Links on climate change.
Links on climate change and global warming: some stuff there might be of interest. Should dig it when get time.
Rations? Lightbulbs? How to fight climate change
Aug 17 (Reuters) - Electronic cards tracking personal quotas for greenhouse gases are among the most radical ideas for getting citizens to cut use of fossil fuels, widely blamed by scientists for fuelling global warming.
Following are some links to Web sites of governments, climate experts, environmental groups and companies with tips for lifestyle changes to cut individuals' use of oil, coal and natural gas.
Most focus on suggestions such as installing energy saving lightbulbs or using public transport -- far short of rationing.
UNITED STATES
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency advises citizens with "climate smart tips to protect the earth":
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ActionsIndividualMakeaDifference.html
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
The European Commission says: "You control climate change ... Turn down. Switch off. Recycle. Walk. Change."
Its site says, for instance, that turning down the thermostat in a home by one degree Celsius (1.8F) can save 300 kg (660 lb) of carbon dioxide per household per year. West Europeans account for about 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide each a year.
http://www.climatechange.eu.com/
CANADA
Canada's government provides a "greenhouse gas calculator" to make people aware of how much energy they use and where they can cut:
http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/calculator/english/
UNITED NATIONS
The U.N. Climate Change Secretariat says that changing lifestyles can help. The "cultures and habits of millions of people -- essentially, whether they waste energy or use it efficiently -- have a major impact on climate change," it says.
http://unfccc.int/essential_background/feeling_the_heat/items/2907.php
PERSONAL QUOTAS
British expert David Fleming favours energy rationing, to include allowances for all citizens, in a system he calls "tradable energy quotas":
http://www.teqs.net/
Britain's Environment Secretary David Miliband also floated the idea of personal quotas in a speech in July:
http://www.davidmiliband.defra.gov.uk/blogs/ministerial_blog/archive/2006/07/19/1557.aspx
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS
Greenpeace lays out what it calls "12 clever ways to save lots of electricity and money (and by the way: also the planet)"
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/take_action/12_steps
The WWF says "there's no need to wait for politicians to act" and gives recommendations for slowing global warming:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/what_you_can_do/index.cfm
COMPANIES
Some companies will help citizens invest in clean energy schemes or plant trees to soak up emissions of greenhouse gases. They include:
http://www.carbonneutral.com/
http://www.climatecare.co.uk/
http://www.atmosfair.de/index.php?id=9&L=3
-------------------------
And - as a bonus - info on the migration debates in the US:
Town sued over strict immigration law
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Civil rights campaigners sued the Pennsylvania town of Hazleton on Tuesday, seeking to block one of America's toughest local laws against illegal immigrants.
The suit says Hazelton's City Council violated the U.S. constitution when it passed a law denying business permits to companies that hire illegal aliens and fining landlords who rent homes to them.
The measure, which also establishes English as the town's official language, has made Hazleton a focus of the national debate on immigration. The plaintiffs say their suit is the first in the country to challenge a local immigration ordinance.
The suit was filed in federal court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania by groups including the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union. They accuse Hazleton of overstepping its authority on the federal matter of immigration and say the law discriminates against immigrants.
"This mean-spirited law is wrong for many reasons but the most obvious is that the city does not have the power to make its own immigration laws," Omar Jadwat, an attorney for the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said in a statement.
Rations? Lightbulbs? How to fight climate change
Aug 17 (Reuters) - Electronic cards tracking personal quotas for greenhouse gases are among the most radical ideas for getting citizens to cut use of fossil fuels, widely blamed by scientists for fuelling global warming.
Following are some links to Web sites of governments, climate experts, environmental groups and companies with tips for lifestyle changes to cut individuals' use of oil, coal and natural gas.
Most focus on suggestions such as installing energy saving lightbulbs or using public transport -- far short of rationing.
UNITED STATES
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency advises citizens with "climate smart tips to protect the earth":
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ActionsIndividualMakeaDifference.html
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
The European Commission says: "You control climate change ... Turn down. Switch off. Recycle. Walk. Change."
Its site says, for instance, that turning down the thermostat in a home by one degree Celsius (1.8F) can save 300 kg (660 lb) of carbon dioxide per household per year. West Europeans account for about 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide each a year.
http://www.climatechange.eu.com/
CANADA
Canada's government provides a "greenhouse gas calculator" to make people aware of how much energy they use and where they can cut:
http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/calculator/english/
UNITED NATIONS
The U.N. Climate Change Secretariat says that changing lifestyles can help. The "cultures and habits of millions of people -- essentially, whether they waste energy or use it efficiently -- have a major impact on climate change," it says.
http://unfccc.int/essential_background/feeling_the_heat/items/2907.php
PERSONAL QUOTAS
British expert David Fleming favours energy rationing, to include allowances for all citizens, in a system he calls "tradable energy quotas":
http://www.teqs.net/
Britain's Environment Secretary David Miliband also floated the idea of personal quotas in a speech in July:
http://www.davidmiliband.defra.gov.uk/blogs/ministerial_blog/archive/2006/07/19/1557.aspx
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS
Greenpeace lays out what it calls "12 clever ways to save lots of electricity and money (and by the way: also the planet)"
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/take_action/12_steps
The WWF says "there's no need to wait for politicians to act" and gives recommendations for slowing global warming:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/what_you_can_do/index.cfm
COMPANIES
Some companies will help citizens invest in clean energy schemes or plant trees to soak up emissions of greenhouse gases. They include:
http://www.carbonneutral.com/
http://www.climatecare.co.uk/
http://www.atmosfair.de/index.php?id=9&L=3
-------------------------
And - as a bonus - info on the migration debates in the US:
Town sued over strict immigration law
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Civil rights campaigners sued the Pennsylvania town of Hazleton on Tuesday, seeking to block one of America's toughest local laws against illegal immigrants.
The suit says Hazelton's City Council violated the U.S. constitution when it passed a law denying business permits to companies that hire illegal aliens and fining landlords who rent homes to them.
The measure, which also establishes English as the town's official language, has made Hazleton a focus of the national debate on immigration. The plaintiffs say their suit is the first in the country to challenge a local immigration ordinance.
The suit was filed in federal court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania by groups including the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union. They accuse Hazleton of overstepping its authority on the federal matter of immigration and say the law discriminates against immigrants.
"This mean-spirited law is wrong for many reasons but the most obvious is that the city does not have the power to make its own immigration laws," Omar Jadwat, an attorney for the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said in a statement.