OSLO (Reuters) - “The history of men is reflected in the history of sewers,” French 19th century author Victor Hugo wrote in Les Miserables. “The sewer is the conscience of the city … A sewer is a cynic. It tells everything.”
Judged by its sewers, the world is not doing well. Only 3 in 10 people now have a connection to a public sewerage system.ynic. It tells everything.”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush’s decision to intervene in setting air pollution standards is part of a longstanding administration pattern of meddling in environmental science, watchdog groups said on Friday.
In cases this week dealing with polar bears, ozone smog and environmental research, groups that monitor these decisions faulted the Bush administration for slighting science in favor of politics.
As people worldwide increasingly feel the heat of climate change, many are applauding the skyrocketing growth China’s fledging solar-cell industry. Solar power and other “green” technologies, by providing electricity from renewable energy sources like the sun and wind, create hope for a world free of coal-burning pollution and natural resource depletion. A recent Washington Post article, however, has revealed that China’s booming solar industry is not as green as one might expect. Many of the solar panels that now adorn European and American rooftops have left behind a legacy of toxic pollution in Chinese villages and farmlands.
MAKUHARI, Japan (Reuters) - Rich nations must come up with billions in new money to help poor countries fight global warming and not just repackage development aid to score diplomatic points, environmentalists at a meeting of top polluters said on Friday.
The three-day Japan meeting gathers 20 of the world’s top emitters of greenhouse gases and includes rich nations the United States and other G8 states as well as rapidly developing China, India and Brazil.
LONDON (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has already taken on an international role as a Middle East envoy, is now tackling climate change with a plan for the world to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Blair traveled to Tokyo on Friday to unveil a climate change initiative and said on his Web site he will go to China and India in the next week to discuss his proposals with the world’s two largest developing economies.