Global warming: Not a big joke

St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology, respected the links among all of God’s creation. Following a rebirth experience, Francis, whose feast day is Oct. 4, made a drastic change in his lifestyle, striving for less so that Christ could become more in his life.

No doubt, he would take the warnings about global warming seriously and find additional ways to simplify his life.

Weathering the storm of climate change

When scientists first began describing evidence of global climate change in the late 1980s, it was easy for corporations and the investment establishment to dismiss it as a fringe idea.

But as extreme weather events have multiplied - from the destructive force of Hurricane Katrina to the wild temperature swings in Europe and the United States - many have begun to consider not only that climate change might be real, but that it might have significant economic consequences.

CLIMATE Change: Forest health is under the microscopes

[...] global warming can be a misnomer. The term can make the effects of increasing temperatures and decreasing snowpack seem removed. But climatologist and meteorologists working in the Pacific Northwest know climate change is happening, here, in our backyard.

Global warming fight failing

Canada's fight against global warming has been a losing battle with little accountability and could leave taxpayers on the hook for up to $1 billion in subsidies for polluting companies, according to the federal commissioner of the environment.

Senator Pounds Media for Global Warming Bias

In a speech today on the floor of the Senate, James Inhofe (R-Okla.) blasted the news media for its bias on the subject of global warming. He also went after a completely one-sided report CNN aired on today's "American Morning" which portrayed him as a servant of the oil and gas companies with his out-of-the-mainstream views on the issue.

Rare Mineral Further Implicates CO2 in Last Global Warming

Those trying to get a glimpse of what the future holds for the global climate may want to dig into the past. The earth's last major warm period probably witnessed relatively high concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere--similar to the upper limit of concentrations we might expect in the coming century--according to an analysis of ancient mineral deposits.

Global Warming: PROOF

Everyone has been exposed to the debate surrounding global warming. A lot of the scary consequences of global warming are found by the way of global climate models. It can be hard to decipher, at least from general reporting, as to where these models come from, how they are calculated, and how accurate they are. The following should clear up some of this mysterious witchcraft known as climate modeling and give scientific background to the problem.

Warming trend is hatching a business

U.S. governors, impatient with federal inaction on global warming, are taking matters into their own hands. The result could add impetus to an emerging industry.

NASA Study Finds World Warmth Edging Ancient Levels

A new study by NASA scientists finds that the world's temperature is reaching a level that has not been seen in thousands of years.

The study, led by James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, N.Y., along with scientists from other organizations concludes that, because of a rapid warming trend over the past 30 years, the Earth is now reaching and passing through the warmest levels in the current interglacial period, which has lasted nearly 12,000 years. An "interglacial period" is a time in the Earth's history when the area of Earth covered by glaciers was similar or smaller than at the present time. Recent warming is forcing species of plants and animals to move toward the north and south poles.

Schwarzenegger Backs Global Warming Bill

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday signed into law a sweeping global warming initiative that imposes the nation's first cap on greenhouse gas emissions, saying the effort kicks off "a bold new era of environmental protection."

Standing on picturesque Treasure Island with San Francisco's skyline in the background, Schwarzenegger called the fight against global warming one of the most important issues of modern times.

Change airports to curb warming, Branson says

British billionaire Richard Branson proposed on Wednesday changes to aircraft movements at busy airports and the way planes land under a plan he said would cut the world's aviation carbon emissions by up to 25 percent.

Impact of climate change 'terrifying'

The future impact of climate change on South Australia is "terrifying", Premier Mike Rann said today.

U.S. May Be Holding Report on Global Warming

The journal Nature reported Tuesday that The Bush Administration is blocking release of a report suggesting that global warming may be contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes. When the report was expected to be released in May, panel chair Ants Leetmaa received an e-mail from a Commerce official saying the report was not to be released, Nature reported.

Inhofe's speech and right-wing global warming myths

What's remarkable about this particular speech is its windy, compendious breadth. Inhofe comes off like nothing so much as an assiduous right-wing blogger who's spent hours in his Cheeto-scattered basement combing the net for every rumor, half-truth, and slander he can find, collecting them all into some half-ass database of delusion.

It's a bravura performance, though one can't help wonder when Oklahomans' more pressing concerns are being addressed.

UK SOCIETY SQUELCH OPPOSITION TO GREENS

A British scientific group, the Royal Society, contends that Exxon Mobil is spreading “inaccurate and misleading” information about climate change and is financing groups that misinform the public on the issue.

The Royal Society, a 1,400-member organization that dates back to the 1600’s and has counted Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein as members, asked Exxon Mobil in a letter this month to stop financing these groups and to change its public reports to reflect more accurately the opinions of scientists on the issue.

There is a “false sense somehow that there is a two-sided debate going on in the scientific community” about the origins of climate change, said Bob Ward, the senior manager for policy communication at the Royal Society.

The reality is that “thousands and thousands” of scientists around the world agree that climate change is linked to greenhouse gases, he said, with “one or two professional contrarians” who disagree.

