The Obama Transition

Obama Announces New Science Advisor and Head of NOAA. By Barack Obama, Change.gov, December 12, 2008, video and text. "Whether it's the science to slow global warming; the technology to protect our troops and confront bioterror and weapons of mass destruction; the research to find life-saving cures; or the innovations to remake our industries and create twenty-first century jobs-today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation. It is time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America's place as the world leader in science and technology... Dr. John Holdren has agreed to serve as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. John... has been one of the most passionate and persistent voices of our time about the growing threat of climate change. I look forward to his wise counsel in the years ahead... Dr. Jane Lubchenco has accepted my nomination as the Administrator of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is devoted to conserving our marine and coastal resources and monitoring our weather. [She is] an internationally known environmental scientist and ecologist and former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science... and I am confident she will provide passionate and dedicated leadership at NOAA."

Advocates for Action on Global Warming Chosen as Obama's Top Science Advisers. By Juliet Eilperin and Joel L. Achenbach, WashPost, December 19, 2008. "President-elect Barack Obama has selected two of the nation's most prominent scientific advocates for a vigorous response to climate change to serve in his administration's top ranks, according to sources, sending the strongest signal yet that he will reverse Bush administration policies on energy and global warming. The appointments of Harvard physicist John Holdren as presidential science adviser and Oregon State marine biologist Jane Lubchenco as head of the NOAA, which will be announced tomorrow, dismayed conservatives but heartened environmentalists and researchers. Like Energy Secretary-designate Steven Chu... Holdren and Lubchenco have argued repeatedly for a mandatory limit on greenhouse gas emissions to avert catastrophic climate change... In 2007, as chairman of the board of the AAAS, Holdren oversaw approval of the board's first statement on global warming, which said: 'It is time to muster the political will for concerted action'... While NOAA has traditionally favored commercial fishing interests in policy disputes, Lubchenco has consistently called for conservation measures to safeguard ocean ecosystems in the face of industry opposition... Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists... said, 'You've got people in key places across the administration that get the urgency of the climate issue and get the need for aggressive policy to move climate solutions forward, both in the U.S. and internationally.'"

Obama Announces Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture. By Barack Obama, Change.gov, December 17, 2008, video and text. "I am pleased to announce two other key advisors and members of this team - Governor Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture and Senator Ken Salazar as Secretary of the Interior. Together, they will serve as guardians of the American landscape on which the health of our economy and the well-being of our families so heavily depend... With the appointments I announced earlier this week, and those I am announcing today, I am confident that we have the team we need to make the rural agenda America's agenda, to create millions of new green jobs, to free our nation from its dependence on oil, and to help preserve this planet for our children. In the end, that is not only our responsibility as Americans, it is our obligation as stewards of God's Earth.

"Ken Salazar will bring to the Department of the Interior an abiding commitment to this land we love. His family has farmed and ranched the same land in Colorado for five generations. As a Senator from the great state of Colorado, he has been a champion for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities - from building a clean energy economy to setting aside 250,000 acres of Rocky Mountain National Park as wilderness... As a water lawyer for a decade, Ken was also chosen to lead Colorado's Department of Natural Resources. In that role, he promoted responsible water management, balanced use of our energy resources, and built one of the most successful land conservation efforts in the nation... Among the many responsibilities Ken will bear as our next Secretary of the Interior is helping ensure that we finally live up to the treaty obligations that are owed to the First Americans. We need more than just a government-to-government relationship; we need a nation-to-nation relationship. And Ken and I will work together to make sure that tribal nations have a voice in this administration.

"To lead a Department of Agriculture that helps unlock the potential of a 21st century agricultural economy, I can think of no one better than Tom Vilsack. As Governor of one of our most abundant farm states, he led with vision, promoting biotech to strengthen our farmers and fostering an agricultural economy of the future... As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Tom will not only help ensure that rural America has a true partner in implementing the Farm Bill and pursuing agricultural research, but that Washington is looking out for everyone from the small family farms that are feeding our communities to the large farms that are feeding the world. When President Lincoln established the Department of Agriculture nearly a century and a half ago, he called it the 'people's department' for it was meant to serve the interests of those who lived off the land. And I know it will be the people's department once more when Tom is at the helm."

