Planetary Ruin

Two major players in the Japanese paper industry have been left with egg on their face after admitting they lied about the amount of recycled paper in their products.

Several days ago Nippon Paper Group, the second largest paper company in Japan, admitted it had lied about the percentage of recycled material in its products. Oji Paper, the country’s biggest paper company, revealed that it too had lied about the recycled content of its paper today.

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You’ve got to be careful with the accelerator because hybrid school buses like to go.

Dan Taghon, the director of transportation for the Sigourney Community School District in southeast Iowa, said his district’s new hybrid bus has been running routes since Jan. 3. And Taghon, who drives the bus on one of the district’s six routes, said he likes the 65-passenger machine powered by an electric motor and a V-8 diesel engine.

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Beijing has ordered officials to halt a trend of worsening
contamination by the end of this decade, and ensure anyone
pumping pollution into the lakes has a permit, the report said,
citing orders from the country’s State Council or cabinet.

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ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s environment minister faces a close vote on a motion blaming him for Naples’ garbage crisis, with calls from members of the ruling centre-left coalition and the opposition for his resignation.

The Senate, where Prime Minister Romano Prodi has only a two-seat majority, will vote on the motion on Wednesday after mountains of rubbish have piled up in the streets of Italy’s third biggest city.

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Biofuels made from plants and waste will prove an increasingly efficient and cheap substitute for oil in many areas over the coming five years, industry analysts said.

As long as crude sells at prices towards $100 per barrel, there will be strong demand for cheaper biofuels and manufacturing technology will improve, Vinod Khosla, founder of venture capital firm Khosla Ventures, told Reuters.

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The European Union’s executive arm unveiled on Wednesday details on how to slash greenhouse gas emissions by a fifth in 2020, including mandatory targets to produce renewable energy and curb industrial emissions.

The European Commission said member states unable to meet mandatory renewables targets at home could pay other EU countries to install the likes of wind and solar power on their behalf.

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Whole Foods Market Inc said on Tuesday that it will aim to end the use of disposable plastic grocery bags in all of its 270 U.S., Canada, and United Kingdom stores by April 22, Earth Day.

The grocer, which features natural and organic foods, said it hoped shoppers would bring their own reusable bags, but it would offer 100 percent recycled paper grocery bags when needed.

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Recent research by scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the University of California, Merced and the National Center for Atmospheric Research shows that California temperatures have jumped statewide by more than 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit between 1915 and 2000. This warming is likely related to human activities.

Using data from up to eight different observational records, the team found the warming has been fastest in late winter and early spring.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Australia and China are phasing them out, Germany and Ireland tax them, but in the United States, the plastic shopping bag is still king.

Outside supermarkets across the country, Americans push shopping carts laden with a dozen or more plastic bags full of groceries to their cars. Even the smallest purchase, such as a magazine at a newsstand, seems to come in a plastic bag.

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