ECO/

######################################################################

Ozone layer recovery could be delayed by 30 years12th of oct 2017: ###################################################################### https://phys.org/news/2017-09-mathematics-sixth-mass-extinction.html Mathematics predicts a sixth mass extinction by 2100 September 20, 2017 Rothman then asked whether history followed his hypothesis. By searching through hundreds of published geochemistry papers, he identified 31 events in the last 542 million years in which a significant change occurred in Earth's carbon cycle. For each event, including the five mass extinctions, Rothman noted the change in carbon, expressed in the geochemical record as a change in the relative abundance of two isotopes, carbon-12 and carbon-13. He also noted the duration of time over which the changes occurred. He then devised a mathematical transformation to convert these quantities into the total mass of carbon that was added to the oceans during each event. Finally, he plotted both the mass and timescale of each event. "It became evident that there was a characteristic rate of change that the system basically didn't like to go past," Rothman says. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - see also the full article o his: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/9/e1700906.full - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/08/24/human-caused-climate-change-has-been-happening-for-a-lot-longer-than-we-thought-scientists-say/?utm_term=.5198ccb6b1c1 According to Abram, the study’s results suggest that “we have already warmed the planet more than what we would think we have if we’re basing our assessments just on the period since the 1880s.” And this means we may actually be closer to the kind of dangerous climate consequences many experts have predicted the planet could see if we blow past the 2-degree threshold, she suggested. “Actually finding that humans had a measureable impact on the climate in the mid 19th century was somewhat of a surprise,” Abram said. “It’s a finding that, no matter which way we tested, we kept coming up with that same answer.” “Our initial reaction to detecting this early onset of warming was the same [As Mann who cricizes them for in his view over-estimating the real but smaller anthropogenic 1800s effects – that what we were seeing was the climate rebounding from the big eruptions in the early 1800s and that later the effect of greenhouse gases kicked in,” Abram noted in a follow-up email to The Post. “But as we continued to test the data and our methods it became clear that you don’t need these big eruptions in the early 1800s to explain the early warming.”

People may be breathing in microplastics, health expert warns

“Global warming is now in overdrive”: We just hit a terrible climate milestone By Melissa Cronin on 4 Mar 2016 We’ve just surpassed a historic climate threshold — and the world is still heating up. As of Thursday morning, for the first time in recorded history, average temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere briefly crossed the threshold of 2 degrees Celsius above “normal.” Eric Holthaus picked up on the momentous occasion over at Slate, adding that global warming is now “going into overdrive.”

"A few degrees warmer since preindustrial averages may not seem like
  much, but in the grand scheme of things, it matters. Countries
  around the world formally agreed years ago to hold warming under the
  2-degree mark, and the respected Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
  Change has warned of the dangerous impacts of 2 degrees of  global
  warming." *****is the author aware that "2 degrees C effects"
are now known to start at 1 or 1.5? See 1) Video with Kevin Anderson
"dangerous-cliamte-change" file

Another Month, Another Troubling Arctic Sea Ice Record Published: March 2nd, 2016 This year is quickly excising 2015 from the dubious top of the climate record books. The most freakishly warm month on record, record atmospheric heat in February and now for the second month in a row, a new monthly Arctic sea ice low...February saw record low sea ice extent, with ice running a significant 448,000 square miles below average. In essence, a chunk of ice four times the size of Arizona went missing in action from the Arctic.. The culprit? Once again, the Arctic was super warm for this time of year. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) , which released the new data on Wednesday, said that temperatures ranged from 11°-14°F above average in the central Arctic. http://assets.climatecentral.org/images/made/3_2_16_Brian_SeaIceExtentComparison_720_576_s_c1_c_c.png

what-the-earth-will-be-like-in-10000-years-according-to-scientists/ Washington Post Feb 2016

Dixson’s research was the first to demonstrate that ocean acidification has an impact on behavioral decisions in fish. Her study revealed that while the fish grow the same and seem normal, they spend more time away from their habitat, they no longer learn from one another, and they become bold and aggressive. These cognitive and behavioral changes cause inappropriate responses to important information, which equates to a 5-9 times increase in mortality. Dec 2015

Methane and Extinction Deniers: The New Climate Change Challenge out of 14:!5, see at 9:45 minutes, "to destabilized 1% of this pool, I think it's not much effort needed, considering that the state of permafrost and the amount of methane currently involved, because what divides this methane from the atmosphere is a very shallow water column and a weakening permafrost which is losing its ability to seal, to serve as a seal.." (earlier she noted: total amount of Methane currently: 5GT, total amt in frotzen methane: 100s to 1000s, so only about 1% of that beign release would DOUBLE the "atmospheric load" of methane)

Microbeads kill animals and destroy the environment "Microbeads are an important example of this wider problem of us designing products for one-time use that we're stuck with for our lifetimes, our children's lifetimes, our grand children's lifetimes. But it will kill us."

Companies have even managed to stuff them into toothpaste, where they appear to serve little function beyond adding color, alarming dentists who warn that they can get lodged into gums and trigger bacterial infections.

The environmental hazards posed by these microbeads are well documented, as they make their way through the drains of our showers and sinks and are deposited in waterways from New York to the Arctic. Instead of breaking down readily in the environment, the little bits of plastic become vehicles of toxins that are consumed by wildlife, putting various species at risk as well as the humans who eat them.

Conservationists note that aquatic species mistake the beads for sediment, zooplankton, and other small organisms, and eat them as food. As the plastic freely enters the environment, it is increasingly likely that people will consume toxic fish.

FAUX GOOD NEWS: "Research: Arctic Sea Ice Loss Likely to be Reversible" but by the end, this: “In other words, no tipping point is likely to devour what’s left of the Arctic summer sea ice. So if global warming does soon melt all the Arctic sea ice, at least we can expect to get it back if we somehow manage to cool the planet back down again.”

Honeybees dying, situation ‘unheard of’ Turns out Pettis was right. VanEngelsdorp and other researchers at the Bee Informed Partnership, affiliated with the Department of Agriculture, just announced more than 40 percent of honeybee hives died this past year..The number is preliminary, but is the second-highest annual loss recorded to date...“What we’re seeing with this bee problem is just a loud signal that there’s some bad things happening with our agro-ecosystems,” study co-author Keith Delaplane of the University of Georgia told the AP. “We just happen to notice it with the honeybee because they are so easy to count.” “What has emerged is a complex set of pressures on managed and wild bee populations that includes disease, a parasite known as the varroa mite, pesticides, extreme weather and poor nutrition tied to a loss of forage plants.”

“If losses continue at the 33 percent level, it could threaten the economic viability of the bee pollination industry,” the department said. “Honey bees would not disappear entirely, but the cost of honey bee pollination services would rise, and those increased costs would ultimately be passed on to consumers through higher food costs

Another mid-May article, NY Times: annual survey released on Wednesday by the Bee Informed Partnership, a consortium of universities and research laboratories, about 5,000 beekeepers reported losing 42.1 percent of their colonies in the 12-month period that ended in April. That is well above the 34.2 percent loss reported for the same period in 2013 and 2014, and it is the second-highest loss recorded since year-round surveys began in 2010 Most striking, however, was that honeybee deaths spiked last summer, exceeding winter deaths for the first time...

“We expect the colonies to die during the winter, because that’s a stressful season,” said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an assistant entomology professor at the University of Maryland who directs the survey for the bee partnership. “What’s totally shocking to me is that the losses in summer, which should be paradise for bees, exceeded the winter losses.” Beekeepers once expected to lose perhaps 10 percent of their bees in an average year. But deaths began to spike in the middle of the past decade, when a phenomenon in which bees deserted their hives and died en masse, later named colony collapse disorder, began sweeping hives worldwide.

Long-Awaited ‘Jump’ In Global Warming Now Appears ‘Imminent’ Joe Romm Posted April 2, 2015 We may be witnessing the start of the long-awaited jump in global temperatures. Many studies suggest we're "about to experience a historically unprecedented spike in temperatures.” Changes in the Pacific Ocean that often signal such a jump have begun.

Direct evidence for a positive feedback in climate change... published in the journal Nature Climate Change Press Release 30 MArch 2015

It has been known for a while that the Earth has historically had
higher levels of greenhouse gases during warm periods than during ice
ages. However, it had so-far remained impossible to discern cause and
effect from the analysis of gas bubbles contained in ice cores.

Professor Tim Lenton from the University of Exeter said: "Our new
results confirm the prediction of positive feedback from the climate
models, the big difference is that now we have independent data based
evidence for it." (actually for many years now we've had partial
results, like evidence that soil microbes more active, releasing more
GHG apparently due to recent warming, etc...but this is more direct,
more 'proven' etc)

Critical ocean circulation in Atlantic appears to have slowed It might be more sensitive to temperature changes than models project. by Scott K. Johnson - Mar 27, 2015 6:20pm GMT+2

Rather than waiting for future measurements, a new study led by Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research tries to create a robust reconstruction of the past behavior of the AMOC. (Rahmstorf also wrote about the study for the RealClimate blog.) The work relies on the AMOC’s surface temperature footprint. If you look at warming trends around the globe for the last century, there’s a conspicuous hole in the North Atlantic that hasn’t warmed at all. It’s in just the place where climate models simulate cooling when the AMOC, with its northward transport of warmer water, slows down.

tarctic ice shelves are melting dramatically, study finds. Melting of floating ice shelves around the continent is accelerating, potentially unlocking extra sea level rise from larger ice sheets jammed behind them The new research, published in the journal Science on Thursday, discovered for the first time that ice shelf melt is accelerating.

A team of US scientists looked at 18 years’ worth of satellite data and found the floating ice shelves that skirt the continent are losing 310km3 of ice every year. One shelf lost 18% of its thickness during the period.
Professor Andrew Shepherd, director of the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at the University of Leeds, said the rates of ice loss were unsustainable and could cause a major collapse. This is already occurring at the massive Pine Island glacier, where ice loss has doubled in speed over the last 20 years as its blocking ice shelf has melted.
“This is a real concern, because such high rates of thinning cannot be sustained for much longer, and because in the places where Antarctic ice shelves have already collapsed this has triggered rapid increases in the rate of ice loss from glaciers above ground, causing global sea levels to rise,” he said.

