The coal binge. The world has been bringing new power plants on-line at a rate of 2 every week for 5 years: “some 1 billion tons of new carbon-dioxide emissions … nearly a third of human-generated global CO2 emissions.”
China accounted for two-thirds of them. The U.S., “in the next five years … is slated to add 37.7 gigawatts of capacity, enough to produce 247.8 million tons of CO2 per year … That would vault the US to second place – just ahead of India – in adding new capacity … more than 150 coal-fired power plants that don't sequester their emissions.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070322/ts_csm/akyoto
Polar bear and two sows, Beaufort Sea coast, Fish & Wildlfie Service
38,000 square miles a year: Arctic sea ice is being lost at a greater rate than expected. “Rapidly thinning Arctic sea ice may have reached a tipping point that threatens to disrupt global weather patterns, bringing intense winter storms and heavier rainfall to western Europe, scientists warn today.” The ice “could vanish from the Arctic ocean completely as early as 2040.” This will “have a dramatic impact on polar bears and other species that hunt among the ice floes, but it will also trigger erratic shifts in climate that will be felt around the world.”
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2035308,00.html
