Climate change a threat to development: World Bank

Climate change may be one of the biggest threats to attempts to cutting poverty in the world's most deprived nations and has forced the World Bank to reassess its development projects, the bank said on Tuesday.

Studies have shown that climate change and global warming linked to greenhouse gas emissions will reduce economic growth, development and investment in some of the world's most vulnerable nations.

Sea Change in Global Warming?

In the next few weeks, John Lyman of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will publish a paper in the refereed journal Geophysical Research Letters showing that, globally, the top 2,500 feet of the ocean lost a tremendous amount of heat between 2003 and 2005 -- in fact, about 20% of all the heat gained in the last half-century.

Lyman's figures have climate scientists scratching their heads. No computer model predicts such behavior. And further, the changes in surface temperatures haven't corresponded (yet?) to the average changes at depth, although deep-water temperatures have also dropped some. Nor has the sea level dropped by an amount commensurate with the cooling (water volume varies slightly with temperature).
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Be forewarned, though. As we've learned from the completely unexpected cooling of the deep ocean that began in 2003, we know a lot less about climate change than we think.

We can't reverse global warming by triggering another catastrophe

Sulphate pollution killed hundreds of thousands of Africans. A plan to use sulphur to fight climate change risks the same.

Put the Brakes on Global Warming

California is the tenth largest emitter of carbon dioxide pollution in the world. Scientific consensus tells us that global warming gases, including carbon dioxide from human sources, will devastate the environment, the economy, and public health.

In 2002, California led the nation by passing AB 1493 (Pavley) into law, mandating the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources such as cars and light-duty trucks. Still, stationary sources such as power plants, oil refineries, and landfills remain unregulated for greenhouse gas emissions. Assembly Bill 32 (Nuñez) puts California back in the lead in the fight against global warming by requiring Cal/EPA to set a statewide cap on greenhouse gas emissions, reduce these emissions from major stationary sources, and develop a mandatory reporting system for these emissions

Global Warming Sickness: The Medicine Will Hurt More

A magazine news article warned of the impending doom of climate change:

"There are ominous signs that the Earth's weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production, with serious political implications for every nation on Earth. The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only 10 years from now. ... The evidence in support of these predictions has now begun to accumulate so massively that meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up with it."

Sprung: warming alters seasons

SPRING is arriving earlier each year as a result of climate change, the first "conclusive proof" that global warming is altering the timing of the seasons, European scientists have announced.

In what is believed to be the world's largest study of seasonal events, such as the flowering of plants, autumnal leaf fall and insect behaviour, scientists found that spring now starts six to eight days earlier across Europe than in the early 1970s.

Warmer temperatures have also delayed autumn by an average of three days in the past 30 years, the scientists report.

State's glaciers eyed for warming

With more glaciers than any state in the Lower 48, Washington has emerged as a bellwether for global warming. The signs are not encouraging.

New Single-Issue Website On Climate Change in Ski Resorts Launched

A new website dedicated to reporting on how climate change is affecting the world’s ski areas, glaciers and polar regions has been launched at www.saveoursnow.com,

Text of Sen. Feinstein's speech on global warming

This is the prepared text of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's speech on global warming, delivered Thursday evening, August 24, 2006, to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.

... But, if we act soon and decisively, global warming can be limited to 1 to 2 degrees. This, I contend, should be our goal. ...

Global-warming foes fighting the cures

If Al Gore is right and global warming is genuine, grave and the fault of mankind, why do he and so many environmentalists oppose measures that would reduce those pesky carbon-dioxide emissions? Power sources that could cut atmospheric CO2 rarely seem good enough to satisfy the greens.

Unlike oil and coal, nuclear power does not generate CO2. It may be the most practical, atmosphere-friendly power source now available. And yet the former vice president seems unimpressed.

Top climatologist warns global warming will hit Vermont hard

A federal scientist whose statements on global warming have put him at odds with the Bush administration is backing the state of Vermont and environmental groups in a lawsuit over the regulation of car emissions.

