Redd revenues will probably exceed US$500 million (S$754 million) annually.

However, the rules on how to share revenue from forest-carbon projects or how to link the various levels of government have yet to be finalised.

At present, these projects are conducted by the voluntary carbon market.

Resulting carbon offsets are priced between US$4 and US$10 but, after 2012, Redd credits could be used to expand this market, and under UNFCCC regulations prices could be higher.

This requires more detailed procedures and extensive monitoring to validate the authenticity of credits.

Singapore can help in the research and development of these monitoring methodologies and in capacity development in neighbouring nations to implement Redd projects.

It can also act as a regional trading hub to commercialise the resulting credits in the global carbon markets.

Revenue-sharing with locals must be a key ingredient of any successful Redd scheme.

Unless the local populace is rewarded monetarily for protecting forests, the long-term sustainability of Redd will always be in question.

Singapore can assist in establishing a financial framework for transparent management for revenue-sharing and fast disbursement.

Redd can act as a potential tool for avoiding forest fires, fire degradation and conserving biodiversity in the region.

Singapore, with its intellectual and financial capital, can play a leading role in developing the mechanism and implementing it.

Mr Groffman is a lawyer who advises on renewable energy projects, carbon trading and environmental law, and Mr Mehra is a carbon forestry specialist. They are working actively on various carbon mitigation projects and were in Singapore last week to share their knowledge on carbon markets in the region.

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Dam bursts near Jakarta, killing 58

Anthony Deutsch Associated Press 27 Mar 09;

CIRENDEU, Indonesia (AP) — Survivors say when the dam gave way in the middle of the night, water surged through their neighborhood outside Jakarta like a tsunami, demolishing hundreds of houses, tossing cars and uprooting trees. At least 58 people were killed and dozens remained missing Friday.

Days of torrential downpours had filled a large lake bordering the low-lying residential area southwest of the Indonesian capital to flooding point. A huge section of the Dutch colonial-era dike tore away at around 2:00 a.m.

More than 70 million cubic feet (2 million cubic meters) of water roared through the gaping hole, nearly emptying the lake's basin and inundating homes up to the rooftops. Bodies were dragged several miles (kilometers) in the muddy current.

"The water was so strong it was like a tsunami," said Cecep Rahman, 63, who lost his wife, son and 10-month-old granddaughter. "I couldn't do much for my family. I was swept away and battered by debris."

He was among hundreds gathered at the nearby Muhammadiyah University that was turned into an emergency center and makeshift morgue. Soldiers and police carried bodies and laid them on the floor of a mosque to be prepared for burial.

Mothers wailed as they were asked to identify their dead children. Medical workers treated the injured for cuts and bruises, while hospitals filled with those more seriously hurt.

Health Ministry Crisis Center chief Rustam Pakaya and rescue teams at the scene said at least 58 people died and 33 were unaccounted for, including some students sharing a dormitory that had stood below the lake.

With the death toll expected to rise, 100 body bags were delivered.

The images of destruction rekindled memories of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people, half of them in predominantly Muslim Indonesia, where western coastlines were transformed into a barren moonscape.

Some residents described a deep rumbling around midnight, when water began pouring over the rim of the 45-foot (15-meter) dam. They banged on utility poles and cooking pots to warn neighbors of possible flooding.

Hours later the dam built in 1933 gave way.

Pakaya said more than 400 houses were inundated — a 9-year-old girl was among those found on rooftops. She was unconscious when discovered by rescuers, her body blue, and died on the way to the hospital.

Many in the flooded area accused authorities of failing to recognize warning signs and repair damage to the dam. It was weakened in several places by prior flooding that was caused by blocked spillways, said Wahyu Hartono, a former official at Public Works Ministry.

"We need to find a way to take better care of these Dutch-era dams. Otherwise, there will be more problems like this," he said, blaming budget shortfalls for the disaster.

Rescuers, who paddled rubber boats to get to stranded survivors, called off the operation at nightfall as storm clouds began dumping more rain. Tent camps were hastily erected on high ground for hundreds of people made homeless.

"I'm devastated," said Cholik, 21, crying as he sat next to the body of his 54-year-old mother. His brother-in-law also was killed and his 1-year-old niece was missing. "I wasn't home last night ... I should have been there to save them."

The Ministry of Public Works said an investigation would be carried out.

Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia, a nation of 235 million.

