From: Lelani Arris <larris@igc.org>
Newsgroups: sci.environment
Date: 28 Jul 92 17:15 PDT
Subject: ECIX Newsletter #10 - July 1992 (44
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1466601728:000:43002
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!larris    Jul 28 17:15:00 1992


From: Lelani Arris <larris>
Subject: ECIX Newsletter #10 - July 1992 (44K)


The EcoNet Energy and Climate Information Exchange Newsletter

Volume 2, Number 5
July, 1992

Edited by Lelani Arris

This month's issue features excerpts from a report on the Earth
Summit written by Lee Schipper.  We also have our usual lineup of
EcoNet conference highlights and upcoming events.

The ECIX Climate Digest is published concurrently with this
newsletter - included in this month's issue is a summary of the
Atmosphere Chapter of Agenda 21, information about Canada's UV
Advisory Program, a discussion of reduced ozone levels over
Canada, and a summary of Australia's Draft National Greenhouse
Response Strategy.  The digest can be found in the conference 
<climate.news>.

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an
international computer network of environmental activists and
educators with over 10,000 users worldwide. EcoNet is one of the
APC networks, based in San Francisco, with users connecting via
the Internet, SprintNet, international public data networks or
through one of the other APC networks. The ECIX project is funded
by a grant from the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, with
additional support from the Energy Foundation. For more
information about subscribing to EcoNet or one of the other APC
networks, send e-mail to support@igc.apc.org.

If you are not an APC subscriber, or if you are on an APC node
which does not have access to one of the listed conferences, and
you would like more information about any of the subjects covered
in this newsletter, please send e-mail to the editor at
larris@igc.apc.org, indicating the topic(s) that you are 
interested in.

If you are an APC user, you can find any of the referenced topics
by going to the specified conference and then (s)earching by 
(t)itle for the topic of interest.

Feel free to reproduce or distribute any part of this newsletter
with the appropriate credit. Contributions and letters are
encouraged, and can be sent to the editor at larris@igc.apc.org


Table of Contents

1) A Brief Chronicle of Rio '92
2) Conference Highlights - en.energy
3) Conference Highlights - en.climate
4) Conference Highlights - transport
5) Conference Highlights - other conferences
6) ECIX File Distribution Service
7) Calendar

******************************************************************

A BRIEF CHRONICLE OF RIO-92

Lee Schipper

International Energy Studies Group, Energy Analysis Program
Energy and Environment Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

and

Stockholm Environment Institute
Stockholm, Sweden

June 10, 1992

** The following is copyright Lee Schipper.  Please contact him at
ljsocd@dante.lbl.gov for permission to redistribute **

[Editors note - this is an excerpt from a much longer article 
about the Earth summit that Lee wrote.  The full article is in 
the en.energy conference on EcoNet]


NOTE: The author attended most of the first week of the Environmen-
tal Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Rio-92). His trip was spon-
sored by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), which supported
a significant level of research in the International Energy Studies
Group during the past two years. SEI is an independent research
organization supported by a grant from the Swedish government.
These remarks were prepared en route home, before the conclusion to
the Environmental Summit. Opinions are strictly those of the author
and not those of the Stockholm Environment Institute or the
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.


The SEI Symposium.

The event drawing me to Rio was the SEI Symposium "Global
Issues in Energy and Climate Change". The principal focus of the
symposium was to present and debate two books: the book LBL wrote,
Energy Efficiency and Human Activity, in the form of a booklet of
about 100 pages crafted principally by Steve Meyers; and a compen-
dium edited by Irving Mintzer called Confronting Climate Change,
which was published by Cambridge Univ. Press, to which Jayant
Sathaye (with Mike Walsh) contributed a chapter. Several hundred
copies of our booklet arrived just in time for free distribution.
Unfortunately only a few copies of the climate book, which is oth-
erwise for sale, appeared in Rio. The program and list of partici-
pants is attached.

The event drew a large crowd, as many as 75 people at any time,
large by comparison with other events off-site. (We chose the
off-site venue to maximize concentration and minimize the number of
people who would just drift in and out. The symposia in the tents
at the Global Forum site itself were well attended, but the tents
were hot and uncomfortable, and the acoustics poor.) After two ses-
sions introducing the issues raised in these publications, the SEI
Symposium (see attached program) continued with a discussion of the
delicate issues of environmental and climate negotiations (Bill
Nitze (not on the printed program)), LDC environmental and energy
assistance (David Jhirad of US AID), poverty and equity (Attiq
Raman), issues in the science of climate change (Prof. Bert Bolin),
and other issues central to the debate 40 km away.


The U.S. Role in Rio-92.

