[Environment] from [guardian.co.uk]
[Sea Level]
Rising sea level to submerge Louisiana coastline by 2100, study warns
Scientists say between 10,000 and 13,500 square kilometres of coastal land around New Orleans will go underwater due to rising sea levels and subsidence
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 June 2009 12.33 BST
Article history
A vast swath of the coastal lands around New Orleans will be underwater by the dawn of the next century because the rate of sediment deposit in the Mississippi delta can not keep up with rising sea levels, according to a study published today.
Between 10,000 and 13,500 square kilometres of coastal lands will drown due to rising sea levels and subsidence by 2100, a far greater loss than previous estimates.
For New Orleans, and other low-lying areas of Louisiana whose vulnerability was exposed by hurricane Katrina, the findings could bring some hard choices about how to defend the coast against the future sea level rises that will be produced by climate change.
They also revive the debate about the long-term sustainability of New Orleans and other low-lying areas.
Scientists say New Orleans and the barrier islands to the south will be severely affected by climate change by the end of this century, with sea level rise and growing intensity of hurricanes. Much of the land mass of the barrier island chain sheltering New Orleans was lost in the 2005 storm.
But the extent of the land that will be lost is far greater than earlier forecasts suggest, said Dr Michael Blum and Prof Harry Roberts, the authors of the study. "When you look at the numbers you come to the conclusion that the resources are just not there to restore all the coast, and that is one of the major points of this paper," said Roberts, a professor emeritus of marine geology at Louisiana State University.
Blum, who was formerly at Louisiana State University, now works at Exxon. "I think every geologist that has worked on this problem realises the future does not look very bright unless we can come up with some innovative ways to get that sediment in the right spot," said Roberts. "For managers and people who are squarely in the restoration business, this is going to force them to make some very hard decisions about which areas to save and which areas you can't save."
Efforts to keep pace with the accelerated rate of sea level rise due to global warming are compromised by the Mississippi's declining ability to bear sediments downstream into the delta.
The authors used sediment data from the Mississippi flood plain to estimate the amount of sediment deposited on the river delta during the past 12,000 years. They then compared this with sediment deposition today.
In paper published in Nature Geoscience they calculate that due to dam and levee building on the Mississippi the sediment carried by the river has been reduced significantly. There are now about 8,000 dams on the Mississippi river system. Roberts said such constructions and the system of levees in Louisiana had cut in half the sediment carried down to the delta, inhibiting the river's ability to compensate for the land lost to rising seas.
Sustaining the existing delta size would require 18 to 24bn tonnes of sediment, which the authors say is significantly more than can be drawn from the river in its current state. "We conclude that significant drowning is inevitable," the authors wrote. "In the absence of sediment input, land surfaces that are now below 1m in elevation will be converted to open water or marsh."
[Green Politics]
Environment: green jobs to rise to a million by 2017
PM highlights carbon capture demonstration plants and commitment to build 1,000 wind turbines
Alok Jha
guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 June 2009 18.08 BST
Article history
Among the many jobs proposed in Gordon Brown's statement today, 400,000 will have a green tinge by 2017. That will take the total British employment in the sector to more than a million.
The prime minister also highlighted some key proposals that will form the basis of the upcoming white paper on energy: four commercial-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration plants for Britain and a commitment to build 1,000 onshore and offshore wind turbines in 2009-10.
"The bill complements the £1.4bn of public investment provided in the budget, and up to £4bn now on offer from the European investment bank," said Brown.
"In addition – following our reforms to the policy, planning and regulatory regimes – we will see between now and 2020 as we meet our renewable energy targets around £100bn invested by the private sector."
Brown also announced an innovation fund: £150m of public money that will be used to attract private sector investment in biotechnology, life sciences, low carbon technologies and advanced manufacturing.
Simon Walker, the chief executive of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, welcomed the innovation fund. "I am convinced that this scheme can make a real difference provided it is implemented with the urgency that it deserves. Venture capital should be in the vanguard of economic recovery in Britain and it now has the change to move from the relative fringe in economic thinking squarely to centre stage."
Richard Barker, the director general of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries, said: "The UK's economy and NHS patients need our country to lead in life sciences. Many great discoveries begin in small companies, many of which face an urgent funding crisis. Meeting this need is an important signal of government's intent and a first step towards delivering against an ambitious strategy to put UK life sciences at the forefront of our country's economic and health future."
[Plastic Bags]
Welsh assembly launches public consultation into plastic bag ban
Plans part of strategy to eliminate landfill waste by 2050
James Randerson
guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 June 2009 17.31 BST
Article history
The Welsh assembly government is asking for public views on its plans to ban free plastic bags in the country. The proposal, which is based on a highly successful move in the Republic of Ireland, will involve putting a 15 pence charge on shopping bags to encourage people to re-use them and so reduce unnecessary waste.
The plans, which were announced today by Jane Davidson, minister for the environment, sustainability and housing, are part of the Welsh assembly government's overall strategy to reduce the proportion of waste going to landfill to 5% by 2025 and eliminate it altogether by 2050.
An estimated 480m plastic bags are used in Wales each year, said Davidson. "It takes between 500 and 1,000 years for these bags to degrade and this cannot continue," she said. "By re-using bags, not only will we reduce litter, but also help cut our global footprint."
She welcomed the voluntary agreement by supermarkets to reduce single-carrier bag use by 50% by spring this year. But she added: "This agreement does not cover all retailers and means that half of all plastic bags are still used for one shopping trip. I want to look at how we can further reduce the amount of single use carrier bags and how we can encourage more people to re-use bags."
The Republic of Ireland introduced a charge of 15 cents in 2002 and as a result has seen a 90% reduction in single-use carrier bags.
A plan to ban free plastic bags was part of the assembly government's "One Wales" sustainable development scheme at the Hay Festival in May. That document also included plans to become self-sufficient in using renewable electricity within 20 years and increase recycling rates from 36% today to 70% by 2025.
The public consultation launched today will ask for public views on the details of how a plastic bag charge might be introduced, for example:
• What type of bags should be included?
• Which retailers should charge for bags?
• How much should the charge be?
• How would the scheme be administered and enforced?
Critics argue that plastic bags form a tiny part of the carbon emissions problem and so feature too prominently in the green debate. The environment writer George Marshall calculates that emissions from average individual plastic bag consumption make up 5kg of carbon dioxide a year - compared with total average emissions of 12,500kg. And a study by South Gloucestershire district council found that they represent 3.2% of total household waste.
[Sea Level]
Rising sea level to submerge Louisiana coastline by 2100, study warns
Scientists say between 10,000 and 13,500 square kilometres of coastal land around New Orleans will go underwater due to rising sea levels and subsidence
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 June 2009 12.33 BST
Article history
A vast swath of the coastal lands around New Orleans will be underwater by the dawn of the next century because the rate of sediment deposit in the Mississippi delta can not keep up with rising sea levels, according to a study published today.
Between 10,000 and 13,500 square kilometres of coastal lands will drown due to rising sea levels and subsidence by 2100, a far greater loss than previous estimates.
For New Orleans, and other low-lying areas of Louisiana whose vulnerability was exposed by hurricane Katrina, the findings could bring some hard choices about how to defend the coast against the future sea level rises that will be produced by climate change.
They also revive the debate about the long-term sustainability of New Orleans and other low-lying areas.
Scientists say New Orleans and the barrier islands to the south will be severely affected by climate change by the end of this century, with sea level rise and growing intensity of hurricanes. Much of the land mass of the barrier island chain sheltering New Orleans was lost in the 2005 storm.
But the extent of the land that will be lost is far greater than earlier forecasts suggest, said Dr Michael Blum and Prof Harry Roberts, the authors of the study. "When you look at the numbers you come to the conclusion that the resources are just not there to restore all the coast, and that is one of the major points of this paper," said Roberts, a professor emeritus of marine geology at Louisiana State University.
Blum, who was formerly at Louisiana State University, now works at Exxon. "I think every geologist that has worked on this problem realises the future does not look very bright unless we can come up with some innovative ways to get that sediment in the right spot," said Roberts. "For managers and people who are squarely in the restoration business, this is going to force them to make some very hard decisions about which areas to save and which areas you can't save."
Efforts to keep pace with the accelerated rate of sea level rise due to global warming are compromised by the Mississippi's declining ability to bear sediments downstream into the delta.
The authors used sediment data from the Mississippi flood plain to estimate the amount of sediment deposited on the river delta during the past 12,000 years. They then compared this with sediment deposition today.