Salazar at Interior: For Greens, Not a Dream Choice. By Bryan Walsh, Time, December 19, 2008. "Environmentalists have so far been ecstatic over President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet picks, with some even calling it the green dream team... [But his pick of] Ken Salazar as his new Secretary of the Interior... could represent Obama's first conflict with the environmental community. Although mainstream green groups like Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) were quick to praise Salazar -- Dan Grossman, head of EDF's Rocky Mountain office, calls Salazar a 'rare talent' -- other environmentalists were far less impressed. 'His environmental record is pretty mixed,' says Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, based in Tucson, Ariz. 'He's far from the most antienvironmental guy out there, but he's no environmental hero.' The chief complaints about Salazar -- a rancher who worked as Colorado's attorney general before his election to the Senate in 2004 -- center on his ties to the ranching and mining industries and some of his votes as a Senator... A relatively conservative Democrat, typical of the new centrist Western wing of the party. Salazar voted in favor of President George W. Bush's Interior Secretary nominee Gale Norton, who has been roundly criticized for her mismanagement of the beleaguered department."

Organic Consumers Launch Campaign to Block Vilsack's Confirmation. Press Release, Organic Consumers Association, December 19, 2008. "Wednesday's announcement that former Iowa Governor, Tom Vilsack, has been selected as the new Secretary of Agriculture sent a chill through the sustainable food and farming community who have been lobbying for a champion in the new administration. 'Vilsack's nomination sends the message that dangerous, untested, unlabeled genetically engineered crops will be the norm in the Obama Administration,' said Ronnie Cummins, Executive Director of Organic Consumers Association. 'Our nation's future depends on crafting a forward-thinking strategy to promote organic and sustainable food and farming, and address the related crises of climate change, diminishing energy supplies, deteriorating public health, and economic depression'... Over the past month, Organic Consumers Association members have sent over 20,000 emails to President-Elect Obama's Transition Team, calling for the appointment of a Secretary of Agriculture who would develop and implement a plan that promotes family-scale farming, a safe and nutritious food system, and a sustainable and organic vision for the future... The OCA has launched http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=xR9ae%2FeaveuSeLFmUmTaj9gQAAR6kJKZ to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people to oppose Vilsack's Senate confirmation through an online petition. Additionally, OCA's nationwide network of 850,000 organic consumers are urging members of Congress to move beyond business as usual and implement a comprehensive strategy for organic food and farming in 2009 and beyond."

Obama Presents His Green Team. By Barack Obama, Change.gov, December 16, 2008, video and text. "In the next few years, the choices that we make will help determine the kind of country - and world - that we will leave to our children and grandchildren. All of us know the problems rooted in our addiction to foreign oil - it constrains our economy, shifts wealth to hostile regimes, and leaves us dependent on unstable regions. These urgent dangers are eclipsed only by the long-term threat of climate change, which - unless we act - will lead to drought and famine abroad, devastating weather patterns and terrible storms on our shores, and the disappearance of our coastline at home... we cannot fail, nor be lulled into complacency simply because the price at the pump has - for now - gone down from $4 a gallon... We can create millions of jobs, starting with a 21st Century Economic Recovery Plan that puts Americans to work building wind farms, solar panels, and fuel-efficient cars... Just as we work to reduce our own emissions, we must forge international solutions to ensure that every nation is doing its part. As we do so, America will lead not just at the negotiating table -- we will lead, as we always have, through innovation and discovery; through hard work and the pursuit of a common purpose. The Team that I have assembled here today is uniquely suited to meet the great challenges of this defining moment. They are leading experts and accomplished managers, and they are ready to reform government and help transform our economy so that our people are more prosperous, our nation is more secure, and our planet is protected."

Chu is a Great Energy Pick. By Joseph Romm, Grist, December 15, 2008. "Here are the top five reasons Steven Chu is one of the best cabinet picks in recent memory: 5) His 'views on climate change would be among the most forceful ever held by a cabinet member.' He said last year, scientists had come to 'realize that the climate is much more sensitive than we thought' (see Scientists are Underestimating Climate Change, Part I). He said people who said they were uncertain whether climate change is being caused by humans were 'reminiscent of the dialogue in the 1950s and '60s on tobacco.' In a speech earlier this year, he said that climate change of the scale we face 'will cause enormous resource wars, over water, arable land, and massive population displacements... We're talking about hundreds of millions to billions of people being flooded out, permanently." 4) As a Chinese American and Nobel Prize winner, he will be uniquely poised to help enable the crucial energy and climate negotiations the Obama team must undertake immediately with the world's other big emitter... 3) He has experience running a major DOE lab, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, so he knows the archaic and bureaucratic DOE system well... 2) The lab he runs is responsible for developing the technologies that have paid for all the clean energy research the tax payers have ever supported. So while even the most knowledgeable clean energy experts focus too much on supply side solutions, Chu will ensure efficiency gets the equal time it deserves. 1) He isn't fooled by clean coal claptrap. Earlier this year he said, 'Coal is my worst nightmare.'"

