With Elections Near, Australia’s Rudd Backs Off Ambitious Carbon Trading Plan

In the last three years, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has often used his podium to talk to the nation about climate change. He has called it “the great moral and economic issue challenge of our time,” comparing global warming skeptics to gamblers who “happily play with our children’s future.” It’s not random that Australia’s leader has been vocal on the issue: Despite being one of the more sparsely populated nations, Australia’s 22 million inhabitants emit the third largest amount of carbon dioxide per capita in the world

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How Carmakers Will Meet New EPA Fuel-Economy Standards

The Obama Administration has approved fuel-economy regulations, beginning with 2012-model-year vehicles. The rules require automakers to improve fleetwide fuel economy and to reduce fleetwide greenhouse-gas emissions by approximately 5% every year up until the 2016 model year

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Study: Fossils Suggest Ancient CO2-Climate-Change Link

Some of the best evidence linking rising carbon dioxide levels to a warmer world comes from the coldest places on earth. Samples of ancient air extracted from deep inside the Antarctic and Greenland ice caps make it clear that CO2 is scarce in the atmosphere during ice ages and relatively abundant during warmer interglacial periods — like the one we’re in now

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Use toilet before boarding, Japan airline asks

To offset carbon dioxide, a Japanese airline is asking its passengers to go to the toilet before boarding. The unusual request by All Nippon Airways (ANA) is part of its “e-Flight” promotional program to reduce the amount of carbon expelled on 38 domestic routes and its twice daily international flights to Singapore.

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