2°C climate change target 'utterly inadequate' The official global target of a 2°C temperature rise is 'utterly inadequate' for protecting those at most risk from climate change, says a lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in the journal Climate Change Responses..(Suggests 1.5 C instead; By the way, one lead UK reseracher has for some time now said said 1C is the new "2C" due to newer science findings anyway) See also RTCC copy of story, RespondingToclimatechange 2015 March

Amazon Trees Removed Almost a Third Less Carbon March 21, 2015, "The amount of carbon the Amazon’s remaining trees removed from the atmosphere fell by almost a third last decade, leading scientists to warn that manmade carbon emissions would need to be cut more deeply to tackle climate change."

Global warming is now slowing down the circulation of the oceans — with potentially dire consequences

Rahmstorf points to a recent release by the National Climatic Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, finding that the winter of December 2014 through February 2015 was the warmest on record for the globe as a whole,/b>. However, there were several anomalies — not just a cold winter for the eastern U.S., but also record cold temperatures in the middle of the North Atlantic:

Arctic sea ice hit a record low this winter. Here's why it matters. ("post-Winter HIGH" (as opposed to September LOW) is at record min, about 20% lower than the 35+ year average)

Nature.com January 2015 finding:

Our results suggest that, globally, a third of oil reserves, half of gas reserves and over 80 per cent of current coal reserves should remain unused from 2010 to 2050 incommensurate with efforts to limit average global warming to 2 °C. Our results show that policy makers’ instincts to exploit rapidly and completely their territorial fossil fuels are, in aggregate, inconsistent with their commitments to this temperature limit. Implementation of this policy commitment would also render unnecessary continued substantial expenditure on fossil fuel exploration, because any new discoveries could not lead to increased aggregate production.

On thin ice: Combined Arctic ice observations show decades of loss

It’s no surprise that Arctic sea ice is thinning. What is new is just how long, how steadily, and how much it has declined. University of Washington researchers compiled modern and historic measurements to get a full picture of how Arctic sea ice thickness has changed.
The results, published in The Cryosphere, show a thinning in the central Arctic Ocean of 65 percent between 1975 and 2012. September ice thickness, when the ice cover is at a minimum, is 85 percent thinner for the same 37-year stretch.
“The ice is thinning dramatically,” said lead author Ron Lindsay, a climatologist at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory. “We knew the ice was thinning, but we now have additional confirmation on how fast, and we can see that it’s not slowing down.”

Which A March 5, 2015 articles which cites: http://www.the-cryosphere.net/9/269/2015/tc-9-269-2015.html we find that the annual mean ice thickness has decreased from 3.59 m in 1975 to 1.25 m in 2012, a 65% reduction. This is nearly double the 36% decline reported by an earlier study.

2012 article by Jennifer Francis on Jet Stream, climate change etc effects on weather due to arctic amplification

There have been many examples of “stuck” weather patterns during the past few years. Deep troughs in the jet stream hung over the U.S. east coast and Western Europe during the winters of 2009/2010 and 2010/2011, bringing a seemingly endless string of snow storms and teeth-chattering cold. In the early winter of 2011/2012, in contrast [matches EXACTLY my observatiosn of winter of jan-feb2010 and janFeb2010 PERSISTENTly COLD, vs JanFeb2012], these same areas were under ridges, or northward bulges of the jet stream, which brought unusually warm and snowless conditions over much of North America. At the same time, however, a DEEP TROUGH SAT OVER ALASKA, dumping RECORD snows.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.vocativ.com/culture/science/rainforest-deforestation/

The US south-west and the Great Plains will face decade-long droughts far worse than any experienced over the last 1,000 years because of climate change, Feb 2015

YOUTUBE: The jet stream is changing mpr (Minnesota Public Radio), Feb 2015, Dr. Jennifer Frnacis 0:58mins

Second Warmest January on Record Globally January 2015 was the second warmest January since record keeping began in 1880, said NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) on Thursday. NASA also rated January 2015 as the 2nd warmest January on record, behind January 2007, By: Dr. Jeff Masters , 5:53 PM GMT on February 19, 2015

Climate fix for rising seas could foul Miami's Biscayne Bay New pumps installed to keep the city dry flooded Biscayne Bay with a soup of phosphorus, nitrogen and other pollutants that can feed toxic algae blooms, according to a study overseen by Florida International University geologist Henry O. Briceno. In parts of the bay, the mass flushing caused nutrients to increase six-fold. If pumping were to become a regular practice, nutrients that are “like caviar for algae” could fuel nasty-smelling blooms that kill marine life and turn water a bright pea green, he said.

“You have a dry city. A very safe city,” with increased pumping, Briceno said. “But you won't have any beaches to bring tourists.” ..Briceno worried the city was “only looking at one face of the coin,” and not at how water, pushed through ground polluted with old septic tanks, animal feces and other contaminants, affected the bay. (Jan 2015, Miami Herald)

Millions of gallons of oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill didn't get cleaned up and instead settled in the sediment of the Gulf of Mexico's floor, a new study has found. (Jan 2015, ClimateProgress)

Methane cuts won't buy us time on climate change "There is no alternative to ending human emissions of carbon dioxide, if we want to prevent dangerous climate change. Suggestions that cutting a range of non-CO2 gases might do at least part of the job are based on faulty accounting, according to a new study (November 2014)

The science assessment, published in 2013, calculated that CO2 emissions must be capped at 2900 billion tonnes to give a 66 per cent chance of avoiding warming above 2 degrees Cs – widely regarded as a threshold for dangerous climate change. But some 2000 billion tonnes had already been emitted by the end of 2011.
[So only 900 gigatons to go and even then only a 2/3 chance of success! Now, about 36.7 gigatons CO2/year (accessed nov 17, 2014) So even if CONSTANT rather than INCREASING, we'd have 900/36.7 = 24.5 years to go]
...a new study published independently of the IPCC report by Joeri Rogelj of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenberg, Austria, says that the potential for preventing 2 degrees of warming by controlling these [non-CO2, Greenhouse gas] pollutants has been "strongly and consistently overestimated".

One of the leading authorities on the physics of northern seas is predicting an ice-free Arctic Ocean by the year 2020. (Alaska Dispatch, October 2014)

That's about two decades sooner than various models for climatic warming have indicated the Arctic might fully open.
“No models here,” Peter Wadhams, professor of applied mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge in England, told the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Sunday. “This is data.”
Wadhams has access to data not only on the extent of ice covering the Arctic, but on the thickness of that ice. The latter comes from submarines that have been beneath the ice collecting measurements every year since 1979.
Wadhams later clarified that by “ice-free” he didn't exactly mean the Arctic was going to look like the Baltic Sea in summer. The scientific definition of "ice-free" is complicated.
Wadhams' pronouncement was angrily challenged by one of the scientists modeling sea ice decline, but the elderly physicist stuck to his guns. He admitted he is predicting a very early opening of the Arctic, but this is “not a model.”
“I wasn't issuing any threats to anyone.”
The modelers, he told Alaska Dispatch News later, are very sensitive about their models. But he added that it's hard to deny the actual data. He had plotted the ice decline as a graph curving steadily and increasingly downward since the 1970s and hitting zero in 2020.
Wadhams — who has spent much of his life working in, on or under the Arctic ice — said he is not suggesting the Arctic is on its way to becoming the new Mediterranean. He is only suggesting the polar ice cap that has locked the region under ice year-round for centuries is going to go away, at least in summer.
“In fact, it (the Arctic) could become nastier” because of that, he added, citing the weather conditions that can develop as rain, wind and snow whip over vast expanses of broken ice.
The loss of Arctic ice might actually have more of an impact on the climate than on humans over the short term. Without ice cover to reflect sunlight back into space, the summer Arctic will begin to absorb a lot of solar energy.
The effect of that, Wadhams said, “is like increasing our emissions by a quarter.”

Arctic Sea Ice Volume 2014: Decline Leads to Colder Winters in Europe and Asia Researchers from Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute at the University of Tokyo performed 200 computer simulations showing what happens when the ice melts in the Barents-Kara area. The model revealed that ice declines in the region doubled the coldness of winters in Europe and Asia.

The experiment showed that the decline in sea ice pushed the waters to absorb heat from the sun that eventually led to changes in the temperature. Researchers saw blocking patterns where the atmosphere is unchanged for days or weeks.

The findings of the study are similar to an earlier study performed by Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University, who initially suggested a link between declining sea ice and extreme weather change at the Northern Hemisphere.(oct 2014)

nasa-hottest-august Posted Sept 2014 about Aug 2014

A new study finds that the change in the trend of Antarctic sea ice growth over time is “not as extreme as the published literature indicates,” as one coauthor put it. The most important thing to know about Antarctica and ice is that a large part of the South Pole's great sheet of land ice is close to or at a point of no return for irreversible collapse. Only immediate action to sharply reverse CO2 emissions could stop or significantly slow that. And that really matters since 90 percent of Earth's ice is in the Antarctic ice sheet, and even its partial collapse could raise sea levels tens of feet (over a period of centuries) and force coastal cities to be abandoned. The abstract explains:

Recent estimates indicate that the Antarctic sea ice cover is expanding at a statistically significant rate with a magnitude one-third as large as the rapid rate of sea ice retreat in the Arctic. However, during the mid-2000s, with several fewer years in the observational record, the trend in Antarctic sea ice extent was reported to be considerably smaller and statistically indistinguishable from zero. Here, we show that much of the increase in the reported trend occurred due to the previously undocumented effect of a change in the way the satellite sea ice observations are processed … rather than a physical increase in the rate of ice advance.