More than 40 people were killed in the capital after rivers burst their banks two years ago. Critics said rampant overdevelopment, poor city planning and clogged drainage canals were partly to blame.

Every year government officials pledge to improve the infrastructure and this year was no different, especially with elections approaching.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono canceled a campaign rally in the nearby town of Bandung so he could meet survivors, while Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is running against him and arrived hours earlier, promised generous payouts to families of victims.

Associated Press reporters Niniek Karmini, Zakki Hakim and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.

58 dead after Indonesia dam bursts
Associated Press 27 Mar 09;

Torrential rain has caused an earthen dam to burst, killing at least 58 people.

The flood just outside Indonesia's capital left dozens of others missing and submerged hundreds of homes.

Rescuers - some using rubber rafts to pluck bodies from streets that were transformed into muddy rivers, littered with chairs, sandals and other debris - predicted the toll would climb.

"I'm devastated," said Cholik, 21, crying as he sat next to the body of his 54-year-old mother. His brother-in-law was also killed and his one-year-old niece was missing. "I wasn't home last night... I should have been there to save them."

The massive dam, built decades ago when Indonesia was still under Dutch colonial rule, surrounded a man-made lake in Cirendeu, on the Jakarta's south-western edge. It collapsed just after 2am on Friday, when most people were sleeping, sending 70 million cubic feet of water gushing into homes.

Some residents said it felt like they had been hit by a "mini-tsunami".

Water levels were so high in some places that survivors waited on roof-tops for rescuers. Telephone lines were toppled and cars swept away, some ending up in parks hundreds of feet from where they'd been parked.

"A flash flood came suddenly and was horrifying," said Seto Mulyadi, adding that the heavy sludge smashed all the windows and doors on the ground floor of his house, while he, his wife and four children were sleeping upstairs. "My house is a dreadful mess... Thank God my family is safe."

Some people living near the dam said they heard sirens before the disaster, which followed a four-hour downpour. Others were caught completely off guard.

Health Ministry Crisis Centre chief Rustam Pakaya said at least 58 people were killed and more than 400 houses submerged. Dozens more are missing.

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Warming World Too Hot for the Cold-Blooded?

Despite thriving in the balmier past, cold-blooded animals like reptiles may struggle to combat overheating as climate warms

Robert Goodier, Scientific American 27 Mar 09;

A new study warns that cold-blooded land animals like lizards and insects in the tropics may wither as the world warms.

"Cold-blooded" is the layman's term for ectotherms—animals whose body temperature is contingent on the surrounding environment, rather than internally regulated like that of warm-blooded creatures. They thrive in temperatures ranging from 68 degrees to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (20 to 40 degrees Celsius), above which they overheat. As the globe warms, researchers warn they may be forced to swelter in burrows and under bushes with little time to eat, find mates or rear young.

"Our models suggest that for many reptiles, the room to move may be pretty small," says Rick Shine, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Sydney in Australia and co-author of the study published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. "They are likely to be in trouble with climate change," he adds, noting they will be confined to shrinking shady patches under disappearing forest canopy and in bodies of water where they can cool off.

The resultant loss of tropical ectotherms could be "catastrophic," Shine says, noting that it could tear apart entire ecosystems from food webs to pollination. The reason: ectotherms range from food sources like insects to top predators like snakes and crocodiles, the loss of which would have "major flow-on effects," Shine says.

Using painted, water-filled pipes of different diameters as stand-ins for lizards and other cold-blooded critters, Shine and colleagues calculated their surface areas and reflectivity to determine how much heat they absorb and release in different environments. They tested them in three Australian climate zones from tropical to temperate, measuring variables like wind speed and solar radiation in three shade levels: the open (no shade), 90 percent shade under a forest canopy, and variable, by shuttling the pipes back and forth between the two extremes to approximate the way ectotherms regulate their body temperature.

The researchers tested their model's predictions against real animals until they were satisfied it worked. Then, to give the model its global scope, they mixed the numbers with worldwide climate data and notched up the average temperature by 5.4 degrees F (3 degrees C). (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, predicts a global temperature increase of 2 to 11.5 degrees F, or 1.1 to 6.4 degrees C, by the end of the century.) The researchers then ran the numbers through a heat-exchange model developed by co-author Warren Porter, a zoologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

"It's not just the air-temperature increase—three degrees [Celsius] in the shade is not that much. What does kill you is the sun," Porter says. "Not only do you deal with a huge amount of radiation but your water requirements skyrocket."