A colleague of ours from EPRI, Peter Mueller, was present at
the SEI symposium. He rose to object to a practice clearly emerg-
ing at all discussions in Rio, U.S. bashing. He pointed out
correctly that the U.S. was investing a great deal of resources in
climate and environmental research. But the stubbornness of the
U.S. position on biodiversity, coupled with the U.S. maneuvering
against other countries on the climate issues, clearly left the
U.S. isolated (with some allies from the oil producers like Saudi
Arabia on climate). The leak of the memo addressed to Pres. Bush
by EPA Chief Bill Reilly made matters worse, and the step up in
security expected in the week after I left added a tense note to
the U.S. presence. Peter Mueller's comment and the ensuing reac-
tion were written up in the newspaper that had been created for
Rio-92. But the article had little mention of the substantive con-
tents of the symposium itself! Clearly, the U.S. role in these
activities was itself a hot topic.

Peter Mueller's comments notwithstanding, the role of the U.S.
in the entire process was questioned by most in attendance. On the
one hand, the achievements of the U.S. in developing renewable
energy (as show in the symposium organized by a coalition of Ameri-
can groups and featuring Asst. Secretary Mike Davis of DOE) made a
distinct  impression  on  me and all other attendees; the U.S. is a
leader in renewable energy, and certainly a pioneer in both regu-
lating pollution and developing technologies to deal with pollu-
tion. People are flocking to the U.S. from all around the world to
learn about innovative technologies and the programs that support
them. The U.S. has had much to be proud of.

Yet the impressive breadth of these achievements was oversha-
dowed by the inexplicable posture of the U.S. Administration during
the entire run-up to the event, as well as after the event begun.
The last minute headlines suggesting the U.S. was pressuring its
"allies" not to take stronger positions on Global Warming simply
made everything look ever worse. And opposition to the Biodiver-
sity treaty angered even more observers, particularly after the
Reilly memo was leaked. The "Environmental President's" refusal to
announce his attendance at the Summit until the last minute angered
many. His apparent inability to see the enormous benefits to the
U.S. economy of swimming with, not against the environmental tide,
was difficult to understand. His blaming of the tarnishing of the
U.S. image in Rio on "extremists" did not even play well in the
otherwise conservative Brasilian Press (I read two Rio papers con-
stantly to get their line). It was inconceivable to the politi-
cally centrist Europeans I spoke with (including the entourage of
the Swedish Environment Minister, who comes from the "Farmers" or
Center Party of Sweden) that our President insisted on carrying con-
frontation to the very Summit itself. The German environment Minis-
ter, Klaus Toepfer, is himself from the conservative party there.
He was decrying the Bush position almost daily. Hence it was hard
to head off the complaints about the U.S. position by calling them
extremist.

This does not mean that the Administration positions were all
wrong; after all, the EEC rejected the first proposals for a CO2
tax, vindicating to a certain extent the U.S. position on climate.
(I personally support the CO2 tax, but that is another matter. I
do not believe most Americans really care about the Greenhouse
Effect, at least not enough to impose burdens on their present-day
lifestyles.) No, it was the handling of the affair, and indeed the
U.S. positions all along, that simply embarrassed us all. As the
American demonstrators made clear, however, the frustration was
with the Administration and the President, not the U.S. As an
American I was disappointed, feeling almost cheated.


Some Rio-92 Issues: A Personal Viewpoint.

In my own talk I emphasized over and over my observation that
present trends in energy use and energy efficiency will not lead to
significant reductions in CO2 emissions in the OECD countries, an
important driver of the greenhouse effect. Some restraint is
likely, which means that the ratio of carbon emissions to overall
economic activity will decline. This is what many of us call "the
free lunch", and others may call "no regrets". But the overall
growth in economic activity in industrialized countries means an
increase in total CO2 emissions.

I illustrated an enormous potential for improvements in effi-
ciency that would lead to real reductions in CO2 emissions, but I
challenged those present to produce a package of policy stimuli,
including carbon taxes, that would make realization of this poten-
tial more likely. A key element of this stimulation is realization
that it is increasingly difficult to isolate energy efficiency per
se as a focus of policies. Instead, policies should be aimed at
improving the overall productivity of the industrial, housing, and
transportation sectors, using taxes and a few well-selected poli-
cies to try to discourage energy intensive developments and high
energy use. Unfortunately, such policies are only popular in a few
European countries. We have many prospects for such policies in
the U.S., but very little hard evidence today about what the pro-
grams have really delivered beyond what has been happening anyway.
The numbers in our scenarios show clearly that the pace of effi-
ciency improvements must pick up from that which present programs
and the "free lunch" have supported in recent years.

In the Formerly Planned Economics, the situation is bright,
albeit not always for the right reasons. Economic collapse has
reduced energy use, pollution, and carbon emissions there signifi-
cantly. As economies reform and begin to grow again, almost every
new step will employ much cleaner technologies and production
methods than in the older days. This difference is so big, that
CO2 emissions in E. Europe and the Former Soviet Union in 2010
likely will be lower than there were in 1990.