"Bottom line: Antarctic sea ice trends are an intriguing scientific puzzle worthy of academic interest, whereas Antarctic land ice trends are like the planet running around with its hair on fire, yelling “stop the madness of denial and delay before it's too late.”(July 2014) (see also New studies in Science and Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) find that glaciers in the Amundsen Sea region of the great Antarctic ice sheet have begun the process of irreversible collapse. That by itself would raise sea levels 4 feet in the future just due to those sources alone. (may 2014) and quoting NY Times:

[Climatologist Richard Alley] added that while a large rise of the sea may now be inevitable from West Antarctica, continued release of greenhouse gases will almost certainly make the situation worse. The heat-trapping gases could destabilize other parts of Antarctica as well as the Greenland ice sheet, potentially causing enough sea-level rise that many of the world's coastal cities would eventually have to be abandoned.
“If we have indeed lit the fuse on West Antarctica, it's very hard to imagine putting the fuse out,” Dr. Alley said. “But there's a bunch more fuses, and there's a bunch more matches, and we have a decision now: Do we light those?”

Social Cost of Carbon Greatly Underestimated: Report

..for years researchers believed the glaciers in the frigid northeast section of Greenland, which connect to the interior of the country's massive ice sheet, were resilient to the effects of climate change that have affected so much of the Arctic. But new data published Sunday in Nature Climate Change reveals that over the past decade, the region has started rapidly losing ice due to a rise in air and ocean temperatures caused in part by climate change. 2014 march

An international team of scientists has discovered that the circulation pattern of deep water in the North Atlantic may be more fragile than previously thought due to a rapid addition of fresh water to the ocean's surface waters. Their paper has been published in the online edition of the journal Science.

2013 Arctic Report Card: Only 7 percent of the ice cover at the end of winter 2013 was old, thick ice (as antoher website ClimateCentral, notes, used to be 26% was odl ice, now 7% - video at CC.org)

Year Begins with Unusual Amount of Extreme Weather Britain has had its wettest winter in 250 years but temperatures in parts of Russia and the Arctic have been 10°C above normal....According to the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which monitors global weather, the first six weeks of 2014 have seen an unusual number of extremes of heat, cold and rain – not just in a few regions as might be expected in any winter, but right the way around the world at the same time, with costly disruptions to transport, power systems and food produc... "Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra have all had record heat waves, while temperatures in Moscow were 11°C above normal. Germany and Spain were 2°C above normal for January..

Sea Level Rise ‘Locking In' Quickly, Cities Threatened finds Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) paper; interactive graphic at top of this summary

Believe it or not, last month was the warmest January since 2007 and the fourth warmest on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. (US NEws, via some google.com page)

Arctic Autumns On Track To Warm A Staggering 23 ° F, NOAA Warns

"Climate models show carbon emission mitigation could slow Arctic temperature increases." That is NOAA's glass-is-half-full-of-ice headline for a new study that finds we are on track for mind-boggling Arctic warming this century.

Since that "dog bites man" headline is essentially self-evident, the story didn't get much pick up. NOAA buried the bombshell lede:
Climate model projections show an Arctic-wide end-of-century temperature increase of +13 ° Celsius [23 ° F!] in late fall and +5 ° Celsius [9 ° F] in late spring if the status quo continues and current emissions increase without a mitigation scenario.
If you think the weather has been weird, the Arctic sea ice loss astounding, and the accelerating Greenland ice sheet loss worrisome with the modest Arctic warming we've had to date, well, buckle up, we're in for a bumpy century. arctic-sea-ice-cubes-2013
Arctic sea ice volume has already decreased by 75 percent since the 1980s
...How fast Greenland could melt if large parts of it were some 20 ° F warmer in the fall is not known, but one would have to imagine that it would be a considerably faster pace than today -- leading ultimately to an ice-free Greenland, which, by itself would raise sea levels more than 20 feet.

A joint report issued by the UK Meteorological Office and the UK Centre of Ecology and Hydrology states that the recent stormy weather that has afflicted the British Isles is "consistent" with global warming although the two British government agencies have stopped short of pinning definitive blame for the recent run of wind, rain and flooding on climate change. The report also links Britain's storms with the recent extreme cold in North America and says both have their "roots in the tropics" (feb 2, 2014) "These extreme weather events on both sides of the Atlantic were linked to a persistent pattern of perturbations to the jet stream, [as well as patterns] over the Pacific Ocean and North America. .. associated with higher than normal ocean temperatures [elsewhere]

Greenland glacier flowing at record speeds The glacier believed to have spawned the iceberg that sank the Titanic is flowing into the ocean at clip four times faster than its pace during the 1990s. (UPI) ; ;;(also at natureWorldNews)

Temperatures across the Arctic have been rising substantially in recent decades as a result of the buildup of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere. Studies by CU-Boulder researchers in Greenland indicate temperatures on the ice sheet have climbed 7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1991. (separate googel confirms: 7F (not 7C)) ...The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which brings warm tropical waters linked to the Gulf Stream up to the latitudes of Britain , is an important contributor to Europe's warm and temperate climate, they said. This weakening of the AMOC is likely to cause a cooling of the North Atlantic Ocean,

Slowing of Atlantic currents could bring changes in Europe's climate "Major currents in the North Atlantic Ocean seem to be slowing down, British researchers say, which could have major impacts on weather in the United Kingdom. A recently measured slowdown of 10 to 15 percent may be part of larger decline that began in the 1990s and shows no sign of stopping yet" January 21, 2014.

Pine Island Glacier melting past 'the point of no return' PIG..could now be in a state of irreversible retreat, making it likely to become an even more significant contributor to the global sea level rise during the next two decades..published in Nature Climate Change, found that in recent years, the grounding line, which separates the grounded ice sheet from the floating ice shelf, has retreated by tens of kilometres. (London Independent, Tuesday 14 January 2014)

not only is more ice flowing from the glacier into the ocean, but it's also flowing faster across the grounding line - the boundary between the grounded ice and the floating ice. We also can see this boundary is migrating further inland. "The Pine Island Glacier shows the biggest changes in this area at the moment, but if it is unstable it may have implications for the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

10 ° F Climate Warming Expected By 2100

A major new study in Nature finds "our climate is more sensitive to carbon dioxide than most previous estimates."
The result, lead author Steven Sherwood told me, is that on our current emissions path we are headed toward a "most-likely warming of roughly 5 ° C [9 ° F] above modern [i.e. current] temperatures or 6 ° C [11 ° F] above preindustrial" temperatures this century.
This finding is consistent with paleoclimate data (see "Last Time CO2 Levels Hit 400 Parts Per Million The Arctic Was 14 ° F Warmer!").

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- In at least four states that have nurtured the nation's energy boom, hundreds of complaints have been made about well-water contamination from oil or gas drilling, and pollution was confirmed in a number of them, according to a review that casts doubt on industry suggestions that such problems rarely happen.

Climate change could put seafloor marine life in world oceans at risk (Dec. 31, 2013 at 4:19 PM, UPI) An international team of scientists, led by Daniel Jones of the National Oceanography Center in Southampton, had predicted seafloor-dwelling marine life will decline by as much as 38 per cent in the North Atlantic and more than 5 percent globally in the next century. Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2013/12/31/Climate-change-could-put-seafloor-marine-life-in-world-oceans-at-risk/UPI-84661388524774/#ixzz2pHNl3ETj Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2013/12/31/Climate-change-could-put-seafloor-marine-life-in-world-oceans-at-risk/UPI-84661388524774/#ixzz2pHNh2b6z

New finding shows climate change can happen in a geological instant In a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Morgan Schaller and James Wright contend that following a doubling in carbon dioxide levels, the surface of the ocean turned acidic over a period of weeks or months and global temperatures rose by 5 degrees centigrade – all in the space of about 13 years. Scientists previously thought this process happened over 10,000 years. Oct 2013.

Assessing "Dangerous Climate Change": Required Reduction of Carbon Emissions to Protect Young People, Future Generations and Nature (James Hansen et al) A cumulative industrial-era limit of ~500 GtC fossil fuel emissions and 100 GtC storage in the biosphere and soil would keep climate close to the Holocene range to which humanity and other species are adapted. Cumulative emissions of ~1000 GtC, sometimes associated with 2 ° C global warming, would spur "slow" feedbacks and eventual warming of 3–4 ° C with disastrous consequences (Dec 2013)

Methane Emissions in U.S. Probably Top Estimates: Study U.S. emissions of methane -- a greenhouse gas -- are probably 50 percent higher than current estimates show, according to a study published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

The study estimated emissions in 2007 and 2008, using measurements on the ground, in telecommunications towers and from aircraft for a comprehensive inventory of the second most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. It found that the U.S. now underestimates methane releases from the raising of livestock and the extraction of oil and natural gas. (BLOOMBERG, Nov 2013)

Arctic Seafloor Methane Releases Are Double Previous Estimatesa new study in Nature Geoscience has found that the SEAFLOOR off the coast of NORTHERN SIBERIA is releasing MORE THAN TWICE the amount of methane as previously estimated - the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is venting at least 17 million tons methane..per year..

"It is now on par with the methane being released from the arctic tundra, which is considered to be one of the major sources of methane in the Northern Hemisphere," said Natalia Shakhova, one of the paper's lead authors and a scientist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "Increased methane releases in this area are a possible new climate-change-driven factor that will strengthen over time."

"I believe that all other arctic shelf areas are significantly underestimated and should be paid very careful attention to." ...rther warm the planet. Scientists call this phenomenon a positive feedback loop. "We believe that the release of methane from the Arctic, and in particular this part of the Arctic, could impact the entire globe," Shakhova said.

EU commissioner: The annual U.N. climate talks are nearing irrelevance (if I'm not mistaken she was previously very diplomatic about such realities). Nov 25, 2013. After two weeks of attempted negotiations, the U.N. climate talks at Warsaw limped/ambled their way to a wholly unsatisfying conclusion. The missed opportunity, Connie Hedegaard, Europe's climate commissioner, told the Associated Press, raises the issue of whether we should even be having the annual gatherings:

As the gavel dropped, negotiators emerged with a vague road map on how to prepare for a global climate pact they're supposed to adopt in two years -- work Hedegaard said will be crucial in answering whether the world still needs the U.N. process.
"I think that it has to deliver a substantial answer to climate change in 2015," Hedegaard said. "If it fails to do so, then I think this critical question will be asked by many more."