Shade may be the key to cold-blooded survival in the tropics, as animals will need roomy, contiguous swathes of leaves to shelter them from the sun. The double prongs of a warming climate and the loss of rainforests to farmland and pastures, however, may confine overheating ectotherms to shrinking amounts of shade.

Raymond Huey, a zoologist at the University of Washington in Seattle who was not involved in the study, says the research is the first to examine how an animal's behavior can either buffer or exacerbate the effects of climate change on a large scale. "I don't know any other team who could pull off this project, or come close to doing it as well," he praises, adding, "Porter has no peers at this type of modeling."

All this begs the question of why the dinosaurs didn't overheat. At the close of the Triassic, as the curtain opened on the age of the dinosaurs, global average temperatures may have been in the 70s F (20s C), higher even than those projected in this model—62.4 degrees F (16.8 degrees C).

"Shade would have been extremely important for them," Porter says. They must have been tied to water and dense vegetation to keep cool, they may have migrated with changing seasons, and they must have had lower metabolisms, he speculates. Large animals cool more slowly than smaller ones in hot climates, so "The big animals could not possibly have had a high metabolic rate like we do," he says, "or they would have cooked themselves." Alternatively, some paleontologists believe the dinosaurs were endotherms – that is, they regulated their body heat internally like we do.

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Lights out in 84 countries for Earth Hour 2009

Caryn Rousseau, Associated Press Yahoo News 27 Mar 09;

CHICAGO – The lights are going down from the Great Pyramids to the Acropolis, the Eiffel Tower to Sears Tower, as more than 2,800 municipalities in 84 countries plan Saturday to mark the second worldwide Earth Hour.

McDonald's will even soften the yellow glow from some Golden Arches as part of the time zone-by-time zone plan to dim nonessential lights between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. to highlight global climate change.

"Earth Hour makes a powerful statement that the world is going to solve this problem," said Carter Roberts, chief executive of the World Wildlife Fund, which sponsors Earth Hour. "Everyone is realizing the enormous effect that climate change will have on them."

Seven times more municipalities have signed on since last year's Earth Hour, which drew participation from 400 cities after Sydney, Australia held a solo event in 2007. Interest has spiked ahead of planned negotiations on a new global warming treaty in Copenhagen, Denmark this December. The last global accord, the Kyoto Protocol, is set to expire in 2012.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged the convention to reach a fair and effective climate change agreement and promoted Earth Hour participation in a video posted this month on the event's YouTube channel.

"Earth Hour is a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear message," Ban said. "They want action on climate change."

Other videos have been posted by celebrities such as rocker Pete Wentz and actor Kevin Bacon and WWF has offered Earth Hour iPhone applications. Search engine Yahoo! says there's been a 344 percent increase in "Earth Hour" searches this February and March compared with last year.

New studies increasingly highlight the ongoing effects of climate change, said Richard Moss, a member of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and WWF's climate change vice president.

"We have satellites and we have ships out at sea and we have monitoring stations set up on buoys in the ocean," Moss said. "We monitor all kinds of things people wouldn't even think about. The scientific research is showing in all kinds of ways that the climate crisis is worsening."

But not everyone agrees and at least one counter-protest is planned for Saturday.

Suburban Philadelphia ice cream shop owner Bob Gerenser, 56, believes global warming is based on faulty science and calls Earth Hour "nonsense."

The resident of New Hope, Pa., and owner of Gerenser's Exotic Ice Cream planned to illuminate his store with extra theatrical lighting.

"I'm going to get everyone I know in my neighborhood to turn on every light they possibly can to waste as much electricity as possible to underline the absurdity of this action ... by being absurd," he said.

Earth Hour 2009 has garnered support from global corporations, nonprofit groups, schools, scientists and celebrities — including Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

McDonald's Corp. plans to dim its arches at 500 locations around the Midwest. The Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Fairmont hotel chains and Coca-Cola Co. also plan to participate.

Nearly 200 U.S. cities, towns and villages have signed on, from New York City — which will darken the iconic Empire State Building and Broadway marquees — to Igiugig, population 53 on Iliamna Lake in southwestern Alaska.

Among the efforts in Chicago, 50,000 light bulbs at tourist hotspot Navy Pier will dim and 24 spotlights that shine on Sears Tower's twin spires will go dark.

"We're the most visible building in the city," said Angela Burnett, a Sears Tower property manager. "Turning off the lights for one hour on a Saturday night shows our commitment to sustainability."