For the Developing Countries, however, it is clear that even
with enormous increases in energy efficiency, much of which will
occur through the increases in productivity that propel economic
growth, CO2 emissions are bound to rise. This situation makes the
discussion in Rio difficult: who has to cut, who has to restrain,
who gets to expand emissions of CO2 ? Yet most Developing country
spokespersons acknowledge that the Greenhouse effect is a poten-
tially serious problem that could hurt their peoples more than
those in the rich countries.

If energy efficiency can't do the whole trick, what can?
Renewables can contribute significantly, and possibly a new genera-
tion of nuclear reactors. But these are expensive compared with
conventional oil, gas, and coal. Making matters a bit more compli-
cated is the likelihood that significant restraint in fossil fuel-
use growth will just act to hold down the world market prices for
these fuels, making it harder for non-carbon substitutes to com-
pete.

What is needed, it seems to me, is a clear idea of what a
reduction in CO2 emissions "over otherwise" is worth to all
societies. This should be expressed through a carbon tax. Given
the uncertainties over the depth of potential damage from the
greenhouse effect, we need insurance today while it is still cheap.
My own view is that a carbon tax, which goes beyond "no regrets",
is a sensible strategy for buying such insurance. Such a tax will
increase the paybacks from using fossil fuels more efficiently,
raise the price of coal relative to that of gas, and make all fos-
sil fuels more expensive relative to renewable energies. Other
taxes can be reduced so that the net revenue changes are small.
But there are enormous lobbies opposing such taxes in all but a
handful of countries. And OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, is continu-
ally trying to defeat the idea of emissions restraints, even argu-
ing against a certain clause in one of the Rio treaties that would
have referred to renewable energy.

In this pessimistic assessment, what can come out of the Rio
meeting? First, the number of new network nodes established
between officials, academics, and private industry is enormous. I
helped pair off a wealthy Brazilian industrialist looking for
environmental projects with several institutes looking for pro-
jects, too! The discussions have brought out opportunities that
other countries (and their industries) are exploiting for develop-
ing and selling energy efficiency and environmental control tech-
nology. The agreements that appear headed towards being signed
offer at least a framework for further discussions.

Finally, the waivering of the U.S. has forced both environmen-
talists and their critics to lay their cards on the table. It
seems strange, but the U.S. has the most vocal "anti-environmental"
critics. My associates in the Business Council for Sustainable
Development (with which I worked briefly) always wondered why Amer-
ican business was organizing to oppose actions to moderate climate
change! Most of the American critics of the very holding of the
meeting in Rio oppose the whole movement there as violating our
sovereignty, as a resurrection of communism, as a sort of grab-all
by the South. These critics have had little positive to add to the
debate. These critics can always roll out some "expert" who will
downplay or discredit the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) or other assessments the problem of climate change. One,
named Balling, gave his own press conference on Wednesday, June 10
(according to the San Francisco Chronicle) and told us not to worry
about global warming.

To assure myself, I spoke for several hours with Prof. Bert
Bolin, the Swedish Chairman of the IPCC. Was there any real sub-
stance to the criticisms leveled at the IPCC work by a small but
visible group of scientists? No, he repeated. I detected no
waivering of his position that the earth does face significant
changes in its climate over a time scale very short by geological
standards. But it is not easy to calculate what the full human and
economic impacts of these changes will be. Those that oppose col-
lective action use this difficulty to oppose any action at all. It
seems that ideological concerns force some to reach for any shred
of doubt to put off virtually any action on climate change into the
future.

My own position, with which Dr. Bolin and many others agree, is
that the threat of serious problems justifies actions today. "No
regrets", doing things that would be done anyway, may be a "cop
out", and too little. I would argue for some insurance, and sug-
gested in my own talk in Rio that this insurance includes several
key points (which Steve Meyers and I used in our Booklet):

o Pricing Energy to Reflect Concerns (End Subsidies, Raise Taxes)

o Efficiency Programs: Helpful, Sometimes Necessary, Rarely Suffi-
cient

o Address barriers to more efficient energy use

o Sectoral Policies To Lead Efficiency Reform

o Vigorous R/D on Demand and Supply

o Clear Public/Private and North/South Partnerships

o Promote Population Restraint Worldwide

o Some Faith, Lots of Patience

These are not always easy steps. Some, like vigorous R/D, are
"no regrets" (although they cost money) because they offend no one.
Others, like efficiency programs and removing barriers to effi-
ciency, are sometimes tough. I have argued for a world agreement
on automobile efficiency and technology, but seem to find only
Volvo prepared for such an agreement. The North/South partnership
is clearly rocky at present. Promoting population restraint raises
tempers and the ire of a significant lobby in both the Vatican and
in the U.S., not to mention in many developing countries. And
"faith and patience" is a real difficulty when government leaders
must stand for reelection so frequently. No one should believe that
any results from Rio will be visible before the middle of this
decade, and more clearly after the turn of the century.