As so often, missing what's under our nose, and mis-disagnosing: as if "The UN" or "The IPCC" per se is the problem - the countries themselves; and their political-economic "disfunction" (corporate power and modern first world "democratic" governments) are themselves the stumbling block - as even mainstream, capitalist, multi-millionaire and billionaire reps have stated in the last several years (not necessarily seeing what the true roots of the disfunction is, or seeing but not able to stick neck out and talk about conflict between corporate power and democracy/human-survival) - our main instituttions are disfunctional)

132 countries walk out of UN climate talks this year's international climate negotiations are not going well, to say the least. The coal industry attempted to steal the spotlight, Japan announced that it was no longer going to try to meet its emissions goals, and Poland, the country hosting the talks, fired its environment minister [and is going to Go Big on FRACKING] halfway through...Meanwhile, the Guardian reports, a bloc consisting of 132 of the world's poorest countries walked out of talks concerning compensation for extreme climate events like Typhoon Haiyan.

One delegate added: "Poland hosted a conference to promote coal earlier this week and now this
"This is nuts. Changing the minister leading the climate negotiations after a race to the bottom by parties of the convention shows Prime Minister Tusk is not sincere about the need for an ambitious climate deal," said Maciej Muskat, director of Greenpeace Poland.
"Furthermore, justifying the change of minister by the need to push the exploitation of another fossil fuel in Poland is beyond words," he said.

Within 35 years, global average temperatures will be hotter than historical extremes.... an entirely new climate -- one in which [the] coldest years will be consistently hotter than any of the past 150 years. They found that aggressively cutting greenhouse-gas emissions to stabilize the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would delay the timing of Earth's overall ‘climate departure' by 22 years, until 2069. "Twenty years is not a lot of time, but it could be a window of opportunity to prepare ourselves to adapt to these new climate conditions," says Mora. (Nov 2013, Nature.com)

More Bad News For Fracking: IPCC Warns Methane Traps More Heat although the 100-year GWP[global warmign potential] is by far the most widely used, the IPCC drops this mini-bombshell 86 pages into the report: There is no scientific argument for selecting 100 years compared with other choices (Fuglestvedt et al., 2003; Shine, 2009). The choice of time horizon is a value judgement since it depends on the relative weight assigned to effects at different times. The IPCC reports that, over a 20-year time frame, methane has a global warming potential of 86 compared to CO2, up from its previous estimate of 72,/font>. Given that we are approaching real, irreversible tipping points in the climate system, climate studies should, at the very least, include analyses that use this 20-year time horizon. (oct 2013)

UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS--"One IEA study found that increased global use of natural gas could lead to a long-term temperature increase of more than 6o F about pre-industrial levels -- a level of warming associated with high risk of catastrophic environmental and economic consequences."/a>

Ocean acidification due to carbon emissions is at highest for 300m years The oceans are more acidic now than they have been for at least 300m years, due to carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, and a mass extinction of key species may already be almost inevitable as a result. ...An international audit of the health of the oceans has found that overfishing and pollution are also contributing to the crisis, in a deadly combination of destructive forces that are imperilling marine life, on which billions of people depend for their nutrition and livelihood.... There is a time lag of several decades between the carbon being emitted and the effects on seas, meaning that further acidification and further warming of the oceans ARE INEVITABLE, EVEN IF WE DRASTICALLY REDUCE EMISSIONS VERY QUICKLY [HOWEVER]. THERE IS AS YET LITTLE SIGN OF THAT, with global greenhouse gas output STILL RISING. ..............effects were already being felt in some oyster fisheries, where young larvae were failing to develop properly in areas where the acid rates are higher, such as on the west coast of the US. "You can actually see this happening," she said. "It's not something a long way into the future. It is a very big problem........ "People are just not aware of the massive roles that the oceans play in the Earth's systems. Phytoplankton produce 40 per cent of the oxygen in the atmosphere, for example, and 90 per cent of all life is in the oceans. ....The IPSO report also found the oceans were being "deoxygenated" – their average oxygen content is likely to fall by as much as 7 per cent by 2100, partly because of the run-off of fertilisers and sewage into the seas, and also as a side-effect of global warming. ........No country in the world is properly tackling overfishing, the report found, and almost two thirds are failing badly. At least 70 per cent of the world's fish populations are over-exploited. Giving local communities more control over their fisheries, and favouring small-scale operators over large commercial vessels would help this....Current rates of carbon release into the oceans are 10 times faster than those before the last major species extinction, which was the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum extinction, about 55m years ago. The IPSO scientists can tell that the current ocean acidification is the highest for 300m years from geological records.

Forest fragmentation triggers 'ecological Armageddon' Species affected by rainforest fragmentation are likely to be wiped out more quickly than previously thought. ...ome small mammal species on forest islands, created by a hydroelectric reservoir, in Thailand became extinct in just five years...

"Our study focused on small mammals but what we did not report was a similar near-complete extinction of medium to large-sized mammals, such as elephants, tigers and tapirs, which are now completely absent from these islands in the reservoir. "All of these animals were all in the forest landscape before the creation of the reservoir.".."The bottom line is that we must conserve large, intact habitats for nature. That is the only way we can ensure biodiversity will survive."(13 sept, BBC)

A report by a team of international scientists concludes there now is no doubt climatic changes are due to humans rather than any other natural factors. "Their report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, builds on work previously done by scientists" THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT NOTHIGN IS EXCTLY 100% SUR EIN SCIENCE, NOT EVEN "THE SUN WILL RISE TOMORROW" SO ANY FUTURE "SO-MUCH-AS-NUANCE" CHANGE IN PERSPECTIVE, LIKE SLIGHTLY ALRGER ROLE PLAYED BY x OR SMALLER ROLE PLAYED BY Y WILL BE LEAPED UPON BY DENIALISTS AS "SEE!?!!?!?! THEY TOLD US THEY WERE SURE!!!!??" ETC ETC (16 sep 2013)(abc.net.au/news)...."'We see warming at the surface and cooling in the UPPER ATMOSPHERE'[as theory says would happen under greenhouse-gas caused global warming], so that immediately discounts the sun as a causal factor."

"One of the standard sceptic arguments is that all the observed changes are caused by natural variability and often supposed to be due to solar activity. What we have shown beyond a shadow of doubt is that the climate changes we are observing cannot be due to the sun or any other natural factors."

Arctic sea ice delusions strike the Mail on Sunday and Telegraph has good graphics:

search for "Gunderson" former nuclear regulator now "watchdog" with a lot of information and expertise Radiation levels 18 times higher than previously reported have been found near a water storage tank at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant,..plant operator says itfound new radiation hotspots "one with levels so high it could kill a person within [four] hours" Tepco admitted recently that only two workers had initially been assigned to check more than 1000 storage tanks on the site. .....Decommissioning the plant is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars and last around 40 years.....

NO MORE NEW NUCLEAR PLANS. DEMAND HALTING OF ALL NEW CONSTRUCTION.
DEMAND THAT WE MEET NEW DEMAND WITH SOLAR PLUS WIND PLUS WAVE, TIDE, AND GEO-THERMAL, INCLUDING CSP (CONCENTRATED SOLAR POWER) WITH existing tech of MOLTEN SALT AND OTHER ENERGY STORAGE ALLOWING FOR 24HOUR POWER.
We cannot replace all nuclear power overnight but can demand a stopping of all new plants in the U.S. and increase monitoring and upgrade satefy of all existing U.S. nuclear plants, and meet new energy needss, new growth in energy production with above far, far less dangerous energy sources of the renewable variety. Tell your congressperson today,

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/04/fukushima-radiation-deadly-new-high

update Sep 4 2013: "radiation readings near water storage tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have increased to a new high, with emissions above the ground near one group of tanks were as high as 2,200 millisieverts [mSv] per hour – a rise of 20% from the previous high. Earlier this week the plant's operator, Tepco, said workers had measured radiation at 1,800 mSv an hour near a storage tank."

Currently about 400 tonnes of groundwater are streaming into the reactor basements from the hills behind the plant each day. The water is pumped out and held in about 1,000 storage tanks. The tanks contain 330,000 tonnes of water with varying levels of toxicity. Officials are conducting a feasibility study into the frozen wall, with completion expected by March 2015. Although the technology isn't new, the scale of the Fukushima Daiichi project is unprecedented for an atomic facility.

ising ocean acidity will exacerbate global warming Carbon dioxide soaked up by seawater will cause plankton to release less cloud-forming compounds back into atmosphere. The model projected that the effects of acidification on DMS could cause enough additional warming for [up to 0.9 degrees F more] if atmospheric CO2 concentrations double. The moderate scenario projects CO2 doubling long before 2100 Aug 2013 (Nature.com) see also abc.net.au

At minimum, the model predicts that "major environmental change" will take place for at least 20,000 years, Turner said, with other effects lasting for up to 100,000 years.....a second paper, published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences "What is new here, which is actually a relatively simple idea, is just to combine these two and look how the fast feedback sensitivity evolves over time into earth system sensitivity," When both types of feedbacks are added into the equation, Zeebe projects that the climate will become even more sensitive, making the Earth even warmer for a longer period of time. This increases the possibility of major sea-level rise and the melting of large ice sheets, as well as an uptick in carbon release from permafrost and oceanic methane hydrates. 2013 aug

[2012] was among the top 10 warmest for the globe on record, while polar sea ice coverage reached record lows in the Arctic and record highs in the Antarctic..,...Depending on what data set 2012 temperatures are compared to, global temperatures [for 2012] ranked 8th or 9th, according to the National Climatic Data Cente Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/weather/weather-blog/bal-wx-2012-global-temperatures-among-top-10-warmest-noaa-state-of-the-climate-report-says-20130806,0,6691402.story#ixzz2bGFt2LcP

Runaway climate change? It's more likely than we thought

Arctic melt is $60tn ‘economic time bomb' 2013July An economic time bomb is buried within the melting Arctic sea ice, scientists have warned. The effect of the methane that is released as the permafrost in the East Siberian Sea melts will cost $60 trillion – the size of the global economy in 2012. Researchers from Cambridge and Rotterdam wrote in Nature that the release of the 50 gigatonnes of methane trapped within the ice will trigger both an environmental and economic disaster. - See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/2013/07/24/arctic-melt-is-60tn-economic-time-bomb/#sthash.0H4v9IYf.dpuf

Most Comprehensive Paleoclimate Reconstruction Confirms Hockey Stick (ClimateProgress, from original scilogs.de) The past 2000 years of climate change have now been reconstructed in more detail than ever before by the PAGES 2k project. The results reveal interesting regional differences between the different continents, but also important common trends. The global average of the new reconstruction looks like a twin of the original "hockey stick", the first such reconstruction published fifteen years ago.

