Sustainability Outlook

Lights dim around globe to encourage reductions in carbon emissions

From the Great Pyramids to the Acropolis, and the London Eye to the Las Vegas strip, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries joined in the World Wildlife Fund-sponsored event, a time zone-by-time zone plan to dim non-essential lights between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on March 28, 2009.

Underground water absorbs CO2 emissions: study

Water deep below ground has safely trapped carbon dioxide for millions of years and may one day help absorb emissions of the greenhouse gas to help slow climate change. The finding shows that such carbon capture and storage is possible provided scientists find an area where the geology is suitable.

Forests could flip from sink to source of CO2: study

Forests that today soak up a quarter of carbon pollution spewed into the atmosphere could soon become a net source of CO2 if Earth's surface warms by another two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), cautions a report presented to the UN.

A growing web of carbon

McAfee has given a new twist to the global warming debate. It blames users for harming the environment every time they hit the delete button to get rid of spam email. Last year alone saw 62 trillion spam emails and these had the same impact on environment as 3.1 million passenger cars or 2.4 million US homes.