Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

A tropical storm named “Emma” with wind speeds equivalent to a category 3 hurricane has been thrashing Germany, Prague and Vienna with deadly results:

Europe began feeling the effects of Emma late Friday night, according to Deutchscher Wetter Dienst (DWD), Germany’s national weather service.

Wind gusts of up to 190 km/h (118 mph) — the strength of a Category 3 hurricane — were clocked in the higher elevations of Austria, Corriveau said. Sustained winds as of Saturday night ranged from 50 km/h to nearly 80 km/h (31 mph to 50 mph). Winds were clocked at 98 km/hr (61 mph) in Denmark.

More below the jump…

Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

The U.S. Department of the Interior took the Northern Rockies’ Gray Wolf off the endangered list today, opening them up for hunting as described in this earlier post from The Environmentalist’s managing editor.

CNN/AP reports that the “removal from the endangered list was announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Interior. The loss of federal protection allows states to move forward with public hunts for the animals, possibly as soon as this fall.”

Environmental groups have promised to sue to keep the wolves on the list.

More below the jump…

Reprinted by permission from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

A study of NASA satellite data, overlaid with reported cancer statistics, has identified nighttime exposure to lighted areas as a risk factor for breast cancer:

Women who live in neighborhoods with large amounts of nighttime illumination are more likely to get breast cancer than those who live in areas where nocturnal darkness prevails, according to an unusual study that overlaid satellite images of Earth onto cancer registries.

“By no means are we saying that light at night is the only or the major risk factor for breast cancer,” said Itai Kloog, of the University of Haifa, who led the new work. “But we found a clear and strong correlation that should be taken into consideration.”

Recommendation below the fold…

Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

(From The Environmentalist Managing Editor – reprinted by permission)

Al Gore, addressing a United Nations summit on green investment, warned business leaders about the consequences of investment in technologies that did not reduce the carbon footprint, given the associated costs to both society and business of climate change:

UNITED NATIONS – Al Gore advised Wall Street leaders and institutional investors Thursday to ditch businesses too reliant on carbon-intensive energy – or prepare for huge losses down the road.

“You need to really scrub your investment portfolios, because I guarantee you – as my longtime good redneck friends in Tennessee say, I guarandamntee you – that if you really take a fine-tooth comb and go through your portfolios, many of you are going to find them chock-full of subprime carbon assets,” the former vice president said.

More below the fold…

Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

The USDA has recalled 143 million pounds of beef produced from a Chino, CA slaughterhouse, making this the largest beef recall in the U.S.:

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Sunday recalled 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a Southern California slaughterhouse that is being investigated for mistreating cattle.

More below the fold…

Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

In a “Tokyo Declaration” announced today, Sony, Nokia and ten other well known brands have announced that they will work with the World Wildlife Fund to involve their suppliers, customers and transportation partners in the fight to halt global warming:

Tokyo – A business group including leading companies such as Sony, Nokia and Nike has come together to present the Tokyo Declaration, a joint call to tackle the urgent issue of climate change. Signing the declaration at the Climate Savers Summit 2008 held by WWF and Sony in Tokyo today, a dozen business leaders highlighted that the world’s greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by more than 50 percent by 2050, and that emissions must peak and start to decline within the next 10 to 15 years in order to keep global warming below the dangerous threshold of 2 degrees Celsius.

More below the fold…

Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

A Valentine’s Day reminder, given chocolate’s status as a conflict substance, that ethical (and tasty!) chocolate is readily available. Why is this important? With Fair Trade chocolate:

* Forced and abusive child labor practices are prohibited

* Farming families earn a price that is adequate to meet their basic human needs

* Environmentally sustainable production methods are required

Where to buy Fair Trade chocolate and other Fair Trade goods?

A partial list is available here

Happy Valentine’s Day from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

Ta!

The National Geographic Channel is premiering 6 Degrees tonight (8PM EST/9PM PST), which tracks the consequences of catastrophic climate change, degree by degree (YouTube preview):

Webpage

Terrifying stuff, to be sure, the show is not without controversy, as it focuses on doomsday scenarios, but perhaps it’s best to see what we’re facing at the upper limit.  

For a more measured prediction (but equally troubling, imo), a previous essay on the Nine Tipping Points.

Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

An international team of experts has submitted a report that lists nine tipping elements — areas of concern for lawmakers — that quantify how much time is left to address their impending impact.

Produced by scientists from the U.K, Germany and the U.S., the study states: “Society may be lulled into a false sense of security by smooth projections of global change,” and goes on to predict the critical threshold at which a small change in human activity can have large, long-term consequences for the Earth’s climate system.

“These tipping elements are candidates for surprising society by exhibiting a nearby tipping point,” the report states. “Many of these tipping points could be closer than we thought,” said lead author Timothy Lenton, of the University of East Anglia in England. “Our findings suggest that a variety of tipping elements could reach their critical point within this century under human-induced climate change.”

Link to the list below the jump…

Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) has updated its policy on climate change with the pronouncement that changes to the Earth’s climate system are “not natural.”

The Earth’s climate is now clearly out of balance and is warming. Many components of the climate system-including the temperatures of the atmosphere, land and ocean, the extent of sea ice and mountain glaciers, the sea level, the distribution of precipitation, and the length of seasons-are now changing at rates and in patterns that are not natural and are best explained by the increased atmospheric abundances of greenhouse gases and aerosols generated by human activity during the 20th century.

More below the fold…