2001-2010, A Decade of Climate Extremes GENEVA 3 July 2013 - The world experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes during the 2001-2010 decade, which was the warmest since the start of modern measurements in 1850 and continued an extended period of pronounced global warming. More national temperature records were reported broken than in any previous decade, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Obama's fracked-up climate strategy will guarantee global warming disaster Fatally flawed energy policies and inadequate emissions pledges cannot prevent dangerous climate change (2013 June)

Antarctic ice melting from bottom Washington - Warming ocean waters are melting the Antarctic ice shelves from the bottom up, researchers said on Thursday in the first comprehensive study of the thick platforms of floating ice.

Scientists have long known that basal melt, the melting of ice shelves from underneath, was taking place and attributed the trend to icebergs breaking off the platforms.

But the new study, to be published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, said most of the lost mass came from the bottom, not the top.

"In fact, the ten climate scientists who collaborated to write the Washington Post op-ed explain matter of factly: 'Much has been made of a short-term reduction in the rate of atmospheric warming. But "global" warming requires looking at the entire planet. While the increase in atmospheric temperature has slowed, ocean warming rose dramatically after 2000. Excess heat is being trapped in Earth's climate system, and observations of the Global Climate Observing System and others are increasingly able to locate it. Simplistic interpretations of cherry-picked data hide the realities.' (thinkprogress.org)

, since the media keep misreporting the issue, here once again
  are the four factors that determine how much warming we are going to
  inflict on future generations:

    The so-called "equilibrium climate sensitivity" – the sensitivity
    of the climate to fast feedbacks like sea ice and water vapor. The
    ECS, which is typically the focus of modeling studies like the new
    one discussed above, is how much warming you get if we suddenly
    adopt a super-aggressive effort to cut carbon pollution and only
    double CO2 emissions to 560 ppm  --  and there are no major "slow"
    feedbacks.  We know the fast feedbacks, like water vapor, are
    strong by themselves (see Study: Water-vapor feedback is "strong
    and positive," so we face "warming of several degrees Celsius" and
    Skeptical Science piece here).
    The actual CO2 concentration level we hit, which on our current
    emissions path is far, far beyond 550 ppm (see U.S. media largely
    ignores latest warning from climate scientists: "Recent
    observations confirm … the worst-case IPCC scenario trajectories
    are being realised"  --  1000 ppm).
    The real-world slower (decade-scale) feedbacks, such as tundra
    melt (see "Carbon Feedback From Thawing Permafrost Will Likely Add
    0.4 ° F – 1.5 ° F To Total Global Warming By 2100").
    Where they live  --  since people who live in the mid-latitudes (like
    most Americans) are projected to warm considerably more than the
    global
    average.[from here
    in Joe Romm's climate blog(may 2013)

Warming still on track to breach goals

"The oceans are sequestering heat more rapidly than expected over the last decade [hence potentially worse impacts on oceans, than anticipated]," said Professor Steven Sherwood of the University of New South Wales in Australia, who was not involved in the study.
"By assuming that this behaviour will continue, (the scientists) calculate that the climate [warming over land] will warm about 20 percent more slowly than previously expected, although over the long term it may be just as bad, since eventually the ocean will stop taking up heat."

The report, by the London School of Economics and the non-government organisation Carbon Tracker, found 60 to 80 per cent of oil, gas and coal reserves owned by listed companies would become useless if global emission targets are kept. It is dubbed the "unburnable carbon scenario"....."If we carry on in that direction, then it could create a bubble around these reserves that then don't have a market," he said. "There's been similar findings from the International Energy Agency." Mr Leaton says the world's top 200 fossil fuel companies are valued at $4 trillion, with a further $1.5 trillion in debt. "We think there's a sizeable chunk of that value at risk that the market's not currently pricing in,"...Earlier this month the Australian arm of banking giant Citigroup estimated about 14 per cent of the ASX 200 market capitalisation relates to fossil fuels... but "don't worry" [sarcasm here] because "Citigroup's analysts conclude that while the unburnable carbon scenario is an investment risk, the more likely scenario is greater fossil fuel use and [an even more extreme] degree of global warming." ('13 apr)

Antarctic ice [in Peninsula region] melting 10 times faster than 600 years ago Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey and the Australian National University drilled a 360-metre ice core near the northern tip of the peninsula to to identify past temperatures. ...it found temperatures now are 1.6 degrees Celsius higher, and the ice melt is 10 times as fast...the most rapid melt has occurred in the last 50 years......"As the climate has warmed ... the summer temperatures are getting closer and closer to that zero degrees melting threshold," she said. "Now, for every little bit of warming that happens, you get more days that go above that temperature ... [and that] small increase in temperature can causes a very large increase in melting." The research paper is being published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) said [***TENS***OF***] thousands of gallons Tepco estimates about 120 tons (32,280 gallons) of radioactive water has escaped, company spokesman Daisuke Hirose said, adding it was uncertain how much contaminated water has soaked into the soil...The leak is the latest stumble in efforts [can you imagine media (a) calling it a "STUMBLE" if it was an officially-bad-country? (b) or uwing passive tense so often ("in efforst to" instead of "[messup/stumble] by the Japanese governmetn"]....and the leaked water contains about 710 billion becquerels of radiation, the most since the facility reached a stable state known as cold shutdown in December 2011, Hirose said. [my posted comment: Would a leak of TENS of thousands of gallons of radioactive water, be called a "stumble" if it was not Japan but an officially-bad-guys government, like Iran or North Korea or even an officially-semi-bad-but-we-love-their-cheap-products country like China, would it be called merely a "stumble"? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This article refers to " 710 billion becquerels of radiation" in this water, and that it probably has not reached the ocean...however the article "is-fukushima-leaking-or-is-the-the-reactor-wholly-uncontained" at .washingtonsblogDotcomm cites that "Japanese experts say that Fukushima is currently releasing up to 93 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium into the ocean each day" which if true would not only indicate that some (other) radiation is reaching the ocean, but also that it's in quantities so large as to be more than these 710 billion becquerels every period of less than 8 days (710/93 is about 7.6 so every 7.6 days you get yet another 710 billion units, and another such amount after another seven and a half days, etc) I-DELETED:This article refers to " 710 billion becquerels of radiation" in this I-DELETED: water, and that it probably has not reached the ocean...however the I-DELETED: article I-DELETED: "is-fukushima-leaking-or-is-the-the-reactor-wholly-uncontained" at I-DELETED: .washingtonsblogDotcomm cites that "Japanese experts say that I-DELETED: Fukushima is currently releasing I-DELETED: up to 93 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium into the ocean I-DELETED: each day" which if true would not only indicate that some (other) I-DELETED: radiation is reaching the ocean, but also that it's in quantities so I-DELETED: large as to be more than these 710 billion becquerels every period I-DELETED: of less than 8 days (710/93 is about 7.6 so every 7.6 days you get I-DELETED: yet another 710 billion units, and another such amount after another I-DELETED: seven and a half days, etc) I-DELETED: I-DELETED:Yup, just search fro "93 billion becquerels" and you'll find it I-DELETED: reported on Energy News and other sites. Of course I realize that's I-DELETED: one issue, and this so-called "stumble" is its own incident..but I-DELETED: this article (inadvetently, I'll assume) gives the impression that I-DELETED: nothing radioactive at all is reaching the ocean I-DELETED:Search for, also: "Tokyo Professor: Radionuclides are being released I-DELETED: continuously into ocean from Fukushima plant -- Coming from I-DELETED: somewhere around reactor housings (CHART)" http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-07/tepco-says-fukushima-plant-leaked-120-tons-of-radioactive-water.html ]

Fukushima: Massive Leaks Continuing On a Daily Basis … For Years On EndJapanese experts say that Fukushima is currently releasing up to 93 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium into the ocean each day. How much radiation is that? A quick calculation shows that Chernobyl released around ten thousand times more radioactive cesium each day during the reactor fire. But the Chernobyl fire only lasted 10 days … and the Fukushima release has been ongoing for more than 2 years so far [MY CALCULATION: 25 MONTHS OR ABOUT 750 DAYS; THUS 75 TIMES AS LONG AS THOSE 10 DAYS; SO 75/10,000 SO SOON WILL BE 100/10,000 OR 1% OF THE RADIATION??]

