Energy

Nov. 22, 2009 - In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions - the major cause of global warming - cannot be stabilized unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day. "It looks unlikely that there will be any substantial near-term departure from recently observed acceleration in carbon dioxide emission rates," says the new paper by Tim Garrett, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences.

Canada no longer knows how to sell anything to the world except oil and gas. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but if things keep going the way they are, it won't be for long. StatsCan’s latest numbers on Canada’s trade balance, released Thursday, look positive on the face of it: Exports and imports both grew, and Canada’s trade deficit with the world shrank by more than half, to $435 million. But dig a little deeper into the data, and what you see is a story of two different export sectors.

The gulf between the science and the politics of climate change has never been wider. Consider the Arctic ice cap, which has lost half its volume in the five years from 2005. Experts say the Arctic ice cap is now in a “death spiral”. The region is warming two to four times faster than the global average. If the ice cap melts, it will trigger two even more serious climate disasters: the melting of Greenland’s huge ice sheet and the release of methane gas from thawing Arctic soils and seabeds.

The IRS has just taken authority that is only granted to Congress: determining subsidies that cost taxpayers money. Congress ruled earlier this year to end on subsidies for wind as a form of alternative energy by bringing the federal Wind Production Tax Credit to a close at end of this year. After years of subsidizing wind power and over $120 billion in wasted efforts, even Congress had given up on wind power.

By Roger Annis