news20091212gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Copenhagen Climate change conference 2009]
Gordon Brown bangs heads and crunches climate figures in Brussels
Prime minister cajoles European leaders into offering €2.4bn to help developing nations cope with climate change
Ian Traynor in Brussels
guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 December 2009 19.12 GMT Article history

Heads were spinning in Brussels today as squillions were bandied about alternately in pounds sterling, euros, and US dollars.

Nicolas Sarkozy was arithmetically challenged when asked how much France was coughing up. Angela Merkel of Germany preferred percentages (20) to millions (480). But Gordon Brown has a head for numbers. He bamboozled the European media with 10bn here, 1.5bn there, or 500m a year.

Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, said to be worth €8bn, could have settled Europe's €2bn climate change bill with one of his credit cards. But when it came to Italy's share, he was worried about upsetting his stern finance minister, Giulio Tremonti.

At the start of the day, the target was for Europe to raise €2.1bn to help developing nations cope with climate change. In the end they put up €2.4bn. And while last week Brown offered £800m over three years, today he pledged £1.5bn. What went wrong? Or what went right?

In the morning Brown said the UK was offering £1.2bn. Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister in charge of the number-crunching, happily told the other 26 leaders he had agreement on the €2.1bn. Deal done.

No, said Brown, not enough. Europe's rightful share of the proposed $10bn global fund should be $3.6bn or €2.4bn, insisted Brown, according to a British official. He offered to up his bid if others followed.

With Berlusconi, the flesh was willing but the spirit was weak and he was reluctant to call Tremonti in Rome. Perhaps Brown would like to place the call? He did. Tremonti raised Italy's game. Spain put in a bit more. The €2.4bn figure emerged, costing Britain £500m a year until 2012, making it Europe's biggest donor.


[Environment > Copenhagen Climate change conference 2009]
Copenhagen police arrest 68 as protesters rally across city
Organisers said there were between 500 and 1,000 protesters during the first day of serious demonstrations
Bibi van der Zee
guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 December 2009 18.18 GMT Article history

Police in Copenhagen arrested 68 protesters during the first day of serious demonstrations connected with the UN climate talks.

According to police, 250 activists met in Nytorv Square in the centre of the city at 10am before dispersing to targets including the Danish Energy Association, McDonalds, Deloitte, Repsol, Shell and the shipping company Maersk. Organisers, who had distributed maps to guide protesters, put the number of protesters at between 500 and 1,000.

The activists' aim was to disperse into smaller groups and disrupt the companies either with noise or by invading their premises. They were then to reconvene outside a green technology exhibition in the centre.

The UN climate talks, which the environment minister, Hilary Benn, referred to today as "without any doubt at all the most important meeting in human history", involve 192 countries. They aim to decide on greenhouse gas emissions targets to come into force once the Kyoto protocol comes to an end in 2012 and finance to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

Police said the 68 arrests took place at numerous points around the city during the day, but would not release any information about charges. Under laws brought in by the Danish government two weeks ago, the police have the power to detain people who they believe may commit crimes in the near future. One activist who asked not to be named said: "After eight hours [in detention] they have to feed you, so they'll probably release most of them after seven and a half hours."

One group of activists was prevented by police from reaching its target, the Hopenhagen exhibition. The protesters were finally penned in on Dronning Louise bridge at around 1.30pm. After negotiating with police, the protesters agreed to leave peacefully.

Despite the arrests, some protesters were upbeat. "It's been a really good day," said one activist who called himself Aske. "We've been able to control the police and how they moved. They haven't really had power over us today and I think they've come to acknowledge our will to fight."

On Wednesday, police raided a building in the city in the early hours of the morning where 200 activists were sleeping. The police confiscated a selection of items but did not make any arrests.


[News > Politics > London politics]
Government faces legal proceedings over London air quality
EU could impose multi-million pound fines after turning down request for more time to meet legally-binding pollutant limit
Hélène Mulholland
guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 December 2009 17.31 GMT Article history

The UK government was today facing legal proceedings and the threat of multi-million pound fines after the European commission turned down a request for more time to meet a legally-binding limit on an the PM10 air pollutant in London.