In testimony, James Hansen, a top climatologist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, warns that the harmful impacts from global warming will hit Vermont's tourism-based economy harder than other states.

BP declares war on global warming

Oil giant BP wants every motorist in Britain to do their bit to beat global warming by signing up for a new scheme called Target Neutral. It's a web-based, non-profit way for drivers to fund ventures that cancel out the amount of carbon dioxide their driving adds to the atmosphere.

BP's UK boss Peter Mather said: 'An increasing number of members of the public want to do their bit and have a direct impact. Our research shows that people are aware of it but they don't quite know what to do about it.'

Scientists Disagree On Link Between Storms, Warming

A year after Hurricane Katrina and other major storms battered the U.S. coast, the question of whether hurricanes are becoming more destructive because of global warming has become perhaps the most hotly contested question in the scientific debate over climate change.

Academics have published a flurry of papers either supporting or debunking the idea that warmer temperatures linked to human activity are fueling more intense storms. The issue remains unresolved, but it has acquired a political potency that has made both sides heavily invested in the outcome.

Weather Channel to highlight global warming

The Weather Channel is getting off the fence and into the middle of the global warming debate with a new program that will explore how climate change affects people in this country and elsewhere.

"We're finally saying the weather isn't apolitical and it isn't an act of God — it's more complicated than that," Heidi Cullen, a climate expert with the 24-hour weather network, said Wednesday during a breakfast meeting at the National Association of Black Journalists convention.

More Fires, Droughts And Floods Predicted

Despite the commitment we have already to global warming, even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases now the researchers predict that Eurasia, eastern China, Canada, Central America, and Amazonia are at risk of forest loss (up to 30% probability for a global warming of less then 2°C and increasing to more than 60% for a warming of more than 3°C), while the far north, Amazonia and many semi-arid regions will become more susceptible to wildfires.

Levee suit cites global warming

Environmental groups plan to file a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court today claiming that flood-control officials violated state law by allowing major levee modifications in San Joaquin County without considering the effect of global warming.

The groups, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, assert that the sea level rise associated with climate change could eventually overtop those levees, putting thousands of people at risk.

Global warming prompts need for wine reforms, says lawyer

Adelaide wine lawyer Will Taylor says climate change is the biggest long-term issue facing the industry and winemakers will need to change what they grow and where they grow it.

U.S. Study Links Global Warming, Hurricane Intensity

limate change is affecting the intensity of Atlantic hurricanes, and hurricane damage likely will continue to increase because of greenhouse warming, according to a new study funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

The study shows for the first time a direct relationship between climate change and hurricane intensity, unlike other studies that have linked warmer oceans to a likely increase in the number of hurricanes, according to an August 15 press release from the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

See second, related article: U.S. Agency Confirms Above-Normal Hurricane Season Prediction

Global warming affects hurricane intensity-US study

Global warming is affecting the intensity of Atlantic hurricanes, according to a new study by a university professor in Florida who says his research provides the first direct link between climate change and storm strength.

James Elsner of Florida State University said he set out to perform a statistical analysis of the two theories in a raging debate within the scientific community: Whether recent intense hurricanes are the result of climate change or natural ocean warming and cooling cycles.

'Dead Zone' Causing Wave Of Death Off Oregon Coast

The most severe low-oxygen ocean conditions ever observed on the West Coast of the United States have turned parts of the seafloor off Oregon into a carpet of dead Dungeness crabs and rotting sea worms, a new survey shows. Virtually all of the fish appear to have fled the area.

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Extreme and unusual fluctuations in wind patterns and ocean currents are consistent with the predicted impacts of some global climate change models, scientists say, but they cannot yet directly link these events to climate change or global warming.

Global warming debate changing with climate

GLOBAL WARMING is having its moment in the sun. The climate crisis is on "60 Minutes" and in Tom Brokaw's recent documentary, on the cover of Time and Newsweek, and in Al Gore's movie and best-selling book.