....Indeed, Fukushima has already spewed much more radioactive cesium and iodine 131 than Chernobyl. The amount of radioactive cesium released by Fukushima was some 20-30 times higher than initially admitted. The bottom line is that the reactors have lost containment. There are not "some leaks" at Fukushima. "Leaks" imply that the reactor cores are safely in their containment buildings, and there is a small hole or two which need to be plugged. But scientists don't even know where the cores of the reactors are. That's not leaking. That's even worse than a total meltdown. MANY LINKS IN THE ABOVE TEXT, SEE URL AND CLICK TO FIND/DOCUMENT THE OTHER CLAIMS

"LOST CONTAINMENT" ABOVE LINKS TO here

"even worse than..meltdown" above links to here JU"NE 2011: It's Official: "Nuclear Fuel Has Melted Through Base of Fukushima Plant" … "The Findings of the Report, Which has Been Given to the International Atomic Energy Agency … Described a ‘Melt-Through' as Being ‘Far Worse than a Core Meltdown' and ‘The Worst Possibility In a Nuclear Accident'" CONFIRM IF THIS IS STILL AGREE UPON TODAY IN 2013 BEFORE POSTING............................................................................................................ In Hot Water: Global Warming Has Accelerated In Past 15 Years, New Study Of Oceans Confirms By Climate Guest Blogger on Mar 25, 2013 ..new study of ocean warming..just..published in Geophysical Research Letters: Completely contrary to the popular contrarian myth, global warming has accelerated, with more overall global warming in the past 15 years than the prior 15 years. This is because about 90% of overall global warming goes into heating the oceans, and the oceans have been warming dramatically. -- Some recent studies have concluded based on the slowed global surface warming over the past decade that the sensitivity of the climate to the increased greenhouse effect is somewhat lower than the IPCC best estimate. Those studies are fundamentally flawed because they do not account for the warming of the deep oceans.

Figure 1: Ocean Heat Content from 0 to 300 meters (grey), 700 m (blue), and total depth (violet) from ORAS4, as represented by its 5 ensemble members.

"With more solar energy going into the Arctic Ocean because of lost ice, there is reason to expect more extreme weather events, such as heavy snowfall, heat waves, and flooding in North America and Europe," said the researchers. -NOAA

… most scientists agree on a likely scenario: Over a relatively short period of time, massive volcanic eruptions from a large region known as the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) spewed forth huge amounts of lava and gas, including carbon dioxide, sulfur and methane. This sudden release of gases into the atmosphere may have created intense global warming and acidification of the oceans that ultimately killed off thousands of plant and animal species. Now researchers at MIT, Columbia University and elsewhere have determined that these eruptions occurred precisely when the extinction began, providing strong evidence that volcanic activity did indeed trigger the end-Triassic extinction. "a doubling of carbon dioxide concentrations leads to a 3 degree Celsius increase whether it's from 2,000 to 4,000 ppm or from 280 to 560 ppm, Schaller said"

RELATED: In 2007, the IPCC warned that "as global average temperature increase exceeds about 3.5 ° C [relative to 1980 to 1999], model projections suggest significant extinctions (40-70% of species assessed) around the globe." On our current emissions path, we will warm far more than that this century, ...A new study in Science study (subs. req'd) confirms this risk. It examines "the pace of diversity loss leading to the Triassic-Jurassic boundary (TJB)." It finds "the sudden diversity drop … coincided with a mere ~100 to ~350 ppmv rise in CO2 concentration,"....Worse, the study concludes: 'An alternative explanation for the abrupt diversity loss is that it represents a threshold response of LT vegetation to relatively minor increases in CO2 concentration and/or global temperature.'

Arctic Ice Melt 'Like Adding 20 Years of CO2 Emissions' White ice reflects more sunlight than open water, acting like a parasol. Melting of white Arctic ice, currently at its lowest level in recent history, is causing more absorption. Prof Wadhams calculates this absorption of the sun's rays is having an effect "the equivalent of about 20 years of additional CO2 being added by man". The Cambridge University expert says that the Arctic ice cap is "heading for oblivion". In 1980, the Arctic ice in summer made up some 2% of the Earth's surface. But since then the ice has roughly halved in area..."The volume of ice in the summer is only a quarter of what it was 30 years ago and that's really the prelude to this final collapse," Prof Wadhams said...... "Over that 1% of the Earth's surface you are replacing a bright surface which reflects nearly all of the radiation falling on it with a dark surface which absorbs nearly all. "The difference, the extra radiation that's absorbed is, from our calculations, the equivalent of about 20 years of additional CO2 being added by man," Prof Wadhams said.

March 21, 2013 The eruption almost three years ago of an Icelandic volcano added iron to the seas south of the island. But in a blow to supporters of geo-engineering, the natural fertilizer failed to dent carbon dioxide levels. By Alex Kirby...the effect was short-lived as the extra iron resulted in the rapid removal of biological nitrate, depriving the phytoplankton of nitrogen they also needed. Their verdict, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters – the volcano certainly helped, but not for long enough to make much difference. This is a blow to some supporters of geo-engineering, who have suggested that one way to tackle climate change is large-scale seeding of the oceans with iron to stimulate plankton to absorb more carbon dioxide.

"Cooler" in recent times means 16th warmest in 132 years The average global temperature for March 2012 made it the coolest March since 1999, yet the 16th warmest since record keeping began in 1880 (link added March 2013 but about March 2012)

HOMO SAPEINS? HOMO MURDEREINS.[MY COMMENT] Poachers in south-west Chad have killed at least 86 elephants including 33 pregnant females in less than a week, in a potentially devastating blow to one of central Africa's last remaining elephant populations. Groups of elephants follow traditional migration routes during the dry season from Central African Republic, through Chad to Cameroon. Thirty years ago there were estimates of 150,000 animals across the region, but today that figure could be as low as 2,000

Japan's 'frozen gas' is worthless if we take climate change seriously Like all nations extending the fossil fuel frontier, Japan is adding to the mountain of fossil fuels we cannot responsibly burn

Japan becomes first nation to extract 'frozen gas' from seabed Successful extraction from frozen methane hydrate deposits is the first example of production of the gas offshore - could be very dangerous if large amount of these methane hydrates are destabilized in the process and even if not, science shows in recent years that natural gas is not a good "bridge fuel" but would still take us to dangerous climate destabilization; need zero-carbon or negative-carbon policies, not a source with "half" (really more than half) the CO2 of the dirtiest (coal). 2013 march

Report: U.S. to outstrip Saudis and Russia in Oil production ("Footnote" not mentioned: reason is because Russian and Saudi production will decline) Declines are "Good for climate, bad for economy" due to refusal to sufficiently ramp up non-fossil-fuel energy sources But worse news:

Of all the findings in the 2012 edition of the World Energy Outlook, the one that merits the greatest international attention is the one that received the least. Even if governments take vigorous steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the report concluded, the continuing increase in fossil fuel consumption will result in "a long-term average global temperature increase of 3.6 degrees C."
This should stop everyone in their tracks. Most scientists believe that an increase of 2 degrees Celsius is about all the planet can accommodate without unimaginably catastrophic consequences: sea-level increases that will wipe out many coastal cities, persistent droughts that will destroy farmland on which hundreds of millions of people depend for their survival, the collapse of vital ecosystems, and far more. An increase of 3.6 degrees C essentially suggests the end of human civilization as we know it.
To put this in context, human activity has already warmed the planet by about 0.8 degrees C -- enough to produce severe droughts around the world, trigger or intensify intense storms like Hurricane Sandy, and drastically reduce the Arctic ice cap. "Given those impacts," writes noted environmental author and activist Bill McKibben, "many scientists have come to think that two degrees is far too lenient a target." Among those cited by McKibben is Kerry Emanuel of MIT, a leading authority on hurricanes. "Any number much above one degree [Celsius above pre-indusrial global avg. temp] involves a gamble," Emanuel writes, "and the odds become less and less favorable as the temperature goes up." Thomas Lovejoy, once the World Bank's chief biodiversity adviser, puts it this way: "If we're seeing what we're seeing today at 0.8 degrees Celsius, two degrees is simply too much." (("In a report that leads with the "good news" of impending U.S. oil supremacy, to calmly suggest that the world is headed for that 3.6 degree C mark is like placing a thermonuclear bomb in a gaudily-wrapped Christmas present. "))

Others say the same thing and in fact they explain why: prof. Kevin Anderson points out that science can only tell us what's likely to happen; only a social/policy decision can go the next step and decide how much risk we're willing to take; and when the 2C limit was agreed upon by policymakers, the amount of predicted scientific risk (the best analysis of science back then) was for impacts that today's best science tells us will happen at a much lower level - closer to 1C. (video above summarises in a few minutes). If we are (a) consistent about what reasonable risk is (understanding that even the old 2C condemned some countries to destruction) then warming the entire planet's avg temp by 2C (1.8 F) above pre-industrial warming is not the threshold between "acceptable" and "dangerous" but instead is the threshold between "dangerous" and extremely dangerous" Summarized in vid in previous link; or see full talk by Kevin Anderson, "professor of energy and climate change in the School of Mechanical, Aeronautical and Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester. He has recently finished a two-year position as director of the Tyndall Centre, the UK's leading academic climate change research organisation" at here (58 mins)

New Science Study Confirms ‘Hockey Stick': The Rate Of Warming Since 1900 Is 50 Times Greater Than The Rate Of Cooling In Previous 5000 Years!A stable climate enabled the development of modern civilization, global agriculture, and a world that could sustain a vast population. Now, the most comprehensive "Reconstruction of Regional and Global Temperature for the Past 11,300 Years" ever done reveals just how stable the climate has been -- and just how destabilizing manmade carbon pollution has been and will continue to be unless we dramatically reverse emissions trends.
In short, thanks primarily to carbon pollution, the temperature is changing 50 times faster than it did during the time modern civilization and agriculture developed ."It's really the rates of change here that's amazing and atypical." He noted to the AP, "Even in the ice age the global temperature never changed this quickly."