The problem, as I see it, is that the stimuli have to be set up
now. But few Americans want this to occur. Indeed, the enormous
opposition from American leaders (and presumably from voters)
against changing energy prices is seen in Europe as a major stum-
bling block towards real action. My sense that Americans are
regrettably not really prepared to support strong actions to miti-
gate climate change, because these actions must at some point chal-
lenge our energy-intensive lifestyles. Consider that while our
cars use about 30% more energy/km than those in Europe, we drive
30% more cars/person each 30% farther. Serious reductions in car-
bon emissions from this sector would require more than just reduc-
ing energy use per kilometer. This challenge seems too much for
Americans to face.

Energy was not the only issue we addressed in Rio. I found
myself agreeing with those who link poverty to pollution. Poor
people do not believe they can afford to reduce pollution. As a
result, massive aid to the developing world is called for. But do
the kinds of development aid called for in Rio help reduce either
poverty or pollution? I don't think we know. And there is always
the risk of distorting the development process by trying to
separate "environmental funds" from development funds. Should not
these be the same? Is there really a choice in developing coun-
tries between polluting cities and development?

What about population growth? Few disagree that increases in
population make solving most other economic and social problems
more difficult. This applies to both the developing world and the
developed world alike. Moreover, there is clearly a link between
reducing poverty, increasing the level of education, and implement-
ing family planning. The issue for Rio is the ultimate level of
population that is sustainable at a high material standard of liv-
ing. I fear as my colleague John Holdren has suggested that the
most optimistic level of population stabilization is simply too big
for the world to handle, given the minimum needs for energy and
resources in the developing world. It is not that there is not
enough resources, it is that using increasing amounts require an
increasing share of those resources just to clean up the mess.

Rio is only the beginning. Whether the U.S. decides to be a
leader or not, other countries, and more important, increasing
numbers of private firms, see the environmental agenda as a new
business opportunity and challenge. Last year, Harvard Professor
Michael Porter, writing in the April Scientific American proposed
that the developed nations accept this challenge and operationalize
it through various environmental taxes and regulations. These can
help level the playing field, and stimulate markets to work in the
direction of a cleaner environment. The only uncertainty is when
the world's largest "free market" economy will decide to practice
what it preaches!

******************************************************************

Conference Highlights - en.energy

For those of you who are concerned about the possible health
effects of electromagnetic fields generated by high voltage
transmission lines, as well as from other sources, the topic "EMF
Notes" (12/8/91) has recently had a major addition of reference
sources for this subject.

An informal "energy workshop" held between representatives of
developed and developing countries earlier this month resulted in
a call for a new global energy policy.  The proposed EC carbon
tax was one of the major items on the agenda, with some
developing countries and oil producing nations worrying that such
a tax could funnel revenue from developing countries to developed
countries ("NEWS: Call for global energy policy", 7/7/92).

The Santa Cruz Mountains Energy Institute is a private
organization dedicated to educating the public and schools about
resource and energy use.  They will be opening a model facility
for residential energy use in 1994.  Contact jphilips@igc.apc.org
for more information ("Santa Cruz Mts. Energy Institute",
7/12/92).

The Alternative Energy Division of Energy, Mines and Resources
Canada is seeking proposals for work that is to be contracted out
on research and development dealing with the production of energy
and industrial chemicals from biomass.  The objective of the
Bioenergy Development Program (BDP) is to promote the development
of technologies which can convert all types of biomass into
energy, prepared fuels or chemicals in order to reduce
traditional fossil fuel consumption patterns. The scope of BDP
extends from the receipt and preparation of the biomass raw
material to its transformation into a usable energy form
("Canadian Bioenergy R&D", 7/19/92).

Voluntary energy efficiency programs in UK homes are not working,
according to a recent Friends of the Earth (FoE) survey.  The
survey finds that new buildings in the UK for the most part are
not using efficiency measures any more stringent than current
building codes require, and they suggest that building codes
should be revised to require greater efficiency measures in new
homes ("FOE: Energy Eff. in Homes Fails", 7/23/92).

******************************************************************

Conference Highlights - en.climate

Policy

The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
released a report in late July which suggests that implementation
of the Climate Convention will be dominated by costs and
benefits, and will be difficult given the differences between
developed and developing nations.  The report, "Convention to
Climate Change: The Economic Aspects of Negotiations", is the
first of three to be published by the OECD and was written by
economist Scott Barrett of the London Business School ("IPS:
Implementing the Climate Convention", 7/27/92).

The European Community and the OPEC nations continue to disagree
about the proposed EC carbon tax, with OPEC Secretary General
Subroto challenging the global warming theories that are the
basis for the tax and expressing concern that the tax will cause
a loss of revenue for oil producers ("NEWS: EC Carbon Tax",
5/24/92, response 8).

