NewsRack: 'Legal Strategies' news in 'Climate Change' topic for user Genecampaign

Barack Obama must act like a true leader \| Observer editorial	19.5.2013	Guardian: Comment is Free
It is always hard for an American president in the second term, but both his country and the world need Obama to show strength and courage and put scandal behind him It is a simple fact of American politics that power starts to fade away from a second-term president almost from the moment they are sworn in. Theoretically freed from the chains of having ever to seek re-election, they soon find that America's all too self-interested professional politicians are suddenly aware that the current occupant of the Oval Office will not be around in four years. The ability to cajole and bully Congress – and even members of their own party – and get them to pass laws – starts to evaporate. Add to that the propensity of second terms to see presidency-defining scandal – think Monica Lewinsky, think Iran-Contra – and it is no wonder that many re-elected presidents seem simply to be waiting around for the term "lame duck" to be applied. But even by the super-charged standards of the modern news cycle, ...
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UK's climate change adaptation team cut from 38 officials to just six	17.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
Former senior official John Ashton attacks government for 'spooking potential investors' in energy infrastructure The number of people employed by the government to work on the UK's response to the effects of climate change has been cut from 38 officials to just six, triggering accusations that David Cameron's promise to be the greenest government has been abandoned. The UK is facing a multi-billion pound bill over the next few years for the costs of adapting to the effects of climate change – including flooding , much fiercer storms, droughts, heatwaves and more extreme weather. The government's advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, have warned that the measures needed to prepare the UK's infrastructure will include defences for power stations, transport and communication networks, changes to how buildings are constructed, and new ways of trying to prevent flooding, such as an upgrade to the Thames Barrier. But the number of officials charged with dealing with the issue within the ...
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Australia's 'unpopular' carbon price isn't to blame for Labor's poor polling \| Alexander White	17.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
Claims that Julia Gillard's unpopularity were linked to her introduction of carbon pricing in 2012 don't stack up Since the disappointment of Copenhagen in 2009 , Australia has witnessed a concerted scare campaign against action on global warming. The scare campaign has been led by senior commentators in (Murdoch owned) News Limited papers, by conservative radio shock-jocks on the airwaves, and in parliament by extremist opposition party leader Tony Abbott. From the moment Australia's carbon pricing legislation package, the Clean Energy Future Act, was announced Tony Abbott has barnstormed from one end of Australia to another, declaring a "blood oath" that repealing the carbon price would be his first priority if elected: "I am giving you the most definite commitment any politician can give that this tax will go. This is a pledge in blood." Behind this incendiary phrase is Abbott's own climate change policy, a mishmash of ineffective handouts to industry to "clean up" polluting power ...
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Climate research nearly unanimous on human causes, survey finds	16.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
Of more than 4,000 academic papers published over 20 years, 97.1% agreed that climate change is anthropogenic A survey of thousands of peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals has found 97.1% agreed that climate change is caused by human activity. Authors of the survey, published on Thursday in the journal Environmental Research Letters , said the finding of near unanimity provided a powerful rebuttal to climate contrarians who insist the science of climate change remains unsettled. The survey considered the work of some 29,000 scientists published in 11,994 academic papers. Of the 4,000-plus papers that took a position on the causes of climate change only 0.7% or 83 of those thousands of academic articles, disputed the scientific consensus that climate change is the result of human activity, with the view of the remaining 2.2% unclear. The study described the dissent as a "vanishingly small proportion" of published research. "Our findings prove that there is a strong ...
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Country diary: Wenlock Edge: A dawn chorus of reckless confidence	15.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
Wenlock Edge: Do peregrine falcons, sparrowhawks, kestrels and tawny owls join in with this collective expression of bird-ness? Or do they see it as an act of their prey's resistance? Cuck-oo … cuck-oo, unmistakable sounds follow first light through a gap in the curtains. But maybe I am mistaken. Maybe I'm crafting cuckoo song out of the louder fragments of a woodpigeon's call? No, it's a cuckoo, the first I've heard for years so close to home. That would mean the world's all right; that those forces corroding seasonal certainties were weakening; that the spirit of spring has returned, alive and well? The harder I listen, the further I fall into the realisation that my desire to delude myself is stronger than my need to face up to the truth. It's a bloody wood pigeon. I go outside, step into the dawn chorus. The air is cool and damp. The soft green light is like peering into a pond and the birdsong sounds as if it's coming from underwater. Birds are singing together and their communal power ...
