Engineering experts hit safety culture in BP spill

BP and the oil industry drilling in the Gulf of Mexico lacked the proper safety attitude to handle the large risks of deep-water drilling, leading to the many bad decisions behind the nation’s worst offshore spill, a panel of expert engineers said Wednesday.

Planned Retreat Policy Adopted, Australia

To deal with the increasing occurrence of beach erosion along Australia’s east coast, the city council of Taree, 317 North of Sydney, has adopted a policy of planned retreat for its entire coastline.

Japan minister questions radioactive water dump

Japan’s industry minister Tuesday rejected a plan by the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to release low-level radioactive water into the sea without approval by local fishermen…

Canada Pulls Out Of Kyoto Protocol

Canada pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change Monday, saying the accord won’t help solve the climate crisis. It dealt a blow to the anti-global warming treaty, which has not been formally renounced by any other country…

Prime Indonesian Jungle To Be Cleared For Palm Oil

The man known as Indonesia’s “green governor” gave a palm oil company a permit to develop land in one of the few places on earth where orangutans, tigers and bears still can be found living side-by-side, violating Indonesia’s new moratorium on concessions in primary forests and peatlands. That’s why 5,000 villagers living on the edge of a rich, biodiverse peat swamp in this tsunami-ravaged Aceh province feel so betrayed…

UN climate change talks: full text of the Durban platform

Negotiators agreed to start work on a new UN climate deal that would have legal force and, crucially, require both developed and developing countries to cut their carbon emissions. Ministers reached a last-minute agreement on a new text known as the Durban platform for enhanced action.