Ozone Depletion

The Pesticide Action Network North America Updates Service
(PANUPS) has issued an action alert about the pesticide methyl
bromide, which is one of the contributors to stratospheric ozone
depletion.  Unlike chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), however, its
atmospheric lifetime is relatively short (18 months), and thus a
suspension of the use of this chemical would have an almost
immediate effect on lessening stratospheric ozone depletion.  PAN
asks for support in lobbying the EPA to suspend all registered
uses of methyl bromide.  For more information, see the topic
"PANUPS: Ozone-depleting pesticide" (6/18/92) or contact PANUPS at
panna@igc.apc.org.

Preliminary research on trees at the University of Vermont has
found that ground-level ozone pollution alone has a negative
impact on plant growth, increased UV radiation alone has no
significant effect, and the combination of the two factors has
almost twice the negative impact of ozone alone.  This suggests
that the synergistic effects of different environmental stresses
may have much greater impact on plants than a single stress ("Smog
& Sunburn Stress Trees", 6/26/92).

The Seventh Working Session of the Parties to the Montreal
Protocol met in Geneva this month.  The European Community
proposed abolishing the aid fund set up to assist developing
countries in phasing out their use of ozone-depleting chemicals,
routing the money through the new Global Environment Facility
(GEF) instead.  The move was blocked by developing countries, and
further decisions on the fund were postponed until the next
meeting, to be held in Copenhagen in November (IPS: News from
Montreal Protocol Me", 7/23/92).

Sea Level, Ice and the Greenhouse Effect

A summary of the possible effects of melting ice and temperature
increases on sea level rise can be found in the topic "FAQ: Sea
Level, Ice and Greenhouses" (7/25/92).  A list of references is
included for further reading.

******************************************************************

Conference Highlights - transport

Organizations:

The Union of Concerned Scientists has opened a California office,
focusing almost exclusively on transportation issues, and they
plan to be active participants in this conference.  Issues they
are currently working on include passage of Senator Gary Hart's
DRIVE+ feebate legislation and other policy initiatives, research
into vehicle conversions and Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems
(IVHS), organizing and public education.  For more information,
see the topic "Union of Concerned Scientists intr" (6/29/92) or
write to them at ucsca@igc.apc.org.  A summary of their bicycle
and pedestrian strategies from the book "Steering a New Course"
can be found in the topic "UCS bike/ped strategy".

The League of American Wheelman (LAW) has started a new project,
the National Coalition for Bicycle Advocacy, made up of cycling
groups across the nation.  For details, see the topic "LAW's new
nat'l bike advocacy org" (7/15/92).

Policy

The City of Chicago adopted an ambitious modal split goal for the
year 2000 in unveiling its new Bicycle 2000 policy. The plans
heralds the construction of a network of 300 miles of bike
routes, adoption of a bicycle parking ordinance and stepped-up
City provision of bike-parking facilities, development of the
commercial, governmental and police use of bicycles, and an
increase in educational programs for cyclists and drivers on
bicycle transportation and safety.  With the plan, the City aims
to transfer 10% of car trips under 5 miles to bicycle trips by
the year 2000 ("New Chicago Bike Policy", 6/30/92).

A report from Orange County, California, suggests that a
substantial gas tax will be necessary to reduce the number of
single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) commuters in that county.  The
study estimates that a $1.50 per gallon gas tax would reduce the
total number of vehicle trips by 21% and a 3 cent per mile tax on
miles travelled would reduce the number of trips by 9%, whereas
improvements for bicycles or transit subsidies and improvements
would reduce total trips by less than 1% in all cases ("Gas Tax
for Clean Air in OC", 7/8/92).

For an update on the progress of implementing the Intermodal
Surface Transportation Act of 1991 (ISTEA), see the topic "ISTEA
Implementation Conf. Report" (7/15/92).

Auto-Free Cities and other places too!

Reports from the Auto Free Cities conference held in Toronto this
May continue to be posted.  The most recent entries are the
speeches of Michael Vandeman, "How to Stop Highway Expansion (and
why)", and Art Weber, "What Right to Drive?".  You can find them
in the topic "Report from Auto Free Cities Conf." (5/28/92,
responses 4 & 5).

The Innu Nation is trying to stop the Trans-Labrador Highway from
being built in Labrador, Canada, as it will allow access and
development in Innu hunting territory. As researcher for the Innu
Nation, Tom Green is looking for recent studies, etc, examining
the impacts of highways in remote areas, such as socio-economic
implications, effects of habitat fragmentation, etc.  If you
know of relevant studies, or for more information, contact Tom
Green, Environmental Advisor, Innu Nation, PO Box 119,
Sheshatshiu, Labrador A0P 1M0 Canada (709) 497-8390, fax
497-8396, email npsg@web.apc.org ("New highway in Labrador
Wilds", 6/29/92).

