From an article in Tchnology Review:

Fossil fuels are the backbone of economies worldwide, so governments spend a lot to support them. A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance says altogether governments spent between $43 anf $46 billion on renewable energy and biofuels last year, not including indirect support, such as subsidies to corn farmers that help ethanol production. Direct subsidies of fossil fuels came to $557 billion, the report says.

Read the story here

From an article in the Independent (UK):

The microscopic plants that support all life in the oceans are dying off at a dramatic rate, according to a study that has documented for the first time a disturbing and unprecedented change at the base of the marine food web.

Scientists have discovered that the phytoplankton of the oceans has declined by about 40 per cent over the past century, with much of the loss occurring since the 1950s. They believe the change is linked with rising sea temperatures and global warming.

If the findings are confirmed by further studies it will represent the single biggest change to the global biosphere in modern times, even bigger than the destruction of the tropical rainforests and coral reefs, the scientists said yesterday.

Read the full article here

The Green Party was this morning celebrating having its first MP in Britain with the election of Caroline Lucas.

She won the Brighton Pavillion constituency from Labour in what many consider is the nation's most 'alternative' city.

The leader of the Greens was regarded as the frontrunner but there were fears of a surge by the Liberal Democrats amid the excitement surrounding Nick Clegg. 

Read full article in the Independent

A highly informative and disturbing talk from one of the world's chief ocean ecologists. Well worth a look. Runs a little less than 18 minutes.

In a press release on the auto maker's website was a little blurb.

Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency.

Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last year's inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world's response has been feeble and half-hearted.

Below is an interesting exercise in organizing ideas as a group - in this case, ideas about Copenhagen. Please visit The Independent (UK news) for more information.

The structure of the map is like a wiki – every aspect is provisional, and open to further iterative improvement – and everyone can add new points and comments to the map.

The arguments on the map also interlink with those on the The Independent’s wider map on climate change, which has been buidling online over the last six months.

The aim is to weave together and rate all of the salient issues, positions and arguments in a single rich, transparent structure – in which each idea and argument is expressed just once – so that anyone can explore quickly and gain a good sense of the perceived merits of the relevant ideas.

You can move around the map by clicking on the spheres: clicking on the smallest coloured spheres takes you deeper into an argument, clicking on the largest sphere takes you back up.

The Pembina Institute and David Suzuki Foundation have produced an impressive new report, financed by the Toronto Dominion Bank, detailing the economic implications of achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets.  This report confirms earlier economic studies on the potential for improving energy productivity (such as the Kyoto and Beyond study written by energy analyst Ralph Torrie for CANnet and the David Suzuki Foundation in 2002) and essentially modeling the Green Party plan presented in Vision Green.

Location(s)

This is a free, ticketed event, open to the public.

A terrifying glimpse of the not-too-distant future, when climate change will force the world’s powers into a desperate struggle for advantage and even survival from one of the world’s great geopolitical analysts.

This is a free, ticketed event, open to the public. To reserve your tickets, please call (705) 748-1011 ext. 6205, or send an e-mail to dyerlecture@trentu.ca.

The Tories are flirting with a majority. Can Stephen Harper be trusted to govern for all the people?

Two Options to fill in for the poll.

A) No way. He's all about divide and conquer.

B) Yes. He's a Changed man