Hard Task for New Team on Energy and Climate. By John M. Broder and Andrew C. Revkin, NYTimes, December 15, 2008. "The intense ideological and regional rivalries that have stalled climate change legislation in Congress for years have not suddenly melted away... The new team faces political urgency to deliver on promises made by Mr. Obama on the campaign trail. One was his pledge to use a cap-and-trade bill for curbing heat-trapping gases as both the means of shifting investments away from energy sources that cause emissions of such gases and also as the source of the $15 billion a year he promised to invest in advanced energy technology. That figure may be dwarfed by spending on stimulus programs, including so-called green projects like building wind farms and making buildings more energy efficient... Left unclear on Monday was how the new president's advisers intend to use the levers of government to get to the 'new energy economy' Mr. Obama described. Also uncertain was what relationship they would forge with his powerful economic advisers. 'In policy terms, I think there are big questions about what priority will be given to direct public infrastructure spending versus tax-based incentives versus environmental markets versus direct regulation,' said Paul Bledsoe of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan advisory group. 'There is still a very profound debate on all of that.'"

Advice for the President-Elect

Environmentalists Weigh in with Their Advice to Obama. Opinion, YaleEnviro360, December 18, 2008. "[We] asked a wide-ranging group of environmental activists, scientists, and thinkers to answer the following question: If you were advising Barack Obama, what would you tell him are the most important environmental and energy initiatives that he should launch during his first 100 days?... Here are their responses: Bill McKibben... Rajendra K. Pachauri... Mindy Lubber... Paul Hawken... Joseph Romm... Frances Beinecke... Fred Krupp... David W. Orr... Van Jones... William K. Reilly... Paul and Anne Ehrlich... Betsy Taylor... Bill Chameides."

Washington Post Urges Obama to Consider Carbon Tax Over Cap-and-Trade. Editorial, WashPost, December 14, 2008. "President-elect Barack Obama wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. He would accomplish this by auctioning all of the emission allowances that would be available through a cap-and-trade system that would put an annual declining cap on the number of pollution permits. The European Union created its own cap-and-trade system in response to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. But European experience shows that this complicated regime is no guarantee of success... To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lessen dependence on fossil fuels, there must be a price on carbon. A cap-and-trade system is the easiest way to integrate into an international regime, but its pitfalls are legion. A gas tax would be simpler and less subject to bureaucratic manipulation and undermining by lobbying interests. It would be the easiest way to change behavior, meet emissions targets and spark the innovation that will produce the next generation of energy production that will save the planet. We hope that Mr. Obama will give this approach serious consideration as he takes up the mantle of leadership on global warming that President Bush shunned."

Friends of the Earth Calls for Removing Road Building from Obaman Stimulus Plan. By S.A. Miller, WashTimes, December 16, 2008. "Friends of the Earth on Monday attacked President-elect Barack Obama's call for an economic stimulus package heavy on new infrastructure projects, saying it's a road to pollution. The 39-year-old environmental group launched a new Web site (www.roadtonowhere.org) and announced plans for ads, grass-roots mobilization and lobbying of Congress to keep new construction of roads out of a stimulus bill. 'More roads mean more pollution and more dependence on oil -- hurting our economy, security and climate,' Friends of the Earth's Colin Peppard said. The group said transportation is responsible for 30 percent of the United States' global-warming pollution and nearly 70 percent of its oil use, and that 10 miles of new four-lane highway would result in emissions equivalent to the lifetime emissions of more than 45,000 Hummers. Mr. Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress have made building roads, bridges and schools a cornerstone of a stimulus that could cost between $600 billion and $1 trillion."

The Bush Ending

EPA Pollution Exemption Rule Struck Down by Court Ruling. By Juliet Eilperin, WashPost, December 20, 2008. "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit yesterday struck down an exemption that for nearly 15 years has allowed refineries, chemical plants and other industrial facilities to exceed federal air pollution limits during certain periods of operation. Environmental groups hailed the ruling, which overturned a provision, enacted under President Bill Clinton, that permits industrial operations that are starting up, shutting down or malfunctioning to emit more toxins into the air than is normally allowed. The EPA and an array of business groups argued that the exemption was essential, but the court determined that it was illegal... The agency created the exemption in 1994, and Bush administration officials broadened the interpretation of the provision over time. This made it subject to judicial review, and a coalition of advocacy groups... challenged the provision's legality in court."