Bicycling

Will there be a major shift towards bicycling in the United
States?  Given the dominance of bicycle topics in this
conference, it would certainly seem so!  The topic "Velostroika
(aka Velorution!)" (7/15/92) addresses this subject.  In other
news, a report from the British Medical Association promotes
cycling for good health ("UK medical association promotes
cycling", 7/15/92) and some architects are now designing
bicycle-friendly buildings ("Architect's bike-friendly bldgs.",
7/15/92).

******************************************************************

Conference Highlights - other conferences

Climate

climate.news - The latest GECR Highlights (10 July) has articles
on the status of the Maryland feebate program for vehicles, a new
energy tax proposed by Finland, global cooling from the eruption
of Mt. Pinatubo, the effect of climate on coastal upwelling, and
more.

foe.press - In their statement to the G-7 governments during the
London Economic Summit, Friends of the Earth calls for the G-7
governments to begin implementation of national policies to
reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions and to accelerate
the phase-out of chemicals which damage the ozone layer ("Open
Letter to G-7", 7/7/92).

oz.greenhouse - The Broadford Secondary College in Victoria,
Australia, has launched a Global UVB Watch project and wishes to
coordinate with other schools throughout the world in collecting
and sharing information about the effects of UV-B radiation, and
developing curricula on this subject.  For more information, see
the topic "UVB WATCH" (7/6/92) or contact bcoppinger@peg.apc.org.


Energy

econews.africa - Energy experts from nine African countries met
in May to produce a new, environmentally sound energy strategy
for sub-Saharan Africa.  A seven page paper has been produced as
a result of the meeting, and a book on the subject is due out at
the end of the year ("EcoNews Africa Vol.1,No.5, 28May92",
6/27/92, response 4).

europe.energy

Construction of France's first commercial wind farm (2MW) has
been approved and should commence in early July in the south of
France ("First French Wind Farms to Go Ahea", 7/12/92).  Comments
on the 8th International Solar Forum recently held in Berlin can
be found in the topic "8th International Solar Forum" (7/6/92).

wind.energy

A comprehensive listing of wind/diesel systems worldwide compiled
by the Renewable Energy Lab at the University of Massachusetts
can be found in the topic "Wind/Diesel Systems Worldwide"
(7/17/92).


UNCED

cnu.information - A summary of the proceedings at the Earth Summit
can be found in the topic "Network Final Report on Rio" (7/8/92).

en.unced.documents - Final text of Agenda 21 is now posted in this
conference.  If you are not an APC user, the text is also
available via anonymous ftp to IGC.ORG (192.82.108.1),
subdirectory /pub/UNCED, files agenda21 or agenda21.zip.

en.unced.general - Another summary of the events at Rio can be
found in the topic "Earth Summit Summary", 7/15/92).

******************************************************************

ECIX File Distribution Service

This is just a reminder that the ECIX File Distribution Service
is now fully active.  We maintain listings of files on energy and
climate issues which are available via anonymous ftp or email.
We also welcome contributions of papers, articles, fact sheets, or
other relevant information to be included for distribution.  To
be placed on the mailing list for current and future lists of
available files, please send email to ecixfiles@igc.apc.org.

******************************************************************

UPCOMING EVENTS:

The following calendar lists events related to energy, climate
change, and transportation issues. For detailed information about
the listed events, check the specified topics in the relevant
conference.

** NEW FOR IGC USERS **

There is now an online Calendar of Events database, where you can
search for or enter events of interest.  At the main menu, select
(d)ata, then select 7: EVENTS from the menu.
 
                         ** 1992 **

August 3-8.  Pre-Congress Meeting of the Commission on
Climatology, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.  Contact Dr.
John Arnfield, Dept. of Geography, Ohio State University, 103
Bricker Hall, 190 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210 USA, phone
1-614-292-7954, fax 1-614-292-6213, email aja+@osu.edu
(en.climate, "Upcoming Events", 10/14/91, response 10)

August 9-14.  27th International Geographical Congress,
Washington, DC.  Contact Dr. Anthony R. de Souza, 27th Int'l
Geographical Congress, 1145 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036,
phone 202-828-6688, fax 202-775-6141, telex 64194 (en.climate,
"Upcoming Events", 10/14/91, response 3)

August 17-20.  Satellite Remote Sensing for Resource Management,
Environmental Assessment, and Global Change Studies: Needs and
Applications of Developing Countries, Boulder, CO, USA.  Contact
UN/ISY Conference, WT Chen & Company, 1745 Jefferson Davis
Highway, Suite 500, Arlington, VA 22202 USA, fax +1-703-769-1803.

August 17-21.  Western Pacific Geophysics Meeting, Hong Kong.
Contact Meetings, AGU, 2000 Florida Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20009
USA, phone +1-202-462-9600. fax +1-202-328-0566.

