Enviro News Wrap: Congress Debates Climate Change; Japan Whaling; Is Chevron the Worst Company in the World?

GlobalWarmingisReal contributor Anders Hellum-Alexander wraps-up the climate and environmental news headlines for the past week:

• The Economist offers a more in depth look at our pollution and how it affects our climate. Some pollution heats the atmosphere, some cools it and many other effects are experienced.
• With a more conservative US Congress climate change will be increasingly debated, both sides are ready for battle.
• Obama and the US House of Reps. have varied views on renewable energy funding; obviously Obama wants to increase research and development spending. We’ll see who wins.
• Japan claims to participate in “scientific whaling” which is allowed under the rules of the UN International Whaling Commission. Their operations in the far north are interrupted right now by Sea Shepherd, a group dedicated to stopping the killing of whales.
• The Guardian offers a recap of why Chevron may be the worst corporation in the world.
• (Editor’s note: See our recent post about Chevron’s greenwashing on our sister site TheGreenWashingBlog.com)
• Environmentalists are using shareholder powers to pressure dirty energy companies to improve their environmental performance. They are submitting requests to companies like GE to think about the future of the environment and how the company will survive coming climate change challenges.
• Pollution emissions have dropped due to the global recession, but don’t worry world governments are working hard to get GDP and emissions back on a high growth trend.
• With the Arctic melting Russia looks to alter the boarders of nature reserves to favor energy developers.
• Solar Energy: More developments in Solar technology.