EPA Eases Emissions Regulations for New Power Plants. By David Fahrenthold and Steven Mufson, WashPost, December 19, 2008. "The EPA ruled yesterday that new power plants are not required to install technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, rejecting an argument from environmental groups. The ruling, in a memorandum signed by EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, turns on a seemingly arcane regulatory question that could govern the future of new fossil fuel-burning buildings and power plants under the Clean Air Act. During the Bush administration, the EPA has rejected the idea that greenhouse gases should be regulated like soot, smog precursors and other kinds of air pollution, despite an April 2007 Supreme Court ruling that said carbon dioxide fit the definition of a pollutant that could be regulated under the Clean Air Act."

Impostor 'Bidder' Disrupts BLM Oil and Gas Auction. By Patty Hannetz, SaltLakeTrib. December 21, 2008. "He didn't pour sugar into a bulldozer's gas tank. He didn't spike a tree or set a billboard on fire. But wielding only a bidder's paddle, a University of Utah student just as surely monkey-wrenched a federal oil- and gas-lease sale Friday, ensuring that thousands of acres near two southern Utah national parks won't be opened to drilling anytime soon. Tim DeChristopher, 27, faces possible federal charges after winning bids totaling about $1.8 million on more than 10 lease parcels that he admits he has neither the intention nor the money to buy -- and he's not sorry. 'I decided I could be much more effective by an act of civil disobedience,' he said during an impromptu streetside news conference during an afternoon blizzard. 'There comes a time to take a stand.'... [He was] questioned and released after disrupting a U.S. Bureau of Land Management lease auction of 149,000 acres of public land in scenic southern and eastern Utah."

Bush Throws to Detroit $17.4 Billion Lifeline. NYTimes, December 19, 2008. "President Bush announced $13.4 billion in emergency loans on Friday to prevent the collapse of General Motors and Chrysler, and said another $4 billion would be available for the hobbled automakers in February. The entire bailout is conditioned on the companies undertaking sweeping reorganizations to show that they can return to profitability... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the White House package 'unfortunately singles out workers and clearly puts them at a disadvantage before negotiations have even begun'... The loan deal requires the companies to quickly reduce their debt by two-thirds, mostly through debt-for-equity swaps, and to reach an agreement with the United Automobile Workers union to cut wages and benefits so they are competitive with those of employees of foreign-based automakers in the United States... The money to aid the automakers will come from the Treasury's $700 billion financial stabilization fund."

Autos

Chryster Planning Full Line of Electric Vehicles. By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNNMoney, December 19, 2008. "Chrysler is pinning a huge part of its future on a plan to produce a full line of electric vehicles, at a reasonable cost to both the carmaker and the consumer. While General Motors is moving ahead with its Volt electric midsized car, Chrysler says it already has plans in place, not just for electric cars, but also for minivans and even off-road vehicles. Chrysler's strategy hinges on keeping it cheap. The carmaker will dispense with flashy designs in exchange for low cost and flexibility. And it plans to pile on more electric-powered models quickly once the program launches in 2010."

Chinese Plug-In Hybrid Car is Charging Into Weak Market. By Don Lee, LATimes, December 13, 2008. "Reporting from Shenzhen, China -- With the Big Three automakers tottering and China's once go-go car market in reverse, this might seem a bad time for a relative unknown to be launching a new vehicle. Then again, BYD isn't rolling out any ordinary car. On Monday, the upstart company best known for making cellphone batteries began selling its F3DM -- China's first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle. The car... retails for around $20,000 in China and [should] make its way to U.S. shores in 2011... Among those betting on BYD is Warren E. Buffett, who in September bought a 9.9% stake for $230 million. The billioniare investor apparently was impressed with BYD's green technology... BYD spent several years developing the ferrous battery technology for the car, giving it a quicker recharge time and price advantage over the lithium-ion battery used in Toyota's Prius. But a better battery won't ensure marketplace success. And BYD doesn't have the experience in design, engineering, manufacturing and marketing of its world-class competitors."

Toyota Puts Off Opening of Prius Plant in South. By Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press, December 16, 2008. "Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday that it will delay production at its factory in Blue Springs, Miss., where it is planning to begin assembly of the Toyota Prius hybrid car, because of a steep decline in industry sales. The Japanese automaker said it plans to finish construction of the plant, which is about 90% complete, but it will postpone the installation of equipment and delay production. Toyota said its board in Japan made the decision Sunday night as a reaction to the grim economic conditions. But at least one analyst said low gas prices might also be a factor."

