Unprecedented heatwaves, widespread food shortages, more intense cyclones and shifting rain patterns causing floods or droughts are just some of the future problems outlined in the World Bank’s latest climate report today.

Following its groundbreaking report that warned about a 4 degrees Celsius warmer world, the bank has now looked at what that warming would mean for South Asia, South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The picture is dramatic, as this infographic illustrates, with climate change threatening the future prosperity of these regions.

Four degrees may not sound like a lot, but it almost compares to the temperature difference between the last ice age and today – and happening during one person’s lifetime. No wonder the impacts would be dramatic!

For the regions in question, two degrees would already cause severe problems, which is why we must limit warming to less than two degrees. The World Bank says this is still feasible and it calls for bold action and countries to adopt aggressive targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

But what about the bank’s own actions?

The World Bank President, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, pledged today that the bank will do everything it can to prevent the bleak future from materialising. Kim pledged the bank will step up its climate work as it increasingly looks at its business through a “climate lens”.

Well, we’ve done that already, and here’s what we found: the World Bank is still fueling climate change, big time.

Despite efforts to increase its renewable energy lending, in the past five years the World Bank Group still financed fossil fuels by a total of US$18 billion – nearly half of its energy lending. Since 1994, the group has financed a total of 29 coal-fired power plants in Asia alone. 

But this financing understates the bank’s contribution to dirty coal development, as its loans are usually a small part of the total funding package.

The latest support includes two of the biggest dirty power plants: 4800MW Medupi in South Africa and 4000MW Tata Mundra in India – both of these plants will end up high on the list of the biggest CO2 sources on earth.

The Kosovo lignite power plant project in Europe will be the first real test for Kim’s climate pledges. The bank is planning to grant guarantees for a low-efficiency coal power plant that has CO2 emissions well exceeding the average of new power plants in China, and air pollution emissions up to twice as high as those allowed under either US or Chinese regulations.

The bank claims that building a new, dirty coal power plant is the only way to provide electricity to Kosovo, while even the bank’s own former renewable energy expert has shown that practical and affordable renewable energy and energy efficiency options are available and can be implemented in time.

We have been truly impressed by the efforts of Kim to bring climate change onto the political agenda again, warning about the severe consequences of the current path we’re on, but action speaks louder than words.

Together with about 60 development, faith, human rights, community, and environmental groups from more than 20 countries, Greenpeace expects the World Bank to lead by example. This means it must end support for all fossil fuel projects unless the projects are solely focused on directly increasing energy access for the poor. In most cases, including Kosovo’s, better solutions exist.

It is renewable energy and energy efficiency that truly deliver for the poor – not dirty fossil fuels that are causing our climate to change.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenpeaceNews/~3/Xm7lqe9nEBE/

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Article source: http://enenews.com/nytimes-new-concerns-fukushima-storage-tanks-leaking-contamination-pacific-ocean

6ª traccia tratta dall’album “Pollution” di Franco Battiato.

Dr. Barb Mahler of the US Geological Survey and the University of Texas explains how everyday contaminants can infiltrate drinking water.

Join Tremain Jackson and Alyssa Crow for the next installment of Crafty Creations where we’ll highlight two great children’s books available at the Abilene P…

“The people finally woke up” … and they won’t be going back to sleep.

This phrase, heard from the four corners of Brazil this Monday, reflected a infectious sentiment felt everywhere. The hours past midnight saw thousands of people still on the streets – and on social networks – sharing emotions, images and memories of a day that has already become history in the country.

Never before has a Monday been so eagerly awaited by so many people. One hundred, two hundred, three hundred-thousand, the exact number does not matter anymore. Brazilians occupied their streets as they haven’t done for a very long time; shouting clearly and loudly what was previously stuck in their throat.

It was not only about the increase in public transport fares. The initial protests in the past two weeks were violently suppressed by the police and the movement has now come to represent something much bigger. Brazilians have left their homes to re-establish that the streets are the most legitimate spaces for democracy.

São Paulo, the biggest city in South America, is known as “the city that never stops” – except in traffic jams. This time the city’s millions of automobiles made room for hundreds of thousands of people. Residents of other big cities, including Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Salvador, Maceio, Belém and Rio Branco, have also joined the protests.