But while polls show that most Americans now believe that global warming is real and significantly manmade, they are much less concerned about the issue than non-Americans, and much less willing to support dramatic action to address it.

The problem is, most scientists now believe dramatic action is necessary to prevent a climate catastrophe. They warn that unless humans can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent, global warming could threaten the habitability of the earth. That's the inconvenient part of "An Inconvenient Truth." And when Gore's critics complain that such drastic reductions would require an assault on our way of life, they're telling the truth, too.

But what if Americans decided that such changes truly were necessary?

Past climate change caused dramatic shift in humidity, precipitation levels, temperature, and ocean water salinity

Analyzing plant fossils collected in the Arctic, a team of researchers led by Mark Pagani, professor of geology and geophysics at Yale University, found that water and atmospheric water vapor are a major indicator of the "greenhouse" changes.

Native Alaskans Feel the Heat of Global Warming

Native Alaskans have seen many changes in the last century. Many have been converted by Christian missionaries. Their hand-made canoes have been replaced by motorboats. And their meager existence has been supplemented by government assistance. Despite these outside influences, Alaskans have been able to maintain reliance on their traditional way of life. But that could soon change. As VOA's Brian Padden reports, conditions attributed to global warming are now threatening the environment itself.

S.F. utilities commission preparing for global warming

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission began Tuesday what could be a long-term plan to save the city and region from a catastrophic change in climate.

Whether it's the rising of the ocean of more than three feet, leading to a collapse of the city's sewer system, or a dramatic reduction in the Sierra Nevada snow pack, resulting in a crippling drought and energy crisis, San Francisco will be ready, said the commission's General Manager Susan Leal.

Climate legacy of 'hockey stick'

How did a 'hockey stick' became a symbol of global warming? This article explains how the hockey stick was a term coined for a chart of temperature variation over the last 1,000 years, which suggested a recent sharp rise in temperature caused by human activities.

Debate on Climate Shifts to Issue of Irreparable Change

Now that most scientists agree human activity is causing Earth to warm, the central debate has shifted to whether climate change is progressing so rapidly that, within decades, humans may be helpless to slow or reverse the trend.

This "tipping point" scenario has begun to consume many prominent researchers in the United States and abroad, because the answer could determine how drastically countries need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years. While scientists remain uncertain when such a point might occur, many say it is urgent that policymakers cut global carbon dioxide emissions in half over the next 50 years or risk the triggering of changes that would be irreversible.

New Report Says Human Tampering Threatens Planet's Life-sustaining Surface

In a report released August 1, scientists call for a new systematic study of the Earth's "critical zone"--the life-sustaining outermost surface of the planet, from the vegetation canopy to groundwater and everything in between.Understanding and predicting responses to global and regional change is necessary, they say, to mitigate the impacts of humans on complex ecosystems and ultimately sustain food production.

Bizarre weather in India as drought, floods swap places

Blame it on the weather gods or global warming. Gujarat, an otherwise drought-prone state in western India, was battling floods Tuesday, while the northeast, usually battered by heavy rainfalls during this time of the year, was facing drought-like conditions.

Scientist: Inject Sulfur into Air to Battle Global Warming

Injecting sulfur into the second atmospheric layer closest to Earth would reflect more sunlight back to space and offset greenhouse gas warming, according to Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego.

Dying Forest: One year to save the Amazon

[...] global warming and deforestation [are] rapidly pushing the entire enormous area towards a "tipping point", where it would irreversibly start to die. The consequences would be truly awesome. The wet Amazon, the planet's greatest celebration of life, would turn to dry savannah at best, desert at worst. This would cause much of the world - including Europe - to become hotter and drier, making this sweltering summer a mild foretaste of what is to come. In the longer term, it could make global warming spiral out of control, eventually making the world uninhabitable.

Amazon rainforest is on the brink of becoming a desert

The vast Amazon rainforest is on the brink of being turned into desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate, alarming research suggests. And the process, which would be irreversible, could begin as early as next year.