The Northeast Cap-and-Trade System

Carbon Auction Nets $106.5 Million for 10 States. By Mary Esch, AP, December 19, 2008. "The nation's second auction of carbon dioxide emissions allowances will bring $106.5 million to the 10 northeastern states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative [RGGI]. Pete Grannis, the organization's chairman, said the results prove that distributing allowances through auctions in a carbon dioxide cap-and-trade program can be successful. RGGI is seen as a blueprint for a national program to curb global warming by reducing carbon emissions. RGGI reported Friday that all 31.5 million allowances, each representing a ton of carbon, were sold in the Dec. 17 auction for a clearing price of $3.38 per allowance... The first auction, on Sept. 25, sold 12.5 million allowances at a clearing price of $3.07 each, raising nearly $38.6 million for the six RGGI states participating. All 10 states were in the second auction. [States will invest proceeds in consumer benefits: energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other clean energy technologies.]"

Northeast Global Warning Cap-and-Trade System Could Exacerbate Emissions by Encouraging More Coal Power. Press Release, Union of Concerned Scientists, December 19, 2008. "The Northeast's cap-and-trade system for global warming pollution -- the first of its kind in the nation -- will be compromised unless utilities are prevented from importing additional coal-fired electricity, according to a report [Importing Pollution: Coal's Threat to Climate Policy in the U.S. Northeast, 44 pp] released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists [UCS]. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative [RGGI], which applies to power plants in 10 Northeastern states, does not preclude the utilities that supply electricity to Northeast homes and businesses from buying more electricity from coal-fired power plants outside the region. That could increase the carbon dioxide emissions from those plants outside the region, offsetting emissions reductions under RGGI... John Rogers, a UCS clean energy analyst and co-author of the report, said, 'To ensure the initiative fulfills its potential, however, participating states must make sure that the region's utilities don't buy additional coal-based electricity from outside the region.' Beginning January 1, a cap will go into effect on the total carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the 10 RGGI states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. The total amount of emissions allowed from all plants -- approximately 188 million tons -- will remain the same each year through 2014, followed by a 10 percent decrease over the next four years."

California

California Launches 'Green Chemistry' Initiative. By Margot Roosevelt, LATimes, December 17, 2008. "California officials launched a sweeping green initiative on Tuesday to inform consumers exactly how hundreds of thousands of products sold in the state are manufactured and transported and how safe their ingredients are... With scanners at stores, or eventually on cellphones, purchasers could compare brands to figure out which one was manufactured, for instance, with coal-fired electricity in China and which one with solar power in California... They could also determine how much greenhouse gas was emitted through its transportation by boat, plane or truck and whether its ingredients were the safest available and could be easily recycled... A more limited regulation by the California Air Resources Board requires stickers on new automobiles rating them on how much smog-forming pollution and how much carbon dioxide, a gas that contributes to global warming, they emit... The proposed 'Green Chemistry' initiative comes at a time of growing concern that the federal Toxic Substances Control Act, passed three decades ago, has failed to control an explosion of hazardous materials."

California Regulators Approve $1.9 Billion Power Line Needed for Renewable Energy. By Elliot Spagat, AP, December 19, 2008. "California regulators on Thursday approved a $1.9 billion high-voltage power line, giving a major victory to the San Diego utility that says it needs the transmission route to harness solar, wind and underground heat from a distant desert."

Oil

Mapping the History of Oil Imports. By Tom Zeller Jr., NYTimes, December 18, 2008. "Google.org, the philanthropic wing of the Internet search giant, and the Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmental research group, have teamed up to produce an intriguing map that allows users to track oil imports over time."

Big Oil Projects Put in Jeopardy by Fall in Prices. By Jad Mouawad, NYTimes, December 16, 2008. "From the plains of North Dakota to the deep waters of Brazil, dozens of major oil and gas projects have been suspended or canceled in recent weeks as companies scramble to adjust to the collapse in energy markets. But the project delays are likely to reduce future energy supplies -- and analysts believe they may set the stage for another surge in oil prices once the global economy recovers. Oil markets have had their sharpest-ever spikes and their steepest drops this year, all within a few months. Now, with a global recession at hand and oil consumption falling, the market's extreme volatility is making it harder for energy executives to plan ahead. As a result, exploration spending, which had risen to a record this year, is being slashed... The biggest cutbacks so far have been in heavy oil projects in Canada, where some of the world's highest-cost production is concentrated. Some operators there need oil prices above $90 a barrel to turn a profit. 'If we cut back dramatically on investments, we could end up in a situation where supply growth goes flat when the economy starts to recover,' said Peter Jackson, an energy analyst at Cambridge Energy Research Associates [CERA]. 'The steeper the decline, the steeper the response.'"