Climate Change Is Cutting Humans' Work Capacity...That one-two punch has already cut the world's working capacity by 10 percent since humans began burning large amounts of oil, gas, coal and other fossil fuels at the start of the Industrial Revolution, found the analysis, which was published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change......Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict....by 2050, a combination of rising heat and humidity is likely to cut the world's labor capacity to 80 percent during summer months - twice the effect observed today. "The planet will start experiencing heat stress unlike anything experienced today," said study co-author Ron Stouffer, a climate modeler at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. "The world is entering a very different environment, and the impact of that on labor will be significant." (2013 feb)
NEW SCIENTIST: Major methane release is almost inevitable We are on the cusp of a tipping point in the climate. If the global climate warms another few tenths of a degree, a large expanse of the Siberian permafrost will start to melt uncontrollably. The result: a significant amount of extra greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, and a threat – ironically – to the infrastructure that carries natural gas from Russia to Europe.
The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet, and climatologists have long warned that this will cause positive feedbacks that will speed up climate change further. The region is home to enormous stores of organic carbon,...
..for the first time, we have an indication of when this could start happening. Anton Vaks of the University of Oxford in the UK and colleagues have reconstructed the history of the Siberian permafrost going back 500,000 years. (2013 FEB)
n other words, today's permafrost is likely to become vulnerable when we hit 1.5 ° C of global warming, says Vaks... Between 1850 and 2005, global temperatures rose 0.8 ° C, according to the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Even if humanity stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow, temperatures would rise another 0.2 ° C over the next 20 years. [AND IF YOU REMOVE THE PHRASE "[DURING] THE NEXT 20 YEARS" THEN IT'S MORE LIKE 0.5 C so we're already committed to 1.3C if we stopped all emissions]
Halve meat consumption, scientists urge rich world 2013 feb
BPA concerns for reproductions and same article also mentions general issues like "Two years ago, the American Medical Association called for legislation to force companies to label products that have BPA in them. 'That should be mandatory, but it's not required at this time,' " (13 feb)
The estimated kill rates are two to four times higher than mortality figures previously bandied about, and position the domestic cat as one of the single greatest human-linked threats to wildlife in the nation.More birds and mammals die at the mouths of cats, the report said, than from automobile strikes, pesticides and poisons, collisions with skyscrapers and windmills and other so-called anthropogenic causes.... Peter Marra of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and an author of the report, said the mortality figures that emerge from the new model "are shockingly high." "When we ran the model, we didn't know what to expect," said Dr. Marra, who performed the analysis with his colleague, Scott R. Loss, and Tom Will of the Fish and Wildlife Service. "We were absolutely stunned by the results." The study appeared Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. (13 jan)................s likely to fuel the sometimes vitriolic debate between environmentalists who see free-roaming domestic cats as an invasive species -- super predators whose numbers are growing globally even as the songbirds and many other animals the cats prey on are in decline -- and animal welfare advocates who are appalled by the millions of unwanted cats (and dogs) euthanized in animal shelters each year.
------------------------------------------------------------ the findings were extrapolated from various studies conducted in both the U.S. and Europe to determine the number of cats in the U.S. -- as many as 80 million un-owned and 84 million owned -- and other factors used to approximate how many kitty-caused killings are committed. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/cats-kill-billions-animals-annually-study-finds/story?id=18357853 Feral, un-owned cats are responsible for the majority of deaths, a [....................51% or 99%? or what? they need to clarfy......] he two main diseases that cat owners should be wary of are toxoplasmosis and rabies. Cats often become carriers of toxoplasmosis by killing and eating infected prey. Though most cats--------------------HEALTH"aside" become immune to the disease, it poses significant health risks to pregnant women and those with a weakened immune system. Currently, more than 60 million Americans carry the disease, according to the Centre for Disease Control. http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.html There are approximately 86.4 million owned cats in the United States Thirty-three percent of U.S. households own at least one cat Fifty-two percent of owners own more than one cat ----------------------------------------
preliminary results from a field study in the Uinta Basin of Utah suggesting even higher rates of methane leakage -- an eye-popping 9% of the total production. ... the leakage rate does matter. A major 2011 study by Tom Wigley of the Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) concluded:
The most important result, however, in accord with the above authors, is that, unless leakage rates for new methane can be kept below 2%, substituting gas for coal is not an effective means for reducing the magnitude of future climate change.
A March 2012 study by climatologist Ken Caldeira and tech guru Nathan Myhrvold came to a similar conclusion using different methodology (see "You Can't Slow Projected Warming With Gas, You Need ‘Rapid and Massive Deployment' of Zero-Carbon Power"). They found that even if you could switch entirely over to natural gas in four decades, you "won't see any substantial decrease in global temperatures for up to 250 years. There's almost no climate value in doing it." And that was using conventional (i.e. low) leakage rates.
An April 2012 study found that a big switch from coal to gas would only reduce "technology warming potentials" by about 25% over the first three decades -- far different than the typical statement that you get a 50% drop in CO2 emissions from the switch. And that assumed a total methane leakage of 2.4% (using EPA's latest estimate). The study found that if the total leakage exceeds 3.2% "gas becomes worse for the climate than coal for at least some period of time." Leakage of 4%, let alone 9%, would call into question the value of unconventional gas as any sort of bridge fuel

Locked greenhouse gas in Arctic sea may be 'climate canary' Undersea methane hydrate deposit is the shallowest yet found. (Nature.com, Dec 2012)
Gas 'will add more to energy bills than renewables' – government advisersFinding by Committee for Climate Change contradicts coalition's line on energy, despite using government's own research
Household energy bills will be about £600 higher per year in the coming decades if the UK relies increasingly on gas, the government's climate advisers warned on Thursday. But the Committee on Climate Change found that bills would only be £100 higher than today's average dual fuel bill of about £1,300, if the country concentrated on renewable power generation, such as wind power. The committee's findings rebuff the government's argument that gas will in future provide a cheap source of electricity and heating – and the findings are based on the government's own research.

"the reductions achieved by Kyoto countries in the last period may have been due less to the agreement than to factors such as 'the collapse of greenhouse-gas producing industries in eastern Europe and, more recently, the global economic crisis' (Schiermeier, Nature, 28 November 2012)." There are a number of reasons, however, to support KP2. 1) Although the Kyoto Protocol alone will not avert the 4- to 6-degree [Celsius!] warmer world we are on schedule to inhabit without increased mitigation efforts..it is merely one track of what should be a 'multiple multilateralism' method to achieve climate security. And it's the only international and legally binding agreement we have on climate change, at least until 2020.
Natural Gas Leaks Fuel Global Warming, Not Homes BU researcher maps gas leaks on city streets

"Archer's thinking makes sense, if you're not planning on doing anything about the climate. The more you are, the more his downgrading of leaking methane to 'Nothing' by taking an absurdly long view becomes quite weird."James Hansen has written, and I hope that David Archer will read and ruminate:
" "If fossil fuel CO2 emissions continue to increase unabated, other climate forcings are relatively unimportant. However, this scenario is unlikely. Global warming is becoming apparent. Efforts to slow GHG emissions and stabilize global climate may increase. In this case, especially if the warming that constitutes 'danger' to the planet is as small as we estimate, non-CO2 forcings become very important.' "
That is why for some of us -- assuming that humanity will make at least a moderate shift to a lower carbon economy (or all our 'Ados' will clearly lead the way to dusty Nothing) -- non-carbon dioxide emissions like methane, whether human-caused or leaking from the arctic, are of the utmost concern, as they could become the maker or breaker of our ability to keep the climate under control.
and see Arctic expert predicts final collapse of sea ice within four years As sea ice shrinks to record lows, Prof Peter Wadhams warns a 'global disaster' is now unfolding in northern latitudes (Sept 17, 2012 The Guardian, UK)
Is there even less Arctic sea ice than the satellites show? We are now at 83.20N which is very close to the north pole yet still there is no continuous ice coverWe are mostly among small, thin, one- and two-year-old floes, with very little of the older, harder and more resilient "multiyear", or permanent ice that you would expect in these latitudes..In winter when the sea surface is frozen up here, scientists can be pretty sure how much ice there is. But in the summer months when the ice is melting and there's much more water around, the satellite can become confused...t can think that melt water sitting on the ice floes is open water; ..and the satellite tends to see more ice than there actually is. That's why monitoring groups such as NSIDC or the university of Bremen try to compensate with... (sept 2012) (we know, here on the ship, how misleading the satellite data can be. Here, possibly only 50% of the sea is covered in ice. Yet the data is telling the scientists that there is continuous ice cover at this latitude)
Five million deaths per year from climate change - 100 million or more deaths between now and 2030 - according to study "[The] report conducted by humanitarian organisation DARA.. calculated that five million deaths occur each year from air pollution, hunger and disease as a result of climate change and carbon-intensive economies" TheAge.com.au, Sept 26, 2012
"Only 15 years ago I didn't expect to see such dramatic changes – no one did. The ice-free season is far longer now. Twenty years ago it was about a month. Now it's three months. Temperatures last week in the Arctic were 14C, which is pretty warm." (Found via http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/08/24/739291/august-24-news-melting-at-unprecedented-rate-arctic-sea-ice-set-to-reach-lowest-ever-levels-in-coming-days/#comment-450231)
Prof Laxon: this year's projected record minimum could result in a change in projections of when the Arctic would be sea ice-free during summer months. "The previous [IPCC] report (of 2007) stated that the likely date for an ice-free Arctic in the summer - and definitions for this vary a bit - was 2100..When we had the 2007 minimum, that date was brought forward to 2030-2040. The fact that we look set to get another record ice minimum in such a short space of time means that the modellers may once again need to go and look at what their projections are telling them."
Turn of the century drought worst in 800 years, study says and "The turn-of-the-century drought may be the wetter end of a new climatology that would make the 21st century climate like mega-droughts of the last millennium," and "The current [2012] drought that has currently engulfed country is as intense in the western United States as the turn of the century [2000-2004] drought, but also includes large portions of the Midwest and Eastern United States" Natioanl Snow and Ice Data Center, July 2012.
(see discussion at this blog But once oil is in the water, it's a mess. And we've never proven anywhere in the world -- let alone in the ice -- that we're very good at picking up more than 3 or 5 or 10 percent of the oil once it's in the water." retired Coast Guard Admiral Roger Rufe
greenland ice sheet melt nearing critical "tipping point" latest reserach, july 1, 2012
Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in Arctic coastal seas The Arctic coastal seas absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide to an ever-decreasing extent. This leads to an increase in the level in the atmosphere and an increase in the rate of warming in the Arctic The results suggest that the Laptev Sea has changed from being a sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide to become a source of carbon dioxide during the late summer. (2012 june)
The analysis suggests that despite high-level statements to the contrary, there is now little to no chance of maintaining the global mean surface temperature at or below 2 ° C [above pre-industrial global mean]. Moreover, the impacts associated with 2 ° C have been revised upwards, sufficiently so that 2 ° C now more appropriately represents the threshold between ‘dangerous' and ‘extremely dangerous' climate change. Royal Society Abstract and full paper
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/05/17/485756/arctic-death-spiral-more-bad-news-about-sea-ice/
Beijing pollution will take 'decades' to clear 2012 march
CSIRO scientists say invisible toxic pollutants are fouling the atmosphere, even in the world's cleanest air at a monitoring station in far north-west Tasmania. Audio: Grim findings on atmospheric pollution (AM) The category of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) includes DDT, pesticides and dioxins, and as the name suggests they do not dissipate easily. They are being detected even at Cape Grim station, in far north-west Tasmania, one of the most important research sites for the pollutants in the world. While people may never heard of them, senior CSIRO scientist Melita Keywood says it is important to keep monitoring them and eliminate new dangerous compounds. "They can have quite a bad impact on human health," she said. "For example, they can result in reproductive problems for people, and they can also impact people's respiratory health and heart function." 2012 mar