The Commonwealth Edison utility said electricity demand fell by 5 percent in Chicago and northern Illinois during last year's Earth Hour, reducing about 840,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

"It goes way beyond turning off the lights," said Roberts of the WWF. "The message we want people to take away is that it is within our power to solve this problem. People can take positive constructive actions."

Millions to flick the switch for climate change
Amy Coopes Yahoo News 26 Mar 09;

SYDNEY (AFP) – Millions of people across the globe will kill their lights for one hour this Saturday, in what organisers hope will be a resounding call for tough action on climate change.

The waters of Sydney Harbour will be plunged into darkness for an hour from 8:30 pm (0930 GMT) as the iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge dim their lights.

The pyramids of Giza, Niagara Falls, the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, the Acropolis and Beijing's "Birds Nest" Olympic stadium are among other major landmarks across 84 countries to celebrate Earth Hour.

In Hong Kong, famed for its glittering waterfront, more than 1,500 buildings will dim their lights, including many of the city's iconic skyscrapers such as the Bank of China Tower, HSBC's headquarters and the giant International Finance Centre 2.

The city will also suspend its daily light show for the first time on Saturday, organisers said.

From its beginnings in Sydney two years ago, when 2.2 million people switched off their lights, the event has exploded to this year include 2,848 cities, villages and towns, said director Andy Ridley.

"We always had our eye to 2009 because of the Copenhagen (emissions targets) negotiations at the end of the year," Ridley told AFP.

A UN-led conference in the Danish capital in December is meant to approve a new global warming treaty for the period after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol's obligations to cut carbon emissions expire.

"We hope that it will be difficult for leaders to look at the scale of involvement and engagement in a broad spectrum of countries without saying 'OK, there's a mandate there,'" Ridley said.

"We have eight months to get to Copenhagen and we sort of see this as a referendum on the issue."

Earth Hour was born out of frustration at Australia's then-conservative "climate sceptic" government, and Ridley said organisers were overwhelmed by the response in 2007, when almost half of Sydney's population observed an hour of darkness.

Crucially, Ridley said countries leading the initiative in 2009 were emerging, high-emissions economies such as Brazil, India and China.

"I remember when we first started this people were saying 'there is no chance you will be able to get China to engage in Earth Hour,'" he said.

"But for some reason there's, I think, a general sense that climate change is such a massive problem that it's one of those issues that has to be dealt with globally."

Critics said the initiative was little more than empty symbolism, with one Danish professor claiming the use of candles during the hour could actually produce more emissions than electric lights.

"Even if a billion people turn off their lights this Saturday the entire event will be equivalent to switching off China's emissions for six short seconds," said Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre think-tank.

"Moreover, candles produce indoor air pollution 10 to 100 times the level of pollution caused by all cars, industry and electricity production. If you use one candle for each extinguished globe you're essentially not cutting CO2 at all, and with two candles you'll emit more CO2," Lomborg wrote in The Australian newspaper.

Ridley agreed the amount of energy saved from powering down for an hour was negligible but said it was a symbolic, awareness-raising act.

"In effect, the leaders of the world have to step over the line together," he said.

"There will be different lines for different countries but we have to step over the line together and we have to set targets that will help us achieve very, very significant emissions cuts," Ridley added.

"We hope that Earth Hour will be part of providing a mandate for those leaders who will be in Copenhagen in December to do that."

Chatham Island, the largest of a tiny group of Pacific islands 800 kilometres (500 miles) southeast of New Zealand, will officially begin Earth Hour by switching off its diesel generators at 0645 GMT, or 8:30 pm local time.

Millions are set to mark the day with events such as acoustic concerts and candlelit dinners, with church bells set to ring in Sweden and casinos to black out along the garish Las Vegas strip.

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Cape Cod sees rare large gathering of right whales

Jason Szep, Reuters 27 Mar 09;

BOSTON (Reuters) - Nearly a quarter of the world's population of North Atlantic right whales, one of the most endangered species on earth, have gathered off Cape Cod in Massachusetts in a rare feeding frenzy, scientists say.

The nearly 80 right whales are the largest number seen in Cape Cod Bay for this time of year, said scientists who attributed the spectacle to an unusually large presence of zooplankton -- a marine species that is favorite whale food.