August 18-20.  Symposium on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and
Mitigation Research, Washington, DC.  Contact T. Kelly Janes
(MD-63), US EPA, Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory,
Global Warming Control BRanch, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711.

August 19-20.  International Energy and Environmental Congress,
Chicago, IL, USA.  Contact Association of Energy Engineers, phone
+1-404-446-3969, fax +1-404-446-0007 (en.energy, "Alternative
Energy Network 5/19", 5/19/92)

August 24-25.  Ice in the Climate Syste, France.  Contact Prof
W.R. Peltier, University of Toronto, Dept. Physics, Toronto,
Ontario M5S 1A7 Canada.

August 30 - September 5.  ACEEE 1992 Summer Study on Energy
Efficiency in Buildings, Pacific Grove, California.  Contact
ACEEE 1992 Summer Study Office, 2140 Shattuck Ave. Suite 202,
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA, phone 510-549-9914, fax 510-549-9984,
email aceee@pnl.gov (en.energy, "ACEEE92 SummerStudy-Call for
Paper", 11/8/91)

September 3-5.  Association of British Climatologists Summer
Meeting: Precipitation - Causes, Characteristics and
Consequences, Lampeter, Wales, UK.  Contact Dr G Sumner; tel.
+44-570-422351

September 7-10. Second International Conference on East Asia and
Western Pacific Meteorology and Climate, Hong Kong. Contact
(outside Asia) Prof. C.P. Chang, Department of Meteorology, NPS
Code MR/Cp, Monterey, CA 93943, USA, fax +1-408-646-3061; (within
Asia) Dr. Bill Kyle, Department of Geography & Geology,
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, fax +852-559-8994, email
billkyle@hkucc.bitnet (en.climate, "Upcoming Events", 10/14/91,
response 11)

September 7-11.  Second International Conference on Modelling of
Global Climate Change and Variability, Hamburg, Germany.  Contact
Dr. Lydia Dumenil, Local Organizing committee, Max Planck
Institut fur Meteorologie, Bundesstrabe 55, D-2000, Hamburg 13,
Germany (climate.news, "Tiempo Issue #5 - May, 1992", 6/4/92,
response 4)

September 7-12.  Littoral '92, Husum, Germany.  Contact Eurocoast
Germany, FTZ Westkuste, Hafentorn, D-2242 Husum, Germany, phone
4834-604202, fax 4834-604299 (en.climate, "Upcoming Events",
10/14/91, response 4)

September 8-12.  43rd Arctic Science Conference - Environmental
Change: Natural and Man Made, Valdez, Alaska, USA.  Contact Cindy
Wilson, phone +1-907-474-7954.

September 9-11.  Population and Environemnt, Oxford University,
UK.  Contact Basia Zaba, Centre for Population Studies, 99 Gower
St., London WC1E 6 AZ, UK (climate.news, "Tiempo Issue #5 - May,
1992", 6/4/92, response 4)

September 11-13.  Our Changing Environments, Denver, CO, USA.
Contact Pam Goode, 6103 Alkire Ct., Arvada, CO 80004 USA, phone
+1-303-424-2045.

September 11-13.  Global California '92: California Responds to
the Earth Summit, Sacramento, CA, USA.  Contact United Nations
Association/Sacramento, phone +1-916-925-6034 or +1-916-485-3116
(cnu.information, "US Citizens Network Newsletter #15", 7/8/92,
response 1)

September 13-18.  2nd World Renewable Energy Congress, Reading,
UK.  Contact Professor A.A.M. Sayigh, Dept of Engineering,
University of Reading, Reading, UK.

September 15.  Environmental Forum: Common Visions, Minneapolis,
Minnesota, USA.  Contact Ann Johnson, Office of the Attorney
General, +1-612-296-0924 (cnu.information, "US Citizens Network
Newsletter #15", 7/8/92, response 1)

September 20-25.  Energy and Life: 15th Congress of the World
Energy Council, Madrid, Spain.  Contact World Energy Council -
15th Congress, Avenida de America, 32-9a, 28028 Madrid, Spain.
(climate.news, "Tiempo Issue #5 - May, 1992", 6/4/92, response 4)

Sept. 21-25.  Short- and Long-Term Global Changes - Records and
Modeling: 4th International Conference on Paleoceanography, Kiel,
Germany.  Contact ICP IV Organizing Committee, c/o GEOMAR
Research Center for Marine Geosciences, Wischhofstrasse 1-3/
Bldg. 4, D-2300 Kiel 14, Germany; tel. +49-431-7202-115 or 116;
fax +49-431-725391 or 725650.

September 23-25.  39th Annual Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting
of the American Geophysical Union, Victoria, BC, Canada.  Contact
George Spence, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of
Victoria, PO Box 1700, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2 Canada, phone
+1-604-721-8844, fax +1-604-721-6200.

September 24-25.  Global Environmental Accords: Implications for
Technology, Industry, and International Relations, Cambridge, MA,
USA.  Contact Conference Coordinator, Room E38-508, Industrial
Liason Program, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA
02139-4307, USA, telephone +1-617-253-0423.

September 25-27.  The Citizens Respond to the Earth Summit:
Convergence of Knowledge and Action, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
Contact US Citizens Network on UNCED, 300 Broadway #39, San
Francisco, CA 94133 USA, phone +1-415-956-6162, fax
+1-415-956-0241, email citizensnet@igc.apc.org (cnu.information, "MSU
Network Conference details, 7/23/92)

September 29 - October 1.  International CFC and Halon
Alternatives Conference, Washington, DC.  Contact Int'l CFC
Conference, PO Box 236, Frederick, MD, 21701, USA, phone
+1-301-695-3762.

October 3-4.  Third Annual Frontier Thinking Series: Results From
Rio, Anchorage, Alaska, USA.  Contact Helen Nienhusser, phone
+1-907-277-9330 or +1-907-762-2660 (cnu.information, "US Citizens
Network Newsletter #15", 7/8/92, response 1)

October 9-10.  Solar & Electric Vehicle Symposium Car & Trade
Show, World Trade Center, Boston, MA.  Contact Northeast
Sustainable Energy Association, 23 Ames Street, Greenfield, MA
01301.

October 10-11.  Human Health and the Environment.  Contact
Physicians for Social Responsibility, +1-617-497-7440.

October 11-16.  International Conference on Mountain Environments
in Changing Climates, Davos, Switzerland.  Contact Dr. Martin
Beniston, ProClim, National Institute for Climate and Global
Change, P.O. Box 7613, CH-3001 Bern, Switzerland (en.climate,
"Upcoming Events", 10/14/91, response 13)

October 13.  Unplug North America - Give Mother Earth A Rest, US
nationwide.  Contact Indigenous Environmental Network, 19
Ellicott Blvd., Tonawanda, NY 14150 (EVENTS database).

October 13-15.  15th World Energy Engineering Congress, Atlanta,
Georgia, USA.  Contact Association of Energy Engineering, 4025
Pleasantdale Road, Atlanta, GA.

October 13-16. International Symposium on Climate Change and
Northern Fish Populations, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Contact The Symposium Secretary, Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, Pacific Biological Station, Nanaimo, B.C., Canada V9R 5K6
Phone: (604) 756-7260, Fax: (604) 756-7053 (en.climate, "Upcoming
Events", 10/14/91, response 7)

October 24.  The Earth Summit and its Lessons for the Sonoran
Bioregion, Tuscon, Arizona, USA.  Contact Bill Altaffer, phone
+1-602-327-0266 or Susan Ward, phone +1-602-881-7060
(cnu.information, "US Citizens Network Newsletter #15", 7/8/92,
response 1)

November 1-5.  AWRA 28th Annual Conference & Symposia: Managing
Water Resources During Global Change, Reno, Nevada. Contact
Raymond Herrman, WR-CPSU, Colorado State University, Fort
Collins, CO 80523, phone 303-491-7825, fax 303-491-2255, email
wrcpsu@lamar.colostate.edu (en.climate, "Upcoming Events",
10/14/91, response 8)

November 4-6.  Fourteenth New Zealand Geothermal Workshop,
Auckland, NZ.  Contact Mr. Barry Williams, Centre for Continuing
Education, University of Auckland, Private Bag, Auckland, New
Zealand, phone +64 9 373 7999 ext. 8903, fax +64 9 373 7419
(en.energy, "Alternative Energy Network 3/24", 3/25/92)

November 18-20.  4th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Copenhagen,
Denmark.

December 2-7.  AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA.  Contact
Meetings, American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Ave. NW,
Washington, DC 20009 USA, phone +1-202-462-6900, fax
+1-202-328-0566.

December 7-9.  10th Miami International Congress on Energy,
Environment and Economics, Miami, Florida, USA.  Contact Clean
Energy Research Institute, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL.

December 9.  Is Climate Prediction Possible? (Royal
Meteorological Society/Dynamical Problems Group), London, UK.
Contact Dr PL Read, Hooke Institute, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks
Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK; phone +44-865-272082

December 28-31. Symposium on Climate and Climate Change (in
memory of Professor Yale Mintz), Jerusalem, Israel. Contact (1)
Dr. J.R. Bates, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 911,
Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 USA, phone +1-301-286-7482, fax
+1-301-286-2717; (2) Dr. E.H. Steinberger, Department of
Atmospheric Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904,
Israel, phone +972-2-639926, fax 972-2-2-2-666804


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Xref: sparky sci.environment:9977 sci.physics:11606 sci.energy:3662