USGS at The Wildlife Society: From Sea-Ice Change to Contaminants to Predators and Prey

The Wildlife Society´s 13th Annual Conference & Trade Show is being held September 23–27, 2006 in downtown Anchorage, Alaska at the William A. Egan Civic and Convention Center. Additional information about the Wildlife Society conference can be found online at www.wildlife.org/conference/index.cfm.

Branson pledges $3B to fight global warming

Famed British billionaire and Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson announced Thursday he would earmark an estimated $3 billion over the next 10 years toward fighting global warming.

Making his announcement at a news conference at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Branson said all future proceeds from Virgin Group's train and airline businesses would go toward tackling the problem.

NRCM study say global warming could put chunks of Maine coast under water.

An environmental organization predicted Tuesday that rising ocean levels tied to global warming could submerge tens of thousands of acres along coastal Maine, severely damaging popular oceanfront communities and inflicting "incalculable" harm to local tourism.

Natural Resources Council of Maine representatives said that, based on their calculations, 20,000-plus acres and 58 miles of roads in 20 towns from Kennebunkport to Beals could end up underwater if sea levels rose about three feet.

And that is under the optimistic scenario.

World Bank Addresses Climate Change

The World Bank plans to help developing countries better address the impact of climate change, including the effect of droughts and floods on agriculture and how rising sea levels threaten coastal areas.

The bank's chief scientist, Bob Watson, also said that as much as 40 percent of its $20 billion in annual loans and grants is going to projects that may be at risk because of climate change. That, he said, would force the Washington, D.C.-based institution to consider redesigning billion of dollars in aid efforts in the future.

Royal Society tells Exxon: stop funding climate change denial

Britain's leading scientists have challenged the US oil company ExxonMobil to stop funding groups that attempt to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change.

In an unprecedented step, the Royal Society, Britain's premier scientific academy, has written to the oil giant to demand that the company withdraws support for dozens of groups that have "misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence".

2006: The Year of Climate Change

Scientists admit they've been frustrated.

They've known about global warming since the late 1980s. They've written hundreds of papers about its causes. Humankind is burning fossil fuels, producing greenhouse gases that trap more of the sun's energy. And they've detailed its effects and implications: Warmer oceans. Higher sea levels. Stronger hurricanes. Skinnier polar bears. More common heat waves.

The rest of us haven't quite gotten it. A powerful minority of scientists -- some with financial backing from the fossil fuel industry -- have characterized the earth's increasing temperature as part of a natural cycle of warm temperatures.

Within the last year, public perception of the debate has been changing. ...

Mayors find evidence of global warming in Alaska

Vanta Shafer says it used to be a shorter walk to see Exit Glacier 14 years ago when she was a mother entertaining her children and not the mayor of nearby Seward. Since those days before politics, the glacier has retreated hundreds of feet, almost too far to walk to. She said it now saddens her to visit the retreating glacier, and asks -- "Don't you think that's awfully fast?"

Insurers confront global warming

A new report linking global warming with more powerful hurricanes is only the latest evidence of why climate change is perhaps the greatest threat that the insurance industry may ever face. It is an equally serious threat to those whom it insures -- a reality New Englanders know all too well.

Councilwoman Frye holds hearing on 'profoundly local' issue of global warming

Councilwoman Donna Frye, who convened a hearing at City Hall on Wednesday on global warming, introduced a plan to address what she called the “single-largest” threat to San Diego's environment and economy.

“Global warming, as we will hear Wednesday, poses the single-largest threat to our economies and communities,” Frye said at a news conference prior to the Natural Resources and Culture Committee meeting.

NASA researchers find evidence of global warming in the arctic

A senior research scientist at the US space agency NASA says they've found the strongest evidence yet of global warming in the Arctic. New research shows that
the sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk by 14 per cent over the last two years.

NASA scientists used satellite imagery to do the work.

Study acquits sun of climate change

The sun's energy output has barely varied over the past 1000 years, raising chances that global warming has human rather than celestial causes, a study showed today.

Researchers from Germany, Switzerland and the United States found that the sun's brightness varied by only 0.07 per cent over 11-year sunspot cycles, far too little to account for the rise in temperatures since the Industrial Revolution.

Tropical SSTs: Natural variations or Global warming?

Several recent studies such as Emanuel (2005) and Hoyos et al (2006) have emphasized the role of increasing tropical sea surface temperatures (SSTs) on recent increases in hurricane intensities, both globally and for the Atlantic. The publication this week of a comprehensive paper by Santer et al provides an opportunity to assess the key middle question - to what can we attribute the relevant changes in tropical SSTs? And in particular, what can we say about Atlantic SSTs where we have the best data?

Global Warming, Too Hot or Not?

The diversity of opinions on issues related to global warming points to one unassailable fact: we simply do not know enough about the geophysical processes of the planet to make useful predictions about climate change. In fact, new climate surprises spring up all the time. The most recent concerns the temperature of the oceans.