The number is about six times greater than last year and represents about 24 percent of the estimated 325 right whales left in the world, said officials at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, which is conducting aerial surveys of the whales, and the National Marine Fisheries Science Center.

In March, right whales typically feed on a winter type of zooplankton that forms in waters as far north as Canada and floats with the currents into Cape Cod. This year, the tiny zooplankton species are especially rich.

"It's a pretty special sight in a tiny embankment so close to land," said Dr. Charles Mayo, a senior scientist at the center in Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod.

The sight of the whales thrashing off the sandy beaches of Provincetown follows an increase in right whale calf births in waters from coastal South Carolina to Florida, said Dr. Richard Merrick, an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries service.

That has swollen the right whale population by a rate of 1.8 percent a year over the past decade, added Merrick, who works at NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole on Cape Cod.

It is unclear how many North Atlantic right whales are dying each year. They roam a huge expanse from the Gulf of Mexico to Norway, and it's next to impossible to find and track all the carcasses as they die, said Merrick.

Right whales got their name from 18th- and 19th-century whale hunters who considered them the "right" ones to kill because they are rich in oil and baleen, move slowly, stay close to shore and float when they die.

Up to 59 feet long and weighing up to 100 tons (91 tons), they have been protected since a 1937 worldwide ban on hunting right whales. But ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements have ravaged the species in recent decades.

For the past two years, unusually large numbers have gathered in Cape Cod Bay, where they typically feed from January to mid-May. There were sightings of 148 last year and 161 in 2007 -- twice the yearly average from 1998 to 2006.

"I'd expect that we'll beat both those years," said Mayo.

Last April, about 70 to 100 right whales gathered in Cape waters but that was later in the season to feed on a spring variety of zooplankton known as Calanus finmarchicus.

It's far rarer, Mayo said, to have such a large number feeding on the winter variety, known as pseudo Calanus.

"We're in a pivotal time in this season," said Mayo. "The concentration of plankton in the upper levels of the water has now begun to drop from its highs in February and early March. That is normal. And we're anticipating the influx of Calanus, a very rich plankton source.

"If that happens, you can imagine what that means in terms of numbers of whales," he added.

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US Congress approves landmark conservation bill

Thomas Ferraro, Reuters 27 Mar 09;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic-led U.S. Congress gave final approval on Wednesday to sweeping land and water conservation legislation that environmental groups praised as one of the most significant in U.S. history.

The measure, a package of more than 160 bills, would set aside about 2 million acres -- parks, rivers, streams, desert, forest and trails -- in nine states as new wilderness and render them off limits to oil and gas drilling and other development.

The House of Representatives approved the measure on a vote of 285-140 a week after it cleared the Senate, capping years of wrangling and procedural roadblocks.

It now goes to President Barack Obama to sign into law, which he is expected to do swiftly.

"I can't think of a single bill that has ever done more to ensure the enjoyment of, and access to, wilderness areas (and) historic sites," said Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Opponents, most of them Republican, complained the legislation would deny access for oil and gas drilling and said House Democrats refused to consider changes.

The 2 million acres that would be designated as new wilderness are mostly in California, followed by Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, West Virginia, New Mexico and Michigan.

Separately, the legislation would permanently protect and restore a 26 million-acre (10.5 million-hectare) system composed of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's most historic and scenic lands and waters, including the Canyons of the Ancients in Colorado and Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas.

Environmental and historic groups praised the legislation.

"Future generations will look back at this day as a major milestone in our nation's conservation history," said William Meadows, president of the Wilderness Society.

"It has been a long and difficult road, but today, Congress acted on behalf of hunters and anglers who understand the need for intact habitat," said Tom Reed of Trout Unlimited.

(Editing by Andy Sullivan and Peter Cooney)

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Climate action in Australia rises above hot air

Sydney Morning Herald 28 Mar 09;

Those accusing the Government of scaremongering on climate change show signs of being a tad frightened themselves, writes Marian Wilkinson.

An earnest young scientist this week stood at the podium of the nation's most important climate change conference, flicking through a presentation of rising temperatures off Australia's north-west. She then moved on to global predictions out to 2060 showing the temperature rising steadily and dangerously.

The scientist was no academic, CSIRO boffin or environmentalist. Elena Mavrofridis is a chemical engineer with Woodside Energy, the company that recently went toe-to-toe with the Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, in a political battle to water down the Federal Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

While Woodside's American boss, Don Voelte, has been at loggerheads with the Rudd Government over how to cut Australia's greenhouse gas pollution, his engineers have been working closely with scientists from the CSIRO and elsewhere to make sure Woodside can protect its own multibillion-dollar operations from climate change impacts.