In paper published in Nature Geoscience they calculate that due to dam and levee building on the Mississippi the sediment carried by the river has been reduced significantly. There are now about 8,000 dams on the Mississippi river system. Roberts said such constructions and the system of levees in Louisiana had cut in half the sediment carried down to the delta, inhibiting the river's ability to compensate for the land lost to rising seas.
Sustaining the existing delta size would require 18 to 24bn tonnes of sediment, which the authors say is significantly more than can be drawn from the river in its current state. "We conclude that significant drowning is inevitable," the authors wrote. "In the absence of sediment input, land surfaces that are now below 1m in elevation will be converted to open water or marsh."
[Green Politics]
Environment: green jobs to rise to a million by 2017
PM highlights carbon capture demonstration plants and commitment to build 1,000 wind turbines
Alok Jha
guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 June 2009 18.08 BST
Article history
Among the many jobs proposed in Gordon Brown's statement today, 400,000 will have a green tinge by 2017. That will take the total British employment in the sector to more than a million.
The prime minister also highlighted some key proposals that will form the basis of the upcoming white paper on energy: four commercial-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration plants for Britain and a commitment to build 1,000 onshore and offshore wind turbines in 2009-10.
"The bill complements the £1.4bn of public investment provided in the budget, and up to £4bn now on offer from the European investment bank," said Brown.
"In addition – following our reforms to the policy, planning and regulatory regimes – we will see between now and 2020 as we meet our renewable energy targets around £100bn invested by the private sector."
Brown also announced an innovation fund: £150m of public money that will be used to attract private sector investment in biotechnology, life sciences, low carbon technologies and advanced manufacturing.
Simon Walker, the chief executive of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, welcomed the innovation fund. "I am convinced that this scheme can make a real difference provided it is implemented with the urgency that it deserves. Venture capital should be in the vanguard of economic recovery in Britain and it now has the change to move from the relative fringe in economic thinking squarely to centre stage."
Richard Barker, the director general of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries, said: "The UK's economy and NHS patients need our country to lead in life sciences. Many great discoveries begin in small companies, many of which face an urgent funding crisis. Meeting this need is an important signal of government's intent and a first step towards delivering against an ambitious strategy to put UK life sciences at the forefront of our country's economic and health future."
[Plastic Bags]
Welsh assembly launches public consultation into plastic bag ban
Plans part of strategy to eliminate landfill waste by 2050
James Randerson
guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 June 2009 17.31 BST
Article history
The Welsh assembly government is asking for public views on its plans to ban free plastic bags in the country. The proposal, which is based on a highly successful move in the Republic of Ireland, will involve putting a 15 pence charge on shopping bags to encourage people to re-use them and so reduce unnecessary waste.
The plans, which were announced today by Jane Davidson, minister for the environment, sustainability and housing, are part of the Welsh assembly government's overall strategy to reduce the proportion of waste going to landfill to 5% by 2025 and eliminate it altogether by 2050.
An estimated 480m plastic bags are used in Wales each year, said Davidson. "It takes between 500 and 1,000 years for these bags to degrade and this cannot continue," she said. "By re-using bags, not only will we reduce litter, but also help cut our global footprint."
She welcomed the voluntary agreement by supermarkets to reduce single-carrier bag use by 50% by spring this year. But she added: "This agreement does not cover all retailers and means that half of all plastic bags are still used for one shopping trip. I want to look at how we can further reduce the amount of single use carrier bags and how we can encourage more people to re-use bags."
The Republic of Ireland introduced a charge of 15 cents in 2002 and as a result has seen a 90% reduction in single-use carrier bags.
A plan to ban free plastic bags was part of the assembly government's "One Wales" sustainable development scheme at the Hay Festival in May. That document also included plans to become self-sufficient in using renewable electricity within 20 years and increase recycling rates from 36% today to 70% by 2025.
The public consultation launched today will ask for public views on the details of how a plastic bag charge might be introduced, for example:
• What type of bags should be included?
• Which retailers should charge for bags?
• How much should the charge be?
• How would the scheme be administered and enforced?
Critics argue that plastic bags form a tiny part of the carbon emissions problem and so feature too prominently in the green debate. The environment writer George Marshall calculates that emissions from average individual plastic bag consumption make up 5kg of carbon dioxide a year - compared with total average emissions of 12,500kg. And a study by South Gloucestershire district council found that they represent 3.2% of total household waste.
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