Science and Innovation

NASA Set to Launch 'CO2 Hunter'. By Jonathan Amos, BBC, December 18, 2008.The US space agency is set to launch a satellite [on February 23, 2009] that can map in detail where carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere. Nasa's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) will pinpoint the key locations on the Earth's surface where CO2 is being emitted and absorbed... 'This is Nasa's first spacecraft specifically dedicated to mapping carbon dioxide,' principal investigator David Crisp told BBC News. 'The objective of the OCO mission is to make measurements that are so precise that they can be used to look for surface sources and sinks of CO2.' Nasa already has a CO2 detection instrument on its Aqua satellite but this looks at the greenhouse gas some five to 10km above the surface. OCO, on the other hand, will detail the concentration of carbon dioxide close to the ground where its warming effect is most keenly felt... Once in orbit, OCO will join a fleet of other satellites -- known as the A-Train -- which carry a range of instrumentation to give a rounded picture of Earth's atmospheric and water systems."

Japan Launches First Solar Cargo Ship. AFP, December 19, 2008. "The world's first cargo ship partly propelled by solar power took to the seas on Friday in Japan, aiming to cut fuel costs and carbon emissions when automakers export their products. Auriga Leader, a freighter developed by shipping lineNippon Yusen K.K. and oil distributor Nippon Oil Corp., took off from a shipyard in the western city of Kobe, officials of the two firms said. The huge freighter capable of carrying 6,400 automobiles is equipped with 328 solar panels at a cost of 150 million yen (1.68 million dollars), the officials said. The ship will initially transport vehicles being sent for sale overseas by Japan's top automaker Toyota Motor Corp. The project was conceived before the global economic crisis, which has forced automakers to drastically cut production as sales dwindle. Company officials said the 60,213-tonne, 200-metre (660-foot) long ship is the first large vessel in the world with a solar-based propulsion system. So far solar energy has been limited to supporting lighting and crew's living quarters. The solar power system can generate 40 kilowatts, which would initially cover only 0.2 percent of the ship's energy consumption for propulsion, but company officials said they hoped to raise the ratio."

Banking on the Future

Ukraine, Russia Will Stockpile $89 Billion of Carbon Credits.By Katarzyna Klimasinska and Mathew Car, Bloomberg News, December 16, 2008. "Ukraine and Russia plan to stockpile credits to release greenhouse gases jointly valued at $89 billion, saving them for use by their factories, power plants and home heaters under a new global-warming treaty taking effect in 2013. Both nations are building up surpluses of credits, or rights to release heat-trapping gases regulated by the Kyoto Protocol accord to stem climate change... The decisions by Russia and Ukraine illustrate how they are preparing for the next decade rather than selling spare credits to nations such as Spain or Italy. Those countries are short of Kyoto credits, called 'assigned amount units,' or AAUs. They will have to buy them in the markets or from other nations with surpluses."

Bolivian President Evo Morales Offers 20 Ways to Save Mother Earth. By Evo Morales, International Journal of Socialist Renewal, December 15, 2008. "Climate change has placed all humankind before a great choice: to continue in the ways of capitalism and death, or to start down the path of harmony with nature and respect for life... While the United States and the European Union allocate $4100 billion to save the bankers from a financial crisis that they themselves have caused, programs on climate change get 313 times less, that is to say, only $13 billion... The vast majority of resources flow to those countries that have contaminated the most, and not to the countries where we have preserved the environment most... The next summit on climate change in Copenhagen must allow us to make a leap forward if we want to save Mother Earth and humanity. For that purpose the following proposals for the process from Poznan to Copenhagen: 1) Attack the structural causes of climate change... 2) Developed countries need to control their patterns of consumption -- of luxury and waste... 3) Agrofuels are not an alternative, because they put the production of foodstuffs for transport before the production of food for human beings... 20) It is fundamental to structurally transform the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the international economic system as a whole, in order to guarantee fair and complementary trade, as well as financing without conditions for sustainable development that avoids the waste of natural resources and fossil fuels in the production processes, trade and product transport... Humankind is capable of saving the Earth if we recover the principles of solidarity, complementarity and harmony with nature in contraposition to the reign of competition, profits and rampant consumption of natural resources."