WThe 2009 southeast Queensland oil spill occurred off the coast of southeast Queensland, Australia on 11 March 2009, when 230 tonnes of fuel oil, 30 tonnes of other fuel and 31 shipping containers containing 620 tonnes of ammonium nitrate spilled into the Coral Sea, north of Moreton Bay during Cyclone Hamish. It happened after unsecured cargo on MV Pacific Adventurer damaged other cargo, causing the spillage. Over the following days, the spill washed ashore along 60 kilometres (37 mi) of coastline encompassing the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Bribie Island and Moreton Island.
WClimate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions was a conference on Climate Change held at the Bella Center by the University of Copenhagen. The event was organised with the assistance of other universities in the International Alliance of Research Universities. The stated aim of the conference was to provide "a summary of existing scientific knowledge two years after the last IPCC report." The conference took place on 10–12 March 2009.
WThe Corby toxic waste case was a court case decided by The Hon. Mr. Justice Akenhead at the High Court of Justice, London, on 29 July 2009 in the case of Corby Group Litigation v. Corby Borough Council [2009] EWHC 1944 (TCC). The judge found Corby Borough Council liable in negligence, public nuisance and a breach of statutory duty for its reclamation of a Corby Steelworks in the town of Corby, Northamptonshire, between 1985 and 1997. The landmark decision was historically significant as the first in the world to establish a link between atmospheric toxic waste and birth defects - all previous cases have involved water pollution - and held implications for other council reclamation programs and the methods of conducting reclamation in England and Wales.
WThe Cove is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Louie Psihoyos which analyzes and questions dolphin hunting practices in Japan. It was awarded the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2010. The film is a call to action to halt mass dolphin kills and captures, change Japanese fishing practices, and inform and educate the public about captivity and the increasing hazard of mercury poisoning from consuming dolphin meat.
WCrude is a 2009 American documentary film directed and produced by Joe Berlinger. It follows a two-year portion of an ongoing class action lawsuit against the Chevron Corporation in Ecuador.
WDreamland is a 2009 Icelandic documentary film about politics, environmental preservation and damming, focusing on the Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant and its environmental impact. The movie is based on the book Dreamland: A Self-Help Manual for a Frightened Nation by Andri Snær Magnason. The film's soundtrack is composed by Valgeir Sigurðsson.
WEarth Days is a 2009 documentary film about the history of the environmental movement in the United States, directed by Robert Stone and distributed by Zeitgeist Films in theaters. Earth Days premiered at the 2009 Wisconsin Film Festival, and released to theatres on August 14, 2009.
WEating Animals is the third book by the American novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, published in 2009. A New York Times best-seller, Eating Animals provides a dense discussion of what it means to eat animals in an industrialized world. It was written in close collaboration with Farm Forward, a US nonprofit organization promoting veganism and sustainable agriculture.
WThe Full City Oil Spill is a major fuel oil spill incident that occurred on July 31, 2009 when the bulk carrier Full City ran aground on the island of Såstein / Saastein south of Langesund, Telemark, Norway. The ship, said to be operated by a HK subsidiary of COSCO, spilled around 200 tons, of IFO-380 heavy fuel oil. The oil contaminated 75 km of Norwegian coastline, including Langesund, Vestfold, and the Lille Såstein Bird Sanctuary. There were oil slicks in approximately 200 locations along the shoreline between Larvik Municipality and Lilles. Thousands of sea birds were covered in oil, and although volunteers made efforts to save them, many of the birds had to be shot due to the irreversible damage to their health. The Institute of Marine Research ran tests on the affected areas to track any significant ecological impacts but noted that the marine and fish life suffered no significant changes. The research was included in a study of four oil spills that occurred in the Norwegian coastal area, including the Rocknes Oil Spill, the Server Oil Spill, and the Godafoss Oil Spill.
WThe 2009 G20 London summit protests occurred in the days around the 2 April 2009 G20 London summit. The summit was the focus of protests from a number of groups over various long-standing and topical issues. These ranged from disquiet over economic policy, anger at the banking system and bankers' remuneration and bonuses, the continued war on terror and concerns over climate change.
WThe Great Lakes–Saint Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement is a good-faith agreement among the Governors of the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and the Premiers of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The agreement details how the States and Provinces will manage the use of the Great Lakes Basin's water supply and builds on the 1985 Great Lakes Charter and its 2001 Annex. It was signed on December 13, 2005.
