Green Wombat

  Sunset @ Bass Strait, Australia 
  Originally uploaded by timparkinson.

An international agreement that regulates the dumping of waste into the world’s oceans has been amended to allow carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants to be pumped beneath the sea floor. Australia led the effort to change the London Convention to permit carbon storage, or geosequestration, as a way to combat global warming. "These technologies are relatively new but have enormous potential to help the world reduce its greenhouse gas emissions," said Australian environment minister Ian Campbell Friday in a statement. Australia, of course, has refused to sign the Kyoto Accord and holds vast coal deposit. In fact, 86 percent of the country’s electricity is produced by coal-fired plants. Some environmentalists oppose geosequestration, saying the risks are too high and it does nothing to reduce the planet’s reliance on coal and other greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels.