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THE Government's green paper on carbon trading uses adjectives like "smoother", "gradual", and "measured" to describe the scheme's implementation, because cutting Australia's emissions by 60% in four decades is going to produce profound structural change, and, inevitably, political repercussions. Like a dentist poised above you, drill in hand, the Government wants to warn us the process will be difficult and reassure us it will be no more painful than is necessary.

ONE of the first things Kevin Rudd did as Prime Minister was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to bring Australia into line with most of the world on climate change. It was a gesture loaded with good intentions and purpose. Yesterday the Government released its green paper on how to tackle global warming. In the face of this "daunting reality" as Climate Change Minister Penny Wong described it yesterday, how has Canberra reacted? It has spoken loudly and carried a small stick

Ninety-three million years ago, Earth was a reshuffled jigsaw of continents, a hothouse where the average temperature was nearly twice that of today.

Palm trees grew in what would be Alaska, large reptiles roamed in northern Canada and the ice-free Arctic Ocean warmed to the equivalent of a tepid swimming pool.

So our planet was balmy -- but hardly a biological paradise, for it was whacked by a mass die-out. The depths of the ocean suddenly became starved of oxygen, wiping out swathes of marine life.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday a first draft of a rule that will govern injecting carbon dioxide into underground storage. Development of such a rule is essential before companies can build power plants that will capture and store their carbon dioxide to limit the buildup of global warming gases. The agency acted under the Clean Water Act because injecting carbon dioxide might push pollutants into underground drinking water supplies, according to Benjamin H. Grumbles, assistant administrator for water.

The burden of Labor's climate change plan will be carried by Australia's big business, particularly those operating in the powerful resources sector. The government's Green Paper, released today in Canberra, outlines that the pollutions penalty will apply for businesses that emit more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon each year. Labor has guaranteed that it will apply protection towards domestic industries that are emission-intensive but could be threatened by overseas competition if production prices were to rise.

Beijing's notoriously smog-choked environs are soon to be gifted an oasis of respite, courtesy of the Olympic Games. The largest public green space in the country, a 680-hectare Olympic Forest Park will soon open its oxygen-laden doors to the public.
The park is being billed by the authorities as a green lung for what is one of the world's most polluted cities. Built at the cost of 7.7 billion yuan ($1.12b) over a three-year period, the Forest Park is located at the northern end of the south-north axis around which the Olympic village is constructed.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) will be launching its i20 model by end of this year.

Mr H S Lheem, managing director and CEO, HMIL said that the new model would be launched for both domestic and international markets.

"With i20, Hyundai will complete its portfolio in the compact car segment. Santro, i10 and i20 will cater to the lower, middle and upper end segments respectively in the compact car market," he said.

Hyundai Motors India on Tuesday, started production at its new Engine and Transmission Plant at Sriperumbudur in Chennai.

acidic oceans: Dissolved CO2 makes water more acidic. UK researchers saw a fall in the species numbers and snails with their shells disintegrating in vents in the Mediterranean sea. They say impacts such as changing of marine food web and decrease in biodiversity might become common with the increase of CO2 levels. Some of the extra CO2 emitted enters the oceans, acidifying waters globally.

About 1,000 of Australia's biggest polluting companies will need to buy permits under an emissions trading scheme expected to be introduced in 2010 to try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the minister for climate change, Penny Wong said on Sunday. Australia, highly dependent on coal for making electricity and generating hundreds of billions of dollars in annual export revenue, is scheduled to release a paper on Wednesday spelling out guidelines for how it intends to implement emissions trading.