Water, Oil & UN Climate Change Summit

Scientific American asks the question: How much does fossil fuels get in subsidies from the American Government? The answer is $72 billion between 2002 and 2007.


The Economist has a go at explaining the challenges facing the global automobile industry. People no longer want gas-guzzlers that are over-sized and have a short life-time, and the industry will be reeling from this. USA and Europe propped up their automobile companies during this last year of recession, but these companies have not made very large changes yet. When they sell cars that we should have due to our environmental challenges they will probably return to making large sums of money. Smaller, more efficient, alternative fuels, alternative materials- this is want we need.


The Environmental Defense Fund makes a concise case for a Climate Bill in 2009. Obama wants one passed before the UN Climate meeting. A lot is expected from this UN meeting and while China and the US have not been dedicated to change before China is picking up the slack. China may eclipse the US in promises and effort, but ears and eyes are still on the US.


Water has been cheap in the USA and people are using this resource as the market predicts; liberally. Some Californians use their water with few conservation efforts. The times will change, will people's water use change proactively?


Globally, this summer was not as hot as other recent summers, this means ice in the Arctic has had its life extended, but it will melt away in the next couple of decades.


Environmental Justice for the Ivory Coast concludes; a company dumped 500 tons of sludge from refining oil in 2006 and automatically people died and became sick. The settlement arrives but the company still denies responsibility for the incident.


People can now off-set the carbon emissions from their plane flights, this article tells you how, another organization that supplies this service is www.carbonfund.org.