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US windfarms avoiding prosecution for eagle deaths	14.5.2013	The Guardian -- World Latest
More than 83,000 hunting birds are killed by windfarms each year but no wind energy company has been fined The Obama administration has never fined or prosecuted a windfarm for killing eagles and other protected bird species, shielding the industry from liability and helping keep the scope of the deaths secret, an Associated Press investigation has found. More than 573,000 birds are killed by the country's windfarms each year, including 83,000 hunting birds such as hawks, falcons and eagles, according to an estimate published in March in the peer-reviewed Wildlife Society Bulletin . Each death is federal crime, a charge that the Obama administration has used to prosecute oil companies when birds drown in their waste pits, and power companies when birds are electrocuted by their power lines. No wind energy company has been prosecuted, even those that repeatedly flout the law. Wind power, a pollution-free energy intended to ease global warming, is a cornerstone of President Barack ...
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Key climate change adviser resigns from Cameron post	10.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
Ben Moxham, senior policy adviser and former aide to BP chief Lord Browne, becomes latest energy official to quit A key adviser to the prime minister on energy and climate change policies has resigned, in the latest of an exodus of top energy and environmental officials. Ben Moxham was David Cameron's senior policy adviser on energy and the environment for nearly two years, having been previously an aide to Lord Browne, former chief executive of BP who is a partner at the venture capital firm Riverstone. Moxham cut a controversial figure at No 10, with some in the energy industry regarding him as a progressive force pushing the energy and climate change agenda forward, while others believed he stalled key green policies. Some also raised questions over his links to BP and the fracking firm Cuadrilla Resources, backed by Browne and Riverstone. A No 10 spokeswoman refused to confirm or deny whether Moxham had yet formally departed. His resignation follows an exodus of top energy ...
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Democrat backers urge Obama to reject pipeline	10.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
Letter signed by 150 prominent donors says project is the most important environmental decision of presidency • Read the letter here The biggest backers of the Democratic causes urged Barack Obama on Friday to take historic action on climate change by rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline. In a letter seen by the Guardian , 150 high-profile figures, who between them raised millions for Obama's two election campaigns, urged the president to use the next four years to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. "Yours is the last presidency in which it is possible for America to choose a responsible path forward for itself, before climate disruption becomes unmanageably dangerous," the letter said. Opponents of the pipeline fear the project seems headed for approval, despite Obama's promises to act on climate change in his second term. Obama told a group at a west coast fundraiser last month: "the politics of this are tough." The letter contends that the Keystone XL ...
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Charles: 'Climate change sceptics are turning Earth into dying patient'	10.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
Heir to throne intervenes on issue dividing coalition, making outspoken criticism of attempts to tackle global warming Prince Charles has attacked corporate lobbyists and climate change sceptics for turning the Earth into a "dying patient", making his most outspoken criticism yet of the world's failure to tackle global warming just when the heir to the throne is assuming a growing number of the duties of what is supposed to be an apolitical monarchy. Hosting a two-day conference for forest scientists at St James's Palace in London, the Prince of Wales satirised those who stand in the way of climate action, characterising them as "the confirmed sceptics" and "the international association of corporate lobbyists". Faced with these forces of opposition, "science finds itself up the proverbial double blind gum tree", he added. At the debate on environmental issues, hours after the prince attended the Queen's speech, Charles attacked businesses which failed to care for the environment and ...