The movement spread nationwide, like ignited gunpowder. But actual gunpowder was hardly seen. What exploded on the asphalt, this time, was optimism, creativity, good humor and the feeling that something must change. Democracy, education, healthcare, an end to corruption, the right to peaceful protest, accessible public transportation – all of this was included in the claims of the Brazilian people.

As an organisation which has the right to peaceful protest embedded in its DNA, Greenpeace supports, applauds and is proud to have taken part in one of the most beautiful moments in the recent history of Brazil. We will keep calling for our city leaders to dutifully consider their citizens. Let the winds of change continue to blow through the country. Each of us, as citizens, need to take ownership of this lesson: policy is also made with our own hands.

And the original reasoning behind the protests, the high cost of public transportation, cannot go unanswered. After decades and decades of encouraging the car industry, it is time to rethink this wasteful transport model and ensure massive investments are made in public urban mobility. The best way to solve this unsustainable gridlock is with an affordable, accessible and efficient public transport system.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenpeaceNews/~3/Rse7M2ymxU0/

Kids will learn all about Water Pollution and it’s prevention in this lesson. For more educational games and videos visit www.turtlediary.com.

Tips on how to prevent cross contamination in the kitchen when using poultry, fish, meats, vegetables and bread. Finding the right cutting board or surface w…

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05 April 2013

Forests Destruction in Indonesia © Greenpeace / John Novis

Did it see the writing on the wall?

Notorious Indonesian pulp and paper producer APRIL has had a chequered history with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). But late last week we heard that the relationship has finally came to an end – and in a most unexpected way.

News came last Friday that before an NGO-initiated FSC complaint process even had an opportunity to begin to investigate APRIL’s deforestation practices, the company had effectively walked out on the FSC’s certification scheme. Seemingly, APRIL did not want to risk the scrutiny of FSC’s Policy for Association complaints process.

This marks the end of what has been a troubled relationship between a known forest destroyer and the FSC; but also the beginning of a not-so-slick PR campaign APRIL is rolling out to ‘manage’ its reputation as a forest destroyer.

Check out this recent public relations blunder filmed by The Guardian newspaper, where APRIL’s chief public relations spokesperson repeatedly tried, and failed, to answer a simple question on deforestation: “How many trees does it cut down each year?” (see 02:50).

And now, by withdrawing from the FSC before it was kicked out, APRIL seems to be hoping to avoid the embarrassing publicity that it is, indeed, linked to forest destruction.

The story started back in 2008, when APRIL convinced an FSC certifier that it took the issue of protecting forests seriously. APRIL was allowed to market a number of its products with the FSC logo, so long as they were not made with fibre from ‘uncontrolled’ sources, such as deforestation.

But after just two years, the FSC certifier decided to cut ties with APRIL’s mills in Indonesia – the major factor being APRIL’s failure to comply with a deadline ‘to stop all conversion of natural forest’. Nevertheless, APRIL – being a global player in the paper industry – had a host of sister paper mills in China that still held the rights to use the FSC logo for some of their products.

Greenpeace, together with WWF and the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), thought it was about time that APRIL no longer be allowed to use the FSC logo to green its credentials, anywhere in the world.  In May, our three organisations filed a formal complaint with the FSC asking it to disassociate its brand from all APRIL companies, including those that still hold FSC certificates.            

The latest development looks like APRIL didn’t want to get embroiled in a mess of its own making. While APRIL has requested that all of its FSC certificates be withdrawn, this does call into question why the certifiers, SGS, Bureau Veritas and QMI granted the certificates in the first place.

If the FSC is to avoid use of its logo by companies not committed to the basic fundamental principles of responsible forest management, it needs to strengthen its due diligence procedures as part of its Policy for Association.

Clearly, the APRIL fiasco shows how some companies will try to avoid the spotlight when its suits them – and avoid accountability for forest crimes documented in NGO complaints to the FSC.

APRIL can’t simply ‘manage’ its reputation and try to extricate itself from scrutiny. Greenpeace, together with our supporters around the world, will continue to investigate and expose forest destruction. Join us to find out more.

Bustar Maitar is Head of Indonesia Forest Campaign

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenpeaceNews/~3/_5br09lpT4E/