WHeaven and Earth: Global Warming – The Missing Science is a popular science book published in 2009 and written by Australian geologist, professor of mining geology at Adelaide University, and mining company director Ian Plimer. It disputes the scientific consensus on climate change, including the view that global warming is "very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (man-made) greenhouse gas concentrations" and asserts that the debate is being driven by what the author regards as irrational and unscientific elements.
WThe Idiot Cycle is a 2009 French-Canadian documentary which alleges that six major chemical companies are responsible for decades of cancer causing chemicals and pollution, and also develop cancer treatments and drugs. It also argues these companies own the most patents on genetically modified crops that have never been tested for long term health impacts like cancer.
WThe International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organization mandated to facilitate cooperation, advance knowledge, and promote the adoption and sustainable use of renewable energy. It is the first international organisation to focus exclusively on renewable energy, addressing needs in both industrialised and developing countries. It was founded in 2009 and its statute entered into force on 8 July 2010. The agency is headquartered in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi. The Director-General of IRENA is Francesco La Camera, a national of Italy. IRENA is an official United Nations observer.
WKiller Company: James Hardie Exposed is a 2009 Australian book by journalist Matt Peacock.
WKivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., No. 4:08-cv-01138, is a lawsuit filed on February 26, 2008, in a United States district court. The suit, based on the common law theory of nuisance, claims monetary damages from the energy industry for the destruction of Kivalina, Alaska by flooding caused by climate change. The damage estimates made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Government Accountability Office are placed between $95 million and $400 million. This lawsuit is an example of greenhouse gas emission liability.
WKlimaforum09 - People's Climate Summit, an open and alternative climate conference in December 2009, was attended by about 50,000 people. Environmental activists from regions of the world most affected by climate change convened in Copenhagen at Klimaforum09 with leaders such as Vandana Shiva, founder of Navdanya, Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International, and author Naomi Klein.
WThe Montara oil spill was an oil and gas leak and subsequent slick that took place in the Montara oil field in the Timor Sea, off the northern coast of Western Australia. It is considered one of Australia's worst oil disasters. The slick was released following a blowout from the Montara wellhead platform on 21 August 2009, and continued leaking until 3 November 2009, when the leak was stopped by pumping mud into the well and the wellbore cemented thus "capping" the blowout. The West Atlas rig is owned by the Norwegian-Bermudan Seadrill, and operated by PTTEP Australasia (PTTEPAA), a subsidiary of PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) which is in turn a subsidiary of PTT, the Thai state-owned oil and gas company was operating over on adjacent well on the Montara platform. Houston-based Halliburton was involved in cementing the well. The Montara field is located off the Kimberley coast, 250 km (160 mi) north of Truscott airbase, and 690 km (430 mi) west of Darwin. Sixty-nine workers were safely evacuated from the West Atlas jackup drilling rig when the blowout occurred.
WThe Beaufort Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, and west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after Sir Francis Beaufort, a hydrographer. The Mackenzie River, the longest in Canada, empties into the Canadian part of the Beaufort Sea west of Tuktoyaktuk, which is one of the few permanent settlements on the sea's shores.
WNo Impact Man is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein, based on the book by Colin Beavan. The film, which premiered September 4, 2009, follows Colin Beavan and his family during their year-long experiment to have zero impact on the environment. The film mostly takes place in New York City.
WOur Choice is a 2009 book written by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Originally titled The Path to Survival it follows An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, a companion book to the 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth. All profits of the book go to the Alliance for Climate Protection, which Gore founded in 2006.
WPicher is a ghost town and former city in Ottawa County, northeastern Oklahoma, United States. It was a major national center of lead and zinc mining for more than 100 years in the heart of the Tri-State Mining District.
WThe 2009 USS Port Royal grounding was a ship grounding by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser Port Royal off Oahu, Hawaii on 5 February 2009. The ship ran aground on a coral reef, damaging both the ship and the reef. The incident received wide press coverage in Hawaii, in part because of the damage caused to a sensitive coral environment, and also because the stranded ship was within sight of Honolulu off the airport.
WProsperity Without Growth is a book by author and economist Tim Jackson. It was originally released as a report by the Sustainable Development Commission. The study rapidly became the most downloaded report in the Commission's nine-year history when it was published in 2009. The report was later that year reworked and published as a book by Earthscan. A revised and expanded edition was published in January 2017.
