Australia

Give hot rocks a chance. That's all the geothermal experts have been saying.

And now, it seems, more and more nations are paying attention.

Take Australia.

By the end of '08, it will shut down the diesel-fueled generators in the southern town of Innaminck (population 12).

And in their place will come the nation's very first geothermal power plant.

Clean coal isn’t having much luck.

The latest project casualty is a carbon capture and storage plant planned for Kwinana, Australia – south of Perth.

BP pulled the plug on the $2 billion venture on account of an unforeseen geological defect in the area: The leaky rock formations can’t seem to seal in CO2 for the long-term.

Australia’s remote low-lying islands of the Torres Strait -- a place most of the Earth’s population has never heard of -- are doomed to disappear from rising seas, and residents may be forced to flee soon.

That puts the 7,000 islanders at risk of becoming some of the world’s first climate refugees.

So how has Australia’s Department of Climate Change responded?

The Independent:

There is no action plan for the region, and the newly formed Department of Climate Change was unable to cite any studies relating to these northerly islands. A search for the words "Torres Strait" on the department's website yields no results.

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