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Declaration of the Year 2013 as “Water Conservation Year-2013” (Cached)	9.5.2013	Govt of india: PIB
Declaration of the Year 2013 as “Water Conservation Year-2013”
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Prince Charles attacks global warming sceptics	9.5.2013	The Guardian -- Front Page
Prince uses speech at St James's Palace to single out 'confirmed sceptics' and environmentally unfriendly businesses The Prince of Wales has criticised "corporate lobbyists" and climate change sceptics for turning the earth into a "dying patient", in his most outspoken attack yet on the world's failure to tackle global warming. He attacked businesses who failed to care for the environment, and compared the current generation to a doctor taking care of a critically ill patient. "If you think about the impact of climate change, [it should be how] a doctor would deal with the problem," he told an audience of government ministers, from the UK and abroad, as well as businesspeople and scientists. "A scientific hypothesis is tested to absolute destruction, but medicine can't wait. If a doctor sees a child with a fever, he can't wait for [endless] tests. He has to act on what is there." He added: "The risk of delay is so enormous that we can't wait until we are absolutely sure the patient is ...
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Climate changes could bring malaria to the UK	5.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
Health experts warn of growing threat from 'exotic' diseases Leading health experts are urging the government to take action against the growing threat that mosquito-borne diseases, including potentially fatal malaria, could soon arrive in the UK. The disturbing recommendation to "act now before it is too late" is being made as a growing body of evidence indicates that what were once thought of as tropical diseases are being found ever closer to the UK. Health experts meeting at the annual public health conference of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health later this week will hear that rising incidences of a growing list of pest-borne diseases are now a "serious" cause for concern in the UK. The conference will be told that it would be complacent to think that diseases such as dengue fever, malaria and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, now present on the European continent but once considered "exotic and confined to faraway places", will not emerge in the UK. "With ...
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Vice President inaugurates International Centre for Environment Audit & Sustainable Development at Jaipur (Cached)	4.5.2013	Govt of india: PIB
Vice President inaugurates International Centre for Environment Audit & Sustainable Development at Jaipur
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1st Meeting of the Dvisoray Board for Implementation of National Water Mission Moots Concerted Efforts for Achieving the Identified Goals of the Mission (Cached)	2.5.2013	Govt of india: PIB
1st Meeting of the Dvisoray Board for Implementation of National Water Mission Moots Concerted Efforts for Achieving the Identified Goals of the Mission
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Older and disabled people 'put off' energy efficiency schemes	2.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
Complexity and fear of taking on debt are significant concerns, unpublished government research shows Older and disabled people are put off the government's flagship energy efficiency programmes because of their complexity and fear of taking on debt, unpublished government research shows. Focus groups commissioned by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc) to assess the "perceptions" and "potential take-up" of the green deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) found significant concerns, a freedom of information request has revealed . The green deal facilitates loans - paid back via energy bills - to allow property owners to make energy-saving improvements. The ECO was introduced in January to work alongside the green deal to force energy companies to help low-income and vulnerable groups to make similar improvements. National Energy Action , a charity funded by Decc, conducted focus groups in March of "older people, families and households with disabilities and long-term ...
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Climate change compounds rising threats to koala	30.4.2013	The Guardian -- World Latest
Australia's iconic marsupial is at risk from shrinking habitats, road traffic and dog attacks – and increasingly, global warming Australia's iconic marsupial is under threat. Formerly hunted almost to extinction for their woolly coats, koalas are now struggling to survive as habitat destruction caused by droughts and bushfires, land clearing for agriculture and logging, and mining and urban development conspire against this cuddly creature. In the past 20 years, the koala population has significantly declined, dropping by 40 percent in the state of Queensland and by a third in New South Wales (NSW). The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) estimates that there are between 45,000 and 90,000 koalas left in the wild. Shrinking habitat and climate change is compounding the risk of disease, while attacks from feral and domestic dogs and road accidents add to a long list of risks that this arboreal mammal faces as it moves across the landscape in search of food. It is estimated that around ...
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Disposal of E-waste (Cached)	29.4.2013	Govt of india: PIB
Disposal of E-waste
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Contract Labour (Cached)	29.4.2013	Govt of india: PIB
Contract Labour
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Abolition of Child Labour (Cached)	29.4.2013	Govt of india: PIB
Abolition of Child Labour
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Facilities to Sanitation Workers (Cached)	29.4.2013	Govt of india: PIB
Facilities to Sanitation Workers
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