Even though ours is a joke headline, we're not making this story up. It looks like a new political species, the "neo-climatons" are making a political evolutionary jump, now that Al Gore has everyone, including the Washington DC Beltway Pols, believing Climate Change is real. Via: Ottawa Citizen Online:- "Canadian water is on the table at trilateral talks between politicians, businessmen and academics from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. A series of private conferences for the North American Future 2025 Project will include the discussion of "water transfers" and diversions, according to the outline for the project, a trilateral effort to draft a "blueprint" on economic integration for the governments of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico." Go read the whole story; but we put some choice tidbits for you below the fold. Meanwhile, does this kind of talk done in private encourage free LeBatts for the southern neighbors? If so, nice. Finally, and as we've pointed out before, this water transfer scenario is highly implausible. Should a mega-drought hit the US, there won't be the time or the resources to pipe blue Canadian water to enough places in the US to sustain existing culture. What might plausibly happen is that dust-bowl style, plenty of thirsty dry jobless US citizens will be making their way north. We're just saying......

Here is a politician doing something about climate change. Hillary Clinton has introduced the Zero-Emissions Building Act of 2007 which directs federal agencies to immediately require that all new federal buildings or major renovations reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent as compared to a 2003 baseline. In 2010, and every five years after that, the emissions reduction level would increase by 10 percent, until new federal buildings become "zero-emissions" buildings in 2030. The legislation would also apply to major renovations of existing federal buildings.

"This legislation sets an ambitious goal of making new federal buildings carbon neutral by 2030," said Senator Clinton. "Buildings account for 40 percent of global warming pollution in the United States, and the federal government should lead the way in developing building designs and technologies to reduce these emissions."

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San Francisco does it again. A few weeks ago the city banned the use of all plastic shopping bags other than biodegradable and recyclable ones. Now, effective June 1, 2007, the law will require San Francisco food vendors who sell prepared food to use compostable or recyclable to-go containers as well. “San Francisco food vendors may no longer use polystyrene foam otherwise known as Styrofoam™ and must use compostable or recyclable disposable food service ware or to-go containers unless there is no suitable product that is within 15% of the cost of non-compostable or non-recyclable alternatives,” an article said. Compostable products include coated and uncoated paper or other natural fiber products and plant-based plastic-like products that are clearly labeled. We know several restaurants, like Mixt Greens, who already uses the products, but we’re interested to see if more cities will take San Fran’s lead. ::SF Environment Related ::Eco-To-Go ::What to Do with Used Styrofoam...

Well, the folks in Bloomington, Indiana, are just one sweet example of what people are doing across the country tomorrow as part of Step It Up 2007. On the odd chance you haven't heard yet, Step It Up is a nationwide series of events held tomorrow to raise awareness of global warming and convince congress to cut U.S. carbon emissions 80% by the year 2050! And in Bloomington, they'll be teaming up with the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability to give away 300 CFL's as an opening for their "Change A Light, Bloomington!" initiative on April 14th. All told they'll be putting 40k FREE CFL's into their community, and tying it into the Mayor's Agreement to cut Bloomington's carbon emissions 10% by 2012. So if you're in Bloomington tomorrow, make sure to Step It Up and show up to take a FREE light to stop global warming... And as someone who has taken on his own campaign with CFL's, I can tell you that 40K is A TON of free CFL's... So nice job Bloomington! ...

Carbon boom is what we mean. Environment California yesterday released a C02 emissions inventory report which compares California to national and regional trends. Many of the conclusions are familiar; but here it is, laid out in one handy resource. An excellent starting point for policy making, going forward. A few excerpts from the executive summary:- "This report examines trends in U.S. global warming pollution nationally and by state and concludes that the failure to limit emissions nationwide has allowed global warming pollution to grow out of control." Carbon dioxide pollution is on the rise....

The river may be so polluted that you can’t let your dog swim in it; the park may be littered with garbage after a weekend or holiday, but for Tel Avivians, Park Hayarkon is their Central Park and a breath of fresh air from the cement and chaos of the city. Despite a decision of Israel’s Interior Ministry to limit construction in the park, reports Haaretz, the Municipality of Tel Aviv has other plans in store: some 155 dunams of land (38 acres) are now being zoned for new projects -- one of which will include public offices. Trees will be cut down, the river will be widened and in total, about 14% of the park’s open space will be gobbled up (dare we say) probably forever. ...