WThe Real Global Warming Disaster is a 2009 book by English journalist and author Christopher Booker in which he asserts that global warming cannot be attributed to humans, and then alleges how the scientific opinion on climate change was formulated.
WSaving Britain's Past is a British factual television series presented by Tom Dyckhoff that was first broadcast on BBC Two on 20 January 2009.
WThe 2009 Southeast Asian haze was an episode of large scale air pollution primarily caused by slash and burn practices used to clear land for agricultural purposes in Sumatra, Indonesia. It affected the areas surrounding the Straits of Malacca which besides Indonesia include Malaysia and Singapore.
WStorms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity is climate scientist James Hansen's first book, published by Bloomsbury Press in 2009. The book is about threats to people and habitability for life on earth from global warming.
WSurvival of the Fattest is a sculpture of a small, starved boy carrying a fat woman. The sculpture was made by Jens Galschiøt and Lars Calmar in 2002, as a symbol of the imbalanced distribution of the world’s resources. In 2006 it was acquired by the city of Ringkøbing, Central Denmark Region, and placed in the harbour.
WTen Technologies to Fix Energy and Climate or Ten Technologies to Save the Planet is a popular science book by Chris Goodall first published in 2008 and re-issued in 2009 by Profile Books. Its ten chapters each detail a technology that has the potential to reduce greenhouse gases while being economically and technologically viable in the present or near future. The book received a positive critical response for the way in which it was written and dealt with the issues surrounding Global Warming.
WThe Montara oil spill was an oil and gas leak and subsequent slick that took place in the Montara oil field in the Timor Sea, off the northern coast of Western Australia. It is considered one of Australia's worst oil disasters. The slick was released following a blowout from the Montara wellhead platform on 21 August 2009, and continued leaking until 3 November 2009, when the leak was stopped by pumping mud into the well and the wellbore cemented thus "capping" the blowout. The West Atlas rig is owned by the Norwegian-Bermudan Seadrill, and operated by PTTEP Australasia (PTTEPAA), a subsidiary of PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) which is in turn a subsidiary of PTT, the Thai state-owned oil and gas company was operating over on adjacent well on the Montara platform. Houston-based Halliburton was involved in cementing the well. The Montara field is located off the Kimberley coast, 250 km (160 mi) north of Truscott airbase, and 690 km (430 mi) west of Darwin. Sixty-nine workers were safely evacuated from the West Atlas jackup drilling rig when the blowout occurred.
WThe 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 5th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. According to the Bali Road Map, a framework for climate change mitigation beyond 2012 was to be agreed there.
WVanishing of the Bees is a 2009 documentary film by Hive Mentality Films & Hipfuel Films, directed by George Langworthy and Maryam Henein and released in the United Kingdom in October 2009. The story is centered on the sudden disappearance of honey bees from beehives around the world, caused by the poorly understood phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder or CCD. Although the film does not draw any firm scientific conclusions as to the precise cause or causes of CCD, it does suggest a link between neonicotinoid pesticides and CCD.
WThe West Cork oil spill was an oil spill off the southern coast of Ireland. The spill was first identified by the European Maritime Safety Agency's CleanSeaNet satellite monitoring system on 14 February 2009. An Irish Air Corps marine patrol aircraft confirmed the slick's presence near the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov which was undergoing refuelling around the same time. The British Coastguard and Irish Department of Transport agreed that around 300 tonnes of oil were spilled. The Russian Navy accepted responsibility for the incident but disputed the quantity, claiming around 20-30 tonnes had been spilt either whilst washing the decks or pumping out the bilges of the carrier, the Russian Navy made no notification to any authority at the time of the spill. The oil spill drifted eastwards and there were fears that the spill would wash up on the coast of south eastern Ireland or Wales but it broke up before this.
WWhole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto is the sixth book by Stewart Brand, published by Viking Penguin in 2009. He sees Earth and people propelled by three transformations: climate change, urbanization and biotechnology. Brand tackles "touchy issues" like nuclear power, genetic engineering and geoengineering, "fully aware that many of the environmentalist readers he hopes to reach will start out disagreeing with him".
WWhy We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity is a 2009 book by Mike Hulme. It was published by the Cambridge University Press. As of September 2017 it has sold over 18,000 copies. In 2009 it was selected by The Economist magazine as one of its science and technology 'Books of the Year' and in 2010 was jointly awarded the Gerald L Young Prize for the best book in human ecology.