Global warming and climate change news headlines for November 2007

November 29 - Orangutans threatened by climate change
Orangutan populations in Indonesia have already been greatly reduced through poaching and purposeful deforestation. According to the conservation group, WWF, drawn out dry seasons caused by global warming related climate change will reduce the abundance of fruits and increase the number of forest fires, putting orangutan populations under further pressure. Read more

November 28 - A billion trees planted!
A U.N. goal of  1 billion trees being planted in 2007 has been exceeded, partly due to massive reforestation projects in Ethiopia and Mexico. The big push for tree-planting was spearheaded by Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai, as a means to help counter rampant deforestation and to assist in the battle against global warming. Read more.

November 27 - Warmest year on record, mild winter ahead
This year in the Northern Hemisphere has been the warmest since records began being kept 127 years ago, according to the National Climatic Data Center. January to October temperatures averaged 1.3 degrees above normal. The winter forecast for the USA from the Climate Prediction Center predicts milder temperatures, continuing a decade-long trend. Read more

November 26 - Enviro group vows iron seeding action
Iron seeding, which is the dumping of powdered iron ore into the ocean  to promote the growth of algae that will then theoretically suck carbon out of the atmosphere has met with a great deal of skepticism. Planktos, the company trialing "iron seeding", is currently making its way to an area west of the Galapagos Islands - one of the world's most unique ecosystems. Planktos intends to run an experiment with 50 to 100 tonnes of raw iron ore. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society says it will attempt to thwart the trial as they believe the test could threaten the islands. Read more

November 25 - Australia to soon ratify Kyoto?
Australians wake this morning to a new government after 11 years of the Liberal party being in power. Among the climate change related commitments promised by Labor:

• Immediately ratify the Kyoto Protocol;
• Set a 20 per cent Renewable Energy Target by 2020;
• $8000 rebates for solar power, $1000 rebates for solar hot water systems, $500 rebates for grey water piping and rainwater tanks, $500 rebates for landlords to install insulation and $10,000 in low interest Green loans for solar systems and water and energy savings measures.
• Invest $15 million in a Clean Energy Export Strategy;
• Invest $20 million in a Clean Energy Innovation Centre; and
• Invest in a Green Car Innovation Fund to develop and build green cars in Australia.

November 22 - Global warming related jellyfish attack
Billions of jellyfish covering an area of 10 square miles and 35 feet deep have overwhelmed Northern Ireland's only salmon farm, wiping out the stock of 100,000 fish. The species of jellyfish responsible is rarely spotted so far north and scientists cite this recent incident as further evidence of global warming. Read more

November 21 - Global warming effects increasing in Tibet
Receding snow lines, glaciers melting and increasing desertification are becoming increasing threats in Tibet along with other destructive phenomena, according to Chinese meteorological experts. southeast Tibet. Recently, a rare landslide triggered by a thawing snow cap dislodged hundreds of millions of cubic meters of debris; piling it up to 100 meters high and blocking a river. Read more

November 20 - Britain - 80% emissions cut by 2050?
In his first significant environmental discourse since becoming Britain's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has stated Britain will commence research into whether it can commit to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 80% by 2050. Read more 

November 18 - UN - "defining challenge of our age"
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon of the United Nations today released the final report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report concludes that reductions in greenhouse gases must start immediately and emissions growth reversed by 2015 to avert a global climate disaster. Read more

November 17 - China set to hit renewable energy targets
While China is often criticized for its environmental record and resistance to binding emission caps, it has a massive renewable energy sector which looks well placed to achieve and possibly exceed the country's target of garnering 15% of its energy from renewables by 2020. Read more

November 16 - China's power plant emissions to grow 60%
Greenhouse gas emissions from China's coal fired power plants, which are already some of the worst emissions polluters, will rise by approximately 60 percent in the next ten years according to the Washington-based Center for Global Development. Read more.

November 15 - Greenpeace shuts down power plant
15 Greenpeace Australia activists shut down a coal-fired power plant on Australia's NSW Central Coast. The action was to protest against the Australian Government and Opposition's climate change policies, which Greenpeace says will not stop increasing greenhouse emissions. Read more

November 14 - Al Gore partners with venture capital firm
Former US vice-president Al Gore, the man behind the award winning documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, has partnered with one of Silicon Valley's high profile venture capital firms. The aim of the alliance is to speed up the development of technologies needed for a low carbon economy and to assist in the battle against climate change. Read more.