This fascinating "trail tree" site contains photos of other trees similar to the malformed one pictured here. When I was a kid we called these things 'outhouse trees.' When I was older and sought less humorous explanations, I thought they might be the result of disease or grazing or of a wind felled tree leaning over a sapling. Now comes this report of an amazing group of people using GPS coordinates and digital camera uploads to network an investigation into whether such "Trail Trees" might be relics of Native American navigational systems. Via The Gainsville Georgia Times:- "Mountain Stewards, based in Pickens County, has embarked on a quest to map all of these "trail trees" in North America, and they're looking for volunteers to report sightings throughout Georgia. "This is a story that has been here for hundreds of years but has never been told," said Don Wells, president of Mountain Stewards...Wells began recording the GPS coordinates of the "trail trees" he encountered. Then he took a compass and began drawing lines between them on a map. "I found that in many cases they formed a route," he said. One such path follows along ridge lines, roughly paralleling the current Appalachian Trail...American Indians would take a sapling, usually a white oak, and cut off the primary stem just above one of the branches so that the branch would become the new trunk." A coring study is underway to age the trees. Maybe they are outhouse trees and the joke is on us. Or maybe not. Check it out some more at the Trail Tree Blog. The full project description is linked from the stewards site. Image credit:- the Hazelwood Trail Tree, in State of Georgia USA ...

Via MSNBC: -TOKYO - China said Wednesday it will take part in negotiations on a framework for limiting global warming after 2012, when the Kyoto climate treaty expires. In the statement issued after a meeting between visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the two sides expressed "political will" to work towards resolving the climate change issue through international cooperation. "The two sides will ... actively participate in the process on building an effective framework from 2013 and beyond," they said in the document. Image credit: NASA; Chinese dust storm heads into Sea of Japan...

Bloomberg reports that California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the Global Environment Conference at Washington's Georgetown University had a message for US carmakers: "I say, Arnold to Michigan: get off your butt and join us. California may be doing more to save U.S. automakers than anyone else. We are pushing them to make changes. If they don't change someone else will, the Japanese will, the Chinese will, the South Koreans will." Of course, Detroit wasn't too happy about that. A US representative from Michigan said that California's fuel economy standards would cost the automakers $85 billion (but, even if that number is correct and not just a scare tactic, how much will it cost them not to become more efficient?), and a spokesman for DaimlerChrysler said that they have been innovating like "never before". Clearly they are not very receptive....

Moving generally ranks right up there with a trip to the dentist as far as activities we dread. For a treehugger, that dread may be compounded by the seemingly inevitable amount of waste created: the cardboard boxes, wadded-up newspaper, packing peanuts and/or bubble wrap all tend to go straight to the curb or dumpster once they've served their purpose. Springwise highlights a Southern California company, Earth Friendly Moving, that's trying to lessen the waste created by offering clients a range of "zero-waste" moving products designed either for reuse or eco-friendly disposal. At the heart of EFM's system is the RecoPack, a reusable container made from "...all of those hard-to-recycle colorful plastic bottles from under your kitchen sink, laundry room and garage shelves." They come in a variety of sizes, rent for $1 a week, and the company even delivers them to clients in trucks powered by a combination of biofuel and vegetable oil. Those trucks also double as a "paper mill": the vehicle's engines power an alternator that creates electricity for making the company's Geami Packing Paper at the site of the delivery. Other elements of the Earth Friendly Move include biodegradable Recocube packing pellets and Poopy Pallets made from recycled disposable diapers....

Fears of water and ground pollution from waste are justified, but concerns about the world being buried under garbage seem a bit excessive, no? Perhaps not if you live amongst the stuff. A recent survey of Chinese citizens by China Youth Daily found that 75 percent of those people polled feared that one day the world will be covered in trash. No wonder: for 23 percent of those surveyed, garbage hills can be seen everywhere in the places they are living. China’s cities generate an average of 120 million tons of garbage annually, a number growing at a rate of 8 percent a year. Garbage fees are not the only answer. Fortunately, consumer awareness-raising campaigns (like Global Village Beijing's new Plastic Bag Reduction Network) are becoming more common. But the trash problem, especially in rural areas, is set to get worse before it gets better. Along the east coast, in recycling meccas like Guiyu (above), much of the trash pile is made up of our shiny stuff (iPods and Powerbooks and phones), sent back to its country of origin in the form of toxic-tinged computer waste. ...

This TreeHugger has always found the idea of patio heaters a little absurd – if it’s not warm enough to sit outside, why not move indoors? It would seem the folks at Wyevale Garden Centres agree. According to Friends of the Earth UK, the leading UK chain has announced that all of its stores will stop selling patio heaters due to concerns over their contribution to climate change. Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Craig Bennett welcomed the move:

"We're delighted that Wyevale has decided to stop selling patio heaters, and urge other retailers to follow suit. Using a patio heater for just one hour can waste enough energy to make 400 cups of tea. Climate change is the biggest threat the planet faces and the responsible thing for companies to do is to stop selling the most polluting products".

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