The company initiated its own climate change study to assess how warming temperatures, rising sea levels, storm surges and a possible increase in tropical storms could hit the bottom line of the super-profitable North West Shelf gas project.

Mavrofridis told the packed auditorium that rising temperatures would probably affect Woodside operations, because the company uses, in effect, huge refrigerators to liquefy North West Shelf gas before export.

"An ambient temperature increase directly affects the efficiency of that refrigeration process," Mavrofridis said. "So predictions like these really help us to choose and design our facilities."

As hundreds of scientists, policy makers and business executives came together at the Greenhouse 2009 conference in Perth this week, one jarring theme overwhelmed the program - the disconnect between the tortuous climate change debate in Canberra and the reality for business, farmers and public servants trying to plan for likely impact. And many of Australia's scientists, caught in the middle of this disconnect, find it deeply troubling.

In January, the National Party Senate leader Barnaby Joyce accused "environmental goose-steppers" of denying climate change sceptics a proper hearing. He likened climate scientists to "doomsayers" who wrongly predicted a Y2K crisis.

But as Joyce comforts sceptics, the peanut industry, once synonymous with the National Party in his home state of Queensland, is acting on scientific warnings about climate change. The Peanut Company of Australia is buying new farm properties in the Northern Territory to hedge against south-east Queensland's falling rainfall.

Andrew Ash, the CSIRO's senior scientific adviser on adapting the nation to climate change, says the peanut industry is acting now to protect its interests, but many other industries ignore the urgency. "In some areas much bigger changes will be needed," he told the Herald. "That's where things get a lot more difficult - working out what form those changes might take and when they might be required."

Ash came to Perth fresh from Copenhagen, where a global scientific congress heard climate change impacts were tracking at the worse-case scenarios predicted by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just two years ago.

These include rising temperatures and rising sea levels. With new evidence that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, and many of the world's glaciers, are melting faster than predicted, projections for sea-level rise have doubled.

Ash said the fact that climate change's main indicators were tracking at the top level of projections mirrored global greenhouse gas emissions, which also were tracking at the top end of the UN panel's projections.

His colleague, Mark Howden, told the Copenhagen and Perth conferences that Australia's food security was threatened. Australia is a big contributor to world food security because it exports about 80 per cent of its wheat. But CSIRO projections show the main wheat-growing areas in southern NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia face rising temperatures and big declines in rain. If climate change keeps tracking at the worse-case scenarios, "Australia could become a net importer of wheat by 2070", Howden said.

While Joyce plays down the urgency of climate change, many National Party supporters are likely to be the most damaged. The new head of the CSIRO, Megan Clark, a former vice-president for technology with BHP Billiton, underscored the threat. "Our climate modellers have recently discovered that Australia could be hit even harder by drought," Clark told the Perth conference. Spring rain in the nation's food bowl - the southern Murray Darling Basin - could fall by 30 per cent.

The latest "crucial" science presented at Copenhagen illustrated Earth's abilities "to balance or counteract our actions and maintain a stable climate are weakening", Clark warned.

She cited rising sea levels as one of the more urgent threats. "This means, without intervention, a sea-level rise of one metre or more will be seen by the generation born today. Coupled with an increase in severe cyclones, and flooding, we could see coastal erosion, damage to infrastructure and extreme hardship for the delta regions of the world."

The growing gulf between scientific advice and Australia's political debate frustrates not only scientists but the head of the Government's Climate Change Review, Ross Garnaut, who told the Perth audience the Canberra debate was now dominated by the ignorant and the myopic.

But as Opposition and Labor MPs step up warnings against tough climate medicine in times of economic crisis, nervous businesses and public servants are demanding help on to how to plan for climate change.

Three big electricity distributors in Victoria and South Australia have hired the the engineering consultants Maunsell Aecom to advise them on protecting power lines and poles. In Perth, Donna Lorenz of Maunsell told how this summer's unprecedented high temperatures and subsequent power failures ratcheted up energy company concerns.

Just last year, Victoria's most highly polluting brown coal generators slammed Wong, Kevin Rudd, the federal Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, and the Victorian Premier, John Brumby, demanding protection for the costs of cutting greenhouse gas emissions under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

The British-born head of Victoria's TRUenergy Richard McIndoe warned Wong and her Labor colleagues that, if generators were denied special consideration, lights could go off and innovative research could be abandoned.

