emissions

Published: 12/6/10

Old Fights Plague Climate Talks in Cancun

By Betwa Sharma - AOL News

CANCUN, Mexico (Dec. 6) -- Deep, longstanding divisions between industrialized powers and developing nations over how to fight global warming are festering as negotiators today begin their second week of talks on climate change. The developed world wants emerging economies like China and India to take a greater role in reducing carbon emissions, but those countries insist that rich nations have a "historic responsibility" to reduce greenhouse gases. Developing countries also argue that they will need to continue to depend on fossil fuels to help their economies grow. "We need three aspects ...

Published: 10/11/10

Planes Don't Kill People -- Plane Exhaust Does

By Katie Drummond - AOL News

(Oct. 11) -- If you can't fly the friendly skies without a stiff drink or a sedative, take note: The fumes from airplanes are to blame for more annual deaths than actual airplane crashes. Maybe not the most reassuring of factoids, but one that offers a reminder of just how safe (relatively speaking) air travel really is. What's so deadly about airplane exhaust? Much like the exhaust that pours out of your car, plane fuel emits pollutants (like sulfur dioxide, for example). The particles are tiny, and that's what makes them so deadly: They can easily enter the human bloodstream and cause ...

Published: 09/7/10

New Eco-App Declares U2 Bad for the Planet

By Alex Eichler - AOL News

(Sept. 7) -- Justin Bieber's place in the musical canon may be a matter of debate, but from an environmental standpoint, at least, he's on the side of the angels. Bieber is one of a number of artists -- along with Jay-Z, Lady Gaga and the Georgia indie-pop band Of Montreal -- to be designated an "Earth Saver" by a new app that measures a touring act's carbon footprint. The app, Earth Destroyers, calculates how many pounds of carbon dioxide an artist produces by touring. Using data from the tracking site Bandsintown, artists are classified as either good or bad for the planet depending on how ...

Published: 01/8/10

EPA Proposes Stricter Smog Standards

By David Sessions - Politics Daily

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed lowering limits for smog set during the Bush administration, a move the New York Times reports would cost manufacturers, oil refiners and utilities billions of dollars. The new standard would lower ground-level ozone limit from 0.075 parts per million to 0.070 and then to 0.060 parts per million over the next 20 years. Heavy smog areas, like most of California, Chicago, and Houston, would be given longer to adopt the new limits. The Bush administration standard has been challenged in court as too weak to protect public health. The ...

Published: 12/8/09

'Danish Text' Sends Copenhagen Climate Summit Into Disarray

By David Sessions - Politics Daily

A proposal dubbed the "Danish Text" caused outrage and dissention when it was leaked to The Guardian during day two of the major climate summit taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark, this week. The document -- in which the United States, United Kingdom, and Denmark were supposedly involved -- proposed shifting the authority behind climate regulation from the United Nations to the more financially minded World Bank, a plan that angered developing countries. Representatives of African non-government organizations burst into angry chants over the document on Tuesday afternoon, Politico reported. ...

Published: 12/7/09

E.P.A. Rules Greenhouse Gases Dangerous, Sets Up Carbon Regulation

By David Sessions - Politics Daily

At a press event Monday afternoon in Washington, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it has ruled greenhouse gases are a threat to public health, opening the door for the regulation of carbon emissions from automobiles, power plants, and other sources. "These long-overdue findings cement 2009's place in history as the year when the United States government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean-energy reform," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "This continues our work towards clean energy reform that will cut GHGs ...

Published: 09/9/09

Chaos Theory - Cap and Trade at the Bada Bing

By Robert and Donna Trussell - Politics Daily

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Published: 06/24/09

Climate Change Accord On Horizon in 'Hopenhagen'

By Ria Misra - Politics Daily

After getting some attention during President Obama's press conference on Tuesday, climate change legislation that would cut greenhouse emissions 17 percent by 2020 looks likely to pass the House by the end of the week. But climate change plans for reducing greenhouse emissions are a little like playing baseball -- hard to do alone. Even as nations work individually on their own climate change policies, they're also looking ahead to a planned summit in Copenhagen in December. ...

Published: 01/26/09

Obama Clears the Way for State Regulation of Car Emissions

By Mark Impomeni - Politics Daily

President Barack Obama announced today that his Administration would reconsider a Bush Administration policy which refused to grant California and several other states the authority to regulate emissions from automobiles and light trucks at standards tougher than those set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The decision could potentially mean that the already struggling U.S. auto industry will have to retool factories and revamp their fleets in order to meet a raft of new regulations in different regions of the country.Speaking from the East Room in the White House, President ...