First climate change refugees

THE first mass exodus of people fleeing the disastrous effects of climate change is not happening in low-lying Pacific islands but in the world's richest country.

"The first massive movement of climate refugees has been that of people away from the Gulf Coast of the United States," said the Earth Policy Institute.

Institute president Lester Brown said that about a quarter of a million people who fled the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina a year ago must now be classed as "refugees".

Siberian thaw to speed up global warming

The frozen bogs of Siberia are melting, and the thaw could have devastating consequences for the planet, scientists have discovered.

They have found that Arctic permafrost, which is starting to melt due to global warming, is releasing five times more methane gas than their calculations had predicted. That level of emission is alarming because methane itself is a greenhouse gas.

Insurers chided over global warming policies

Insurers, whose finances could be stretched to breaking point by climate change, stand accused of doing too little to research global warming or devise products to mitigate its potentially catastrophic effects.Unless climate change slows, insurers warn, years like 2005, when their catastrophe bill topped $80 billion, could become the norm, with premiums for those in disaster-prone areas soaring, and some regions becoming uninsurable.

But insurers have been criticised for not doing enough to encourage their clients to be more environmentally friendly.

Climate change linked to extreme rainfall increase

Increases in the frequency and intensity of rainfall are likely to be linked to global warming, a leading scientist said today.

Dr Hayley Fowler of the Newcastle University school of civil engineering and geosciences used a statistical method known as regional frequency analysis to monitor 204 rainfall records from nine regions of the UK for evidence of change in extreme rainfall events from 1961-2000.

Methane from Siberian lakes increases global warming

Siberian Lakes could become a more significant factor in global climate change as they are belching out much more of the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere than previously thought, a study showed.

The conclusion, published in the Sept. 7 issue of journal Nature, was made by an international group of researchers led by Katey Walter of the University of Alaska.

Insurers chided over global warming policies

Insurers, whose finances could be stretched to breaking point by climate change, stand accused of doing too little to research global warming or devise products to mitigate its potentially catastrophic effects.Unless climate change slows, insurers warn, years like 2005, when their catastrophe bill topped $80 billion, could become the norm, with premiums for those in disaster-prone areas soaring, and some regions becoming uninsurable.

Kenya: Minister Issues Global Warming Alert

The current trends in global warming will have adverse effects on the tourism industry, Environment minister Prof Kivutha Kibwana has said.

He said the rise in temperatures would lower [sic] sea levels, leading to the destruction of seashore structures.

"Sea levels will rise, flooding coastal areas. Heat waves will be more frequent and more intense, while droughts and wildfires will occur more often," he said.

Lowered Global Warming Forecasts? Not So Fast

When science news reporters take their cues from other news reporters rather than from the scientific literature itself, problems often result. Those problems are only compounded by the brevity of most wire reports.

It's not that the IPCC's climate scientists have lowered their forecasts for the worst case scenarios. As the researchers at RealClimate explain, the new report is tightening the estimates for climate sensitivity to a doubling of preindustrial CO2 levels; a forecast would be somewhat different.

Why greenhouse gases heat the ocean

Observations of ocean temperatures have revealed that the ocean heat content has been increasing significantly over recent decades. This is something that has been predicted by climate models, and has therefore been described as a 'smoking gun' for human-caused greenhouse gases.

However, some have insisted that there is a paradox here - how can a forcing [sic] driven by longwave absorption and emission impact the ocean below since the infrared radiation does not penetrate more than a few micrometers into the ocean?

Three continents of fruit flies mark climate change

The European fruit fly is experiencing genetic changes due to a fast-warming climate, scientists warn. Now the changes are apparent on three different continents since the fruit fly’s accidental introduction to North and South America about 25 years ago.

"This is a clear signal on three different continents that climate change is occurring, and that genetic change is going along with it," said Raymond Huey, a University of Washington biology professor who is co-author of a paper describing the findings.

Killer bug on move with global warming

A flesh-eating bacterium that can kill is spreading northward in salty European waters in response to climate change, a scientist will warn the festival.

Paul Hunter, Professor of Health Protection at the University of East Anglia, will explain how patterns of infectious disease are altering.

He says much time has been spent predicting the impact of global warming on the spread of disease but some tropical illnesses are already shifting northwards.

GOP tackles climate change

When he hung up the phone at his Washington office one day last year, Tucker Eskew wondered about the conversation he had just completed.

The former spokesman for Gov. Carroll Campbell, a Republican, had been asked to help an environmental group fight against global warming, long-considered a Democratic cause championed by the likes of former Vice President Al Gore.

“That was certainly a new and different prospect for my business,” said Eskew, now a political strategist and consultant. “But I went from, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ to ‘I’ve got to think about this.’”

Today, Eskew is one of three former Campbell advisers hired by Environmental Defense to map strategy for stemming global warming.

Global warming - the heat is on

As the signs that the Earth is warming up become more apparent every day, the issue of global warming has reached a point where there is almost complete consensus that it is a reality requiring some urgent solutions.