The commission ruled that the proposals put forward to improve air quality in the Greater London Zone – the capital has among the worst air quality in Europe – did not meet the "minimum requirements" for a time extension.

The decision puts pressure on the London mayor, Boris Johnson, who has recently published draft air quality strategy. He intends to scrap or delay until 2012 two key proposals in the government's submission for improving air quality.

Greater London is now the only part of the UK to fall foul of a 2005 EU directive on levels of particulate matter (PM10) – dangerous airborne particles emitted by industry, traffic and domestic heating, Stavros Dimas, the EU environment commissioner, said.

The Department of Environment and Rural Affairs submitted an application for an extension until 2011 in late spring after Dimas began legal proceedings against the UK and nine other member states at the turn of the year.

Today, he said the air quality plan submitted by the government "did not meet the minimum requirements of the directive for a time extension".

"Air pollution has serious impacts on human health and compliance with the standards must be our utmost priority," he added.

"The 2008 EU air quality directive recognises the difficulties some member states have experienced in meeting the standards for PM10 by the initial deadline of 2005 and allows the possibility of a limited time extension.

"However, the commission expects member states to clearly demonstrate that they are doing their utmost to comply with EU standards in the shortest possible time."

The dangers caused by PM10s was highlighted in the Rogers review of local authority regulatory services, published in 2007, which said poor air quality contributed to between 12,000 and 24,000 premature deaths each year.

Government figures show that average life expectancy is reduced by up to eight months by particulates pollution.

Defra called today's decision "disappointing" and said it intended to provide further details, including Johnson's draft air quality strategy, to help convince Europe to reconsider and grant an extension until 2011.

"We are confident in London meeting the limit values by 2011," a Defra spokesman said.

"This October, the mayor published his draft air quality strategy and will increase our certainty in meeting limits across London by 2011.

"We will consider the objections raised by the commission and work closely with the mayor [and the] GLA to provide additional information to the commission as soon as practical."

The government's proposals to Dimas, submitted in May, included the congestion charge and the third phase of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ), scheduled to be introduced next year to tackle the most polluting vehicles in London.

The proposals clashed with plans put forward by Johnson, who earlier this year said he would scrap the western extension of the congestion charge.

He also announced in his draft air quality strategy, published in October, that he would delay the third phase of the LEZ until 2012 in order to give drivers more time to adjust.

Darren Johnson, a Green party London assembly member, said today's decision would put pressure on the government to overrule the mayor.

He also called on the government to help plug the £70-£90m funding gap in Johnson's current plans to reduce air pollution

"The mayor's plans are in tatters and the government's complacency has been exposed, but this would be the wrong time for them to have a fight over whether the estimated £300m fine should go on tax bills, or central London's council tax bills," he said.

'The government and mayor can still avoid the fine and protect the health of Londoners if they unite and agree a new set of radical anti-pollution measures."

But the mayor – believed to have lobbied for funding support to implement some of the air quality measures – appeared confident that his draft "comprehensive strategy" could help persuade Europe to think again.

His office said it included proposals "over and above those already underway such as schemes to encourage people to use public transport, walk and cycle, smoothing traffic schemes and the Low Emission Zone".

news20091212gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Climate change]
Dawa Steven Sherpa: The west must help Nepal, not for aid but for justice
In an interview en route to Copenhagen, the WWF climate ambassador said Nepal is not to blame for climate change
Felicity Carus
guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 December 2009 12.46 GMT Article history

Himalayan mountaineers will drop down to sea-level in Copenhagen today to bring the dire effects of climate change in Nepal to the world's attention at the UN climate summit.

Nepali ministers, who earlier this month held a cabinet in the shadow of Everest at 5,252m, will join the Sherpas including Apa Sherpa who has summited the world's highest mountain a record-breaking 19 times, and the WWF climate ambassador Dawa Steven Sherpa.

The march through the streets of Copenhagen has been organised to coincide with International Mountain Day and a side event at the Bella Centre conference hall looking at the potential problems and solutions to glacial melt in the Himalayas, including changing crop patterns and innovative pest control. Some 1.3 billion people in Asia depend on water that originates from glaciers in the Himalayas, and as temperatures rise the supply of water could be seriously threatened.