Nitrogen pollution 'costs EU up to #280bn a year'
The study by 200 European experts says reactive nitrogen contributes to air pollution, fuels climate change and is estimated to shorten the life of the average resident by six months (bbc 11apr keyword expectancy

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in 2007 that sea levels would rise at least 28cm (1ft) by the year 2100. But this is a global average; and now a Dutch team has made what appears to be the first attempt to model all the factors leading to regional variations. Other researchers say the IPCC's figure is likely to be a huge under-estimate. "places like New York are going to have a larger contribution than the average --20% more in this case" 11apr bbc
New warning on Arctic sea ice melt "In the past... we were just extrapolating into the future assuming that trends might persist as we've seen in recent times," said Dr Maslowski, who works at Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. ...Scientists who predicted a few years ago that Arctic summers could be ice-free by 2013 now say summer sea ice will probably be gone in this decade. ..And one of the projections it comes out with is that the summer melt could lead to ice-free Arctic seas by 2016 --"plus or minus three-- --years". (11apr, bbc)
Cancer rise and sperm quality fall 'due to chemicals'
Rising Seas Look Inevitable
It may be too late to stop the seas from eventually rising and flooding Earth's coastlines. Even if humans manage to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions completely by the year 2100, ocean warming set in motion by the end of this millennium could trigger the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and flood New York City, Hong Kong, and other coastal cities, a new study suggests. (Science Magazine, 2011 jan)

A new analysis showing the presence of a probable carcinogen in the tap water of 31 cities across the country, including the District and Bethesda, has raised questions about what consumers in those communities can do to reduce their exposure. The chemical, hexavalent chromium, got public attention via the 2000 film "Erin Brockovich" and has been deemed a "probable carcinogen" by the National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institutes of Health.
Although basic water filters such as those made by Brita and PUR do not remove hexavalent chromium, several reverse-osmosis systems designed for home use can take the chemical out of water.

Tree's ability to soak up CO2 has limits (Tuesday, 26 October 2010)
keywords: ipcc under-estimated.
The ability of forests to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere has been overrated, according to a new study by US and Australian scientists...The implication of that for the broader landscapes is that particularly in nutrient poor soils, the rising CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is probably not going to be as beneficial to plants as we've been hoping."
Medlyn argues that the models that were used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th assessment report to predict land-based CO2 sequestration did not include nitrogen feedbacks on the CO2 response, and therefore these predictions are TOO OPTIMISTIC.

Earth's climate change 20,000 years ago reversed the circulation of the Atlantic Ocean Global warming today could have similar effects on ocean currents and could accelerate climate change 2010 nov
Bermuda-sized chunk breaks off Arctic ice shelf A huge chunk of ice about the size of Bermuda has cracked off Canada's largest remaining Arctic ice shelf. The ancient slab of ice, measuring about 50 square kilometres in area and almost 400 metres thick, broke away from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf on Ellesmere Island's northern coast last week(August 25, 2010)
Enormous glacier calves in largest Arctic event seen in 48 years The break happened on August 5.... "The obvious question is: is this an indication of global warming? Not necessarily. Glaciers calve all the time. And even though this is the largest such fracturing seen in the Arctic since 1962, we can't extrapolate much from it...though scientists can use this event to understand how dynamic glaciers can be. With the sea ice thinnin--and it certainly is -- the more we know the better"
Greenland glacier calves island 4 times the size of Manhattan, UD scientist reports...Petermann Glacier lost about one-quarter of its 43-mile long [70 km] floating ice-shelf....The new ice island has an area of at least 100 square miles and a thickness up to half the height of the Empire State Building. (Aug 6 about Aug 5th event) ---260 square kilometres (100 sq mi)
Happy 35th birthday, global warming!
Scientists warn of global warming threat to marine food chain Numbers of phytoplankton - the microscopic organisms that sustain the marine food chain - are plummeting as sea surface temperatures rise the reduction --averaging about 1% per year -- is related to creasing sea surface temperature (10july)
AP story by Seth Borenstein notes, "Worldwide phytoplankton levels are down 40 percent since the 1950s, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The likely cause is global warming," which makes it hard for them to get nutrients
Rich nations could increase emissions under pledge loopholes, UN data shows Analysis seen at Bonn climate talks shows rich nations could use carbon accountancy tricks to increase their emissions by up to 8% 1jun10june the guardian of uk
Chemical cocktail affects humans and the environment (keyword: toxins math 105 enviromath)
In order to map out the current situation, researchers from the University of Gothenburg and the University of London carried out a review of the state of the art of mixture toxicology and ecotoxicology. The study showed that all the relevant research is unambiguous: the combined "cocktail effect" of environmental chemicals is greater and more toxic than the effect of the chemicals individually.

Glacier National Park Loses Two More Glaciers Climate change has claimed two more of the moving icefields at this national park, reducing their numbers to 25All of the glaciers could be completely gone by the end of the decade. (10april)
New Ways to Gauge the Finite Atmosphere keywords: graphic visual for envmath
How methane leaks through permafrost "These emissions could be non-gradual, sudden, more or less massive, they could even be abrupt." ......Arctic shallow hydrate deposits are three times more sensitive to warming than oceanic deposits," said Shakhova. "This means that three times less energy (provided by warming) is required to destabilize them compared to deep oceanic hydrates.....
Catastrophic sea levels 'distinct possibility' (keywords: worse than previously thought (though only as a very real possibility) sea level ocean level rise) 10march
Gulf Stream ("appears to be") not slowing down keywords: good news (10march)
Breaking the Growth Habit: A Q&A with Bill McKibben at Scientific American (10 march "growth"keyword)
Aquatic 'dead zones' contributing to climate change In the March 12 edition of the journal Science..explains that the increased amount of nitrous oxide (N2O) produced in low-oxygen (hypoxic) waters can elevate concentrations in the atmosphere, further exacerbating the impacts of global warming and contributing to ozone "holes" that cause an increase in our exposure to harmful UV radiation. (10mar)
Chemicals that eased one environmental problem may worsen another ..hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) emerged as CFC replacements because they do not damage the ozone layer. However, studies later suggested the need for a replacement for the replacements, showing that HCFCs act like super greenhouse gases, 4,500 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The new study adds to those concerns, raising the possibility that HCFCs may break down in the atmosphere to form oxalic acid, one of the culprits in acid rain. (10mar)
Ice shelves are retreating in the southern section of the Antarctic Peninsula due to climate change. This could result in glacier retreat and sea-level rise if warming continues, threatening coastal communities and low-lying islands worldwide. Research by the U.S. Geological Survey is the first to document that every ice front in the southern part of the Antarctic Peninsula has been retreating overall from 1947 to 2009, with the most dramatic changes occurring since 1990. The USGS previously documented that the majority of ice fronts on the entire Peninsula have also retreated during the late 20th century and into the early 21st century. 10mar
Ice Losses in Antarctica Move South Data show ice shelves are now disappearing all along the Antarctic Peninsula, including the southern, colder part...The loss of the ice shelves could uncork the glaciers, drain ice from the land and increase sea levels...The trend could conceivably extend to the rest of Antarctica, but researchers are still studying that.<(Discovery.com)
Antarctic ice melting supports global warming A new study of Antarctic ice suggests that in spite all the fuss around climategate, the controversy over whether scientists have withheld facts casting doubt on the theory of global warming, there continues to be evidence that the world is heating up. The latest evidence is from the US Geological Survey 10mar
The Saudi delegate said that typically about half of the CO2 injected for enhanced oil recovery will remain in the ground. (keywords: at least this ONE TYPE of carbon storage sequestration only holds half)(from articl relevant to peak oil figleafs for)(10feb)
cientists have concluded, in a study published today..that the current rate of ocean acidification is up to 10 times faster than 55m years ago--the last time the deep oceans became so acidic. When the oceans became acidified in a similar way about 55m years ago, it resulted in a mass extinction of deep-sea marine organisms, especially those living in the sediments of the sea floor (10Feb london independent)
A paper published in Nature Geoscience A new model, capable of assessing the rate at which the oceans are acidifying, suggests that changes in the carbonate chemistry of the deep ocean may exceed anything seen in the past 65 million years. "The widespread extinction of these ocean floor organisms during the Paleocene-Eocene greenhouse warming and acidification event tells us that similar extinctions in the future are possible" (10Feb bristol.ac.uk)
Speaking on his new radio show President Chavez said Venezuela, which depends heavily on hydropower, was facing the worst drought in 100 years. Although Venezuela has big oil reserves, it is dependent on hydro-electricity for