November 13 - Australian sea fertilization trial condemned
An Australia company is planning to dump up to 1000 tonnes of urea into the Sulu Sea in the southern Philippines. The company believes urea increases the growth of phytoplankton which can process large quantities of carbon dioxide. Greenpeace and other environmental groups have condemned the experiment, stating it potentially could have a negative impact on the marine environment. Read more

November 12 - Spain's growing desertification crisis
According to the Centre for Research on Desertification in Spain, nearly a seventh of the country is at high risk of desertification and already 6 percent of the territory of Spain has been irreversibly damaged. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned earlier this year that fresh water in the worst affected Mediterranean countries such as Spain could fall by as much as a third by 2100. Read more

November 11 - Palm oil industry fuelling global warming
The world's increasing demand for cheap palm oil from Indonesia for use in food and biofuels significantly contributing to the climate change crisis. The forests of Indonesia are being cleared at a frightening rate through burning and additionally peat wetlands are being exposed - another major source of carbon dioxide release. Read more

November 10 - Global warming skeptics caught by hoax
A hoax scientific study perpetrated by unknown pranksters has left a number of global warming skeptics red-faced. The bogus study, laced with scientific jargon, suggested ocean bacteria as the cause of global warming. Some skeptics jumped on the information, claiming it to prove that global warming wasn't caused by humans and spread the report among their peers before discovering the information was incorrect. Read more

November 9 - Drought slashes Australian rice crop 98%
The rice crop in the Australian state of New South Wales is expected to be the smallest in nearly 80 years due to the ongoing drought that has cut rice production by more than 98 per cent, with only 15,000 tonnes to be grown this summer. Read more

November 9 - Oregon city plans building carbon tax
In an attempt to stem the growth of greenhouse gas emissions in Portland, Oregon USA; the city's officials plan to levy a tax on builders who build houses that are not energy efficient. Additionally, accompanying the sale of every existing home, an energy efficiency report be would need to be performed by building inspectors. Read more

November 8 - China rejects binding emissions caps
A European Parliament delegation in China for negotiations ahead of a crucial meeting on climate change in Bali next month reports that China has stated it will not accept binding  greenhouse gas emissions caps in any agreement to tackle global warming. China says that rich countries responsible for most of the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere should do more to cut their output. Read more

November 8 - Greenhouse gas levels to rise 57% by 2030
Greenhouse gas emissions will rise by 57 percent over today's levels by 2030, according to a report from the the International Energy Agency (IEA). This will lead to an increase in the surface temperature of the Earth  of at least three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Read more

November 7 - Ethanol fuelling starvation in Swaziland
40% of the people in Swaziland are are facing acute food shortages due to drought, yet their government is now exporting ethanol biofuel made from one of its food staples, cassava. Thousands of acres of farmland in one of the areas worst hit by drought is now dedicated to ethanol production. Read more

November 6 - Global carbon market to double
According to the president of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), carbon emissions trading looks set to likely double to at least $60 billion this year, as investors and polluters seek to make financial gains from reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Read more

November 5 - Climate change war risk to 2.6 billion 
Climate change will compound the risk to 46 nations and 2.7 billion people of armed conflict and war according to peace group International alert. The group states that Bangladesh's climate-driven migration has already begun triggering violent conflict. Read more

November 4 - Rising CO2 levels threaten shellfish
Ocean acidity caused mainly by increased levels of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is looming as a major threat to shellfish as it prevents these creatures from forming their calcium carbonate skeletons and shells. Read more

November 3 - Mexico flood disaster
The Mexican state of Tabasco, approximately the size of Belgium is in the midst of flooding that has seen approximately 80% of its land area under water - with more rain to come. At least 500,000 people have been made homeless by the flooding; around 50% of the state's population. Read more

November 2 - Water restrictions spat ends in murder
An elderly man in Sydney, Australia has died after an altercation about water restrictions escalated into a physical confrontation. The man turned his hose on a passer-by who had made made remarks about him watering his lawn, which prompted a fight between the pair. A 36 year old man has been charged with murder. Read more

November 1 - Atlanta running out of water
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates that Lake Lanier, the city of Atlanta's (Georgia, USA) reservoir, may run dry in about 110 days. The area has received just 25 inches of rain this year, half the usual amount and the population of around half a million are taking a variety of drastic steps to try and decrease water usage. Read more

November 1 - Carbon neutral 2010 Winter Olypmics?
Organizers of the 2010 Winter Olypmic Games to be held north of Vancouver at Whistler Mountain, British Columbia pledged Monday to minimize the environmental footprints of the events before, during and after the Games. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games has set a goal of holding a carbon-neutral set of events that will result in no net emission of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Read more

November 1 - Fires complicate CO2 emissions monitoring. 
Emissions from forest fires account for around five percent of the human-caused total for the United States, but during major fires, such as the recent Californian wildfire crisis, the proportion of fire contributions to CO2 emissions can increase substantially. Read more

November 1 - Solar power - hope for the poor
The sun supplies less than one-tenth of 1 per cent of mankind's energy needs currently, yet generates the equivalent of 164 watts per per square meter per day. A boom in investment in solar power is bringing down costs of the alternative energy source; hopefully to a point that soon many of the world's poor can take advantage of energy from the sun. Read more.