In an interview with the Guardian en route to Copenhagen, Dawa Steven Sherpa said that he had seen great changes in Nepal.

"Nepal is one of the earliest victims of climate change and whatever is going to happen in the rest of the world is already happening in Nepal, for example forest fires, droughts, floods. They are all happening in Nepal already and this because of Nepal's extreme geographical circumstances. The average temperature rise in Nepal is twice that of the global average so we're already seeing everything that is going to happen in the world. But Nepal has a carbon emission contribution of 0.02% which is practically nothing. We are not to blame, yet we are the first victims," he said.

Glaciers have started to melt more rapidly in recent years, he said, which has made climbing more dangerous and threatened his own village, Khumjung, with the icy waters gathering at the base of the rapidly melting Imja glacier.

"The Imja lake is one of the most talked about at the moment. It is the fastest receding glaciers in the Himalayas. Some studies show it is receding by up to 74 metres a year and it is directly upstream from the homeland of the Sherpas, the Khumbu, if that glacial lake bursts and comes down, it's going to wash out everything in its path. It's said to be about 1.6km in length, and 92 metres at its deepest point. So that's a lot of water. And when it comes down it's going to wash away everything."

He said was travelling to Copenhagen to call on world leaders to commit to a strong deal. "The west should come in and help us with our problems. Not because it's charity or aid, but because it's justice," he said.


[Environment > Copenhagen Climate change conference 2009]
Tobin tax could fund climate aid under proposals from UK and France
Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy announce €2.4bn funding to help poor countries cope with climate change
Ian Traynor in Brussels
guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 December 2009 12.08 GMT Article history

A global tax on financial transactions should be used to pay for the long battle against global warming, Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy said today. The statement came alongside a European Union commitment of €2.4bn a year from January to immediately help the world's poor countries cope with climate change.

The issue of who should pay for halting warming and its impacts has become the most vexed at the UN talks in Copenhagen and the moves made at the EU summit in Brussels are an attempt to break the deadlock.

In a joint statement, the UK prime minister and French president said: "To ensure predictable and additional finance in the medium term to 2020 and beyond, we should make use of innovative financing mechanisms, such as the use of revenues from a global financial transactions tax and the reduction of aviation and maritime emissions and the auctioning of national emissions permits."

The introduction of a transaction - or Tobin - tax has been gaining support as nations seek to prevent a repeat of the global economic crisis. The EU issued a communique stating such a tax should be one of several options that the International Monetary Fund should investigate when it puts forward plans on how the world should respond to the financial crisis. A levy on international aviation and shipping is proposed in some of the negotiating texts being discussed in Copenhagen.

The short-term funding figure, higher than expected, was agreed at an EU summit in Brussels, as part of a broader package that would come from the industrialised countries around the world. This would contribute €7bn a year for the next three years in fast-track funding for developing nations facing increased flooding, droughts and other impacts of global warming.

With financial transfers from rich to poor at the heart of a possible outline deal next week, it remained to be seen whether today's agreement in Brussels would be enough to clinch a pact that could then be turned into a legally binding international treaty within six months.

EU leaders grappled for two days over how to divide up the bill which had been predicted to a total of $2bn .

Britain had offered to supply £800m over the three years, but in the end apparently became Europe's single biggest contributor to the package, pledging £500m pounds a year, or £1.5bn for the fast-track fund.

Brown said comparable contributions would come from France and Germany. Germany, the most powerful economy in the EU, has not given any specific figure, but is expected to pay about 20% of the EU total.

"Our figure is the highest at the moment," he said. "I believe others will contribute more in coming days. I think we've done the right thing. People will be able to say of us, we have done everything" to make a Copenhagen climate change settlement possible, he said. The UN conference in the Danish capital is seeking a pact to cut global carbon emissions and avert dangerous climate change.

The EU also emphasised its willingness to increase its target for cutting greenhouse gases 30% by 2020, compared with 1990 levels, if the rest of the world signs up to a sufficiently ambitious package in Copenhagen. The EU is currently committed to 20% cuts by 2020.