In the highest temperatures on record this summer, lights went off anyway as generators failed to meet demand. Left wearing customers' wrath, however, were electricity retailers, not the big-polluting generators who keep insisting on dispensation to keep emitting greenhouse gases.

Power distributors are just some of the extending list of essential services lining up for advice on adapting to climate change. Michael Nolan, of Maunsell Aecom, advises the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority on threats to coastal roads from rising sea levels and storm surges.

Nolan says the combination could threaten more than 200,000 NSW coastal properties, along with ports, bridges and sewerage works.

This week, the Rudd Government finally issued tenders calling for advice on how to protect the national infrastructure from the impacts of climate change. Planning for adaption to climate change, however difficult, is proving easier for the Government than cutting greenhouse emissions.

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Huge Man-Made Algae Swarm Devoured--Bad for Climate?

Kelly Hearn, National Geographic News 27 Mar 09;

A giant experiment went awry at sea this month.

Shrimplike animals devoured 159 square miles (300 square kilometers) of artificially stimulated algae meant to fight global warming—casting serious doubt on ocean fertilization as a climate-control tool.

For years, scientists have proposed supercharging algae growth by dumping tons of iron into the ocean.

Iron is a necessary element for algae photosynthesis—the process by which the plants convert sunlight into energy—but it is relatively rare in the ocean.

Algae suck carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, out of the atmosphere. The algae then generally fall to the seafloor—sequestering the CO2 indefinitely.

About a dozen such "iron fertilization" experiments have already been done—with mixed success.

But experts have warned of unintended consequences, such as unpredictable reactions in the ecosystem.

And that's just what happened during a recent, large-scale iron dump in the South Atlantic, the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany announced this week.

Surprising Blooms

With the greenish, crystalline look of a pulverized windshield, ferrous sulfate is commonly given to iron-deficient humans.

It's also the iron of choice for boosting algae growth.

Working aboard the German research vessel Polarstern, German and Indian scientists in recent weeks mixed ten tons of ferrous sulfate with seawater. The team then pumped the artificially enhanced water back into the Atlantic outside Argentina's coastal waters.

As expected, the experiment created a massive, CO2-eating algae bloom.

But it was the wrong algae.

The blooms were mostly tiny haptophytes, not the larger diatom algae the team had expected.

The smaller algae variety is typically found only in coastal waters, and it's a favorite food of tiny shrimplike crustaceans called copepods.

The copepods wolfed down the algae shortly after the new South Atlantic bloom appeared—and a potential weapon against global warming quickly disappeared.

"The fact that they are rapidly eaten by marine animals is not good for carbon sequestration," said Ulrich Bathmann, head of bioscience at the Alfred Wegener Polar and Oceanography Institute (AWI) in Bremerhaven, Germany, who was involved in the experiment.

Good News? Bad News?

Experts not part of the new experiment are divided on what the results mean.

"The new finding here is that the standard calculations of 'the number of tons of iron in equals the number of tons of carbon out' probably don't actually work," said Gabriel M. Filippelli, an earth sciences professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

"This calls into question the efficacy of iron fertilization as a solution to global warming."

Iron-fertilization supporters, though, remain hopeful.

"These results neither argue for nor against iron fertilization as a carbon-sequestration strategy," said Kenneth Coale, director of California-based Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.

Moss Landing scientists created a similar, though smaller, algae bloom in Antarctic waters in 2002.

On the bright side, Coale said, the experiment adds to evidence that iron can stimulate large-scale algae growth. It's not clear that in every instance animals would gobble up the carbon-sucking plants, he says.

Other experiments have also had better success at sequestering carbon, Coale added.

And regardless of its carbon-sequestration success or failure, Coale said, at least the South Atlantic experiment did not damage the local ocean environment—which would have been a more serious black mark on iron fertilization.

The consensus, though, seems to fall somewhere on the fence, said environmental scientist Andrew Watson of the University of East Anglia, U.K.

The recent experiment, Watson said via email, "shows that we still haven't learned by any means all there is to know about the effects of iron on marine ecosystems and the carbon balance in the oceans."

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Australia opens bidding for undersea carbon plan

Reuters 27 Mar 09;

PERTH (Reuters) - Australia opened the bidding on Friday for ten offshore areas that will be used to store carbon dioxide, bringing its pioneering plan to reduce emissions by pumping the greenhouse gas beneath the ocean floor a step closer to reality.

Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said the release of greenhouse gas storage areas for commercial development was the world's first and part of the government's strategy to reduce its carbon emissions while maintaining economic growth.

"Advancing storage technology and capacity is vital to the future of Australia's coal industry and to coal's future as part of the world's transition to cleaner energy pathways," Ferguson said in a statement.

"It is also important for the oil and gas industry and our energy-intensive industries."

Governments and companies worldwide have been searching for ways of capturing and storing carbon to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The government has said that depleted undersea natural gas reservoirs could be used to capture CO2 from coal-fired power stations, whose emissions are partly blamed for global warming.

A carbon emissions trading scheme is scheduled to be launched in Australia in 2010, aimed at reducing the country's carbon emissions by 5 percent of 2000 levels by 2020.

The move to allow companies to pump carbon dioxide underground would also help pave the way for the development of a multi-billion dollar gas export project proposed by U.S. energy major Chevron.

Chevron's proposed Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off Western Australia state plans to inject 3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide underground each year -- which would be the world's largest carbon capture and storage project.

Australia, which signed the Kyoto Protocol in 2007, is the world's largest coal exporter and about half of the nation's carbon emissions come from its coal-fired power stations, which generate about 80 percent of the country's electricity needs.

The country's carbon emissions are forecast to grow due to its heavy reliance on coal for electricity, although the government says the country will meet its Kyoto emissions targets by 2012. Emissions will grow to 108 percent of 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012.

(Reporting by Fayen Wong; Editing by James Thornhill)

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U.S. mileage standards for cars up for first time

John Crawley, Reuters 27 Mar 09;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday imposed the first increase in mileage standards for passenger cars and boosted the floor for sport utilities and pickups beginning with model year 2011 vehicles.

The modest increase of less than 1 mile per gallon for the fleet over current targets for the fleet represents an abbreviated approach by the Obama administration as it confronts industry distress and pressure from California and other states to set their own goals.

"These standards are important steps in the nation's quest to achieve energy independence," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who added that work on future mileage programs must take into account the health of U.S. manufacturers.

General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC are seeking new government bailouts to survive. Ford Motor Co is restructuring without government help.

The Detroit Three profited for years from larger and less efficient vehicles but now face the double wallop of a market downturn fueled by recession and a consumer shift away from their bread-and-butter products.

The standard, which is expected to cost industry $1.4 billion in vehicle design and other changes, would require compacts, sedans and other passenger cars to average 30.2 miles per gallon in combined city/highway driving, up from the 27.5 mpg standard that was established in the late 1970s under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program.

Domestic and some major overseas manufacturers, through their top lobbyist, Dave McCurdy, called the regulation "an important first step." McCurdy urged the administration to bridge competing federal and state concerns on fuel efficiency and develop a cohesive national standard for 2012-15.

Many passenger cars made by overseas manufacturers already meet or exceed the standard.

Toyota Motor Corp expects its 2010 Prius hybrid to get 46 mpg while estimates for the Insight hybrid made by Honda Motor Co is 41 mpg.

Detroit's efforts to revamp its fleet include the Ford Fusion hybrid sedan, due in showrooms this spring, that gets 41 mpg/city.

Light trucks, which include pickups and SUVs, would have to average 24.1 mpg in 2011, compared with 23.5 mpg the previous year. Overall fleet performance would be 27.3 mpg, a 2 mpg increase over 2010, according to the 857-page regulation.

The new standards would save nearly 900 million gallons of fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 8.3 million metric tons over the lifetime of model year 2011 vehicles, the Transportation Department said.

The administration calculates more than $2 billion in overall benefits to consumers from the program, including less money spent on fuel.

Congress has required that the U.S. fleet of cars and light trucks average 35 mpg by 2020, a 40 percent increase over today's performance.

The Bush administration sought to establish annual goals between 2011-2015, but the Obama administration cut that back to one-year, 2011, while it assesses the future of GM, Ford and Chrysler, factors in potential volatility of fuel costs, and weighs the attempt by California and a dozen other states to move in a different direction.

Current federal efficiency targets are based on vehicle size and calculated by the DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an approach favored by carmakers.

California has adopted and is seeking federal permission to enforce a separate standard based on emissions.

(Reporting by John Crawley. editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Steve Orlofsky)

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