While the fast-track fund agreed was bigger than anticipated, it was unclear where all the money was coming from and whether existing aid budgets would be raided and recycled into climate change money.

Tim Gore, Oxfam's EU climate change policy adviser, said: "EU leaders only offered small sums of short-term cash. Worst of all, this money is not even new – it's made up of a recycling of past promises, and payments that have already been made."

Brown appeared to concede that some of the short-term funding would be diverted from aid and development budgets, but stressed that in the medium-term "we don't want this to be at the expense of our international development goals."

If a deal is reached in Copenhagen, EU leaders reckon that $100bn will need to be transferred annually from the rich to

the poor countries from 2020. But President Barack Obama has told European leaders that he cannot accept the £100bn figure as he would never get it through the US Congress.

news20091212nn1

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 11 December 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1132
News
Hollywood gives biologists a helping hand
Pixar software could help simulate molecular interactions inside cells.
Monya Baker

{{The movement of proteins through the crowded cytoplasm of a bacterium has been simulated.}
Adrian Elcock}

Computer programs like those used in animated movies such as Shrek could soon be helping more cell biologists explain hypotheses — or even to make new discoveries, according to scientists presenting work in San Diego this month at the meeting for the American Society of Cell Biology.

"We want to be able to make predictions," says Adrian Elcock of the University of Iowa in Iowa City. "At the very least we want our models to reproduce known behaviours." Elcock is simulating the movement of proteins and other big molecules inside virtual bacterial cells. He built models from known data — including the atomic structures of proteins and concentrations of the 50 most abundant macromolecules in Escherichia coli — and then factored in how the molecular structure of each might cause proteins to stick to each other. His model nicely reproduces established data showing that green fluorescent protein diffuses approximately 10 times more slowly in the crowded environment of a bacterial cell than in a test tube.

"Animation is seen as more eye candy than anything," says Janet Iwasa of Harvard Medical School in Boston. "That could change." Iwasa, who chaired the session on three-dimensional visualization, creates animations for researchers to help them explain their hypotheses to each other. She says the impetus for the session began when one of her animations — which helps cells take in material from the cell membrane — won the CellDance competition at last year's meeting (see movie). Demand for her services often comes after scientists see an animation representing a competing hypothesis and want to be able to show their own view of what's happening, she says.

Tinseltown tricks

Our brains don't cope well with following the myriad interactions inside cells, says Jonathan Alberts of the University of Washington in Friday Harbor. "Our intuition is fragile in this regard. We need a tool to help us understand." Alberts simulated cellular parts such as motor proteins and actin filaments, programmed them to obey a few mathematical rules reflecting physical forces, and saw that they were able to reproduce their behaviour in cells on his computer screen. Biological systems are robust, he reasoned, so "all we really need to do, we hope, is get things about right, and we will see some emergent properties".

{{A prize-winning animation shows clathrin in action.}
Janet Iwasa}

Alberts showed his work modelling the contractile ring in fission yeast, a belt of proteins that assembles around a rod-shaped cell and constricts to divide the cell in two. He fed parameters into the model and watched. At first all seemed well; the proteins formed nodes and gathered into a ring. Then they collapsed in a clump. Still, he says, the preliminary results are encouraging. "You really see self-organization happen."

Many scientists already use an array of software to visualize proteins in three dimensions, but these programs do not show how proteins behave in their cellular context. For that, scientific animators turn to Maya — the same program Pixar and other Hollywood firms rely on. But getting the scientific data into the platform is a major roadblock, says Gaël McGill, chief executive of Digizyme, who teaches molecular visualization at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "It's the most common question we have: Can we embellish Maya so that it's easier for scientists to bring the data in?"

McGill announced free software called Molecular Maya Toolkit that allows researchers to automatically bring protein structures into a cellular landscape using data from online repositories. Meeting attendee Patrick Huehls of Indiana University in Bloomington believes the toolkit will be highly used, and not only by those hoping to bring science to nonexperts. Scientists themselves are coming to depend on animation, he says. "It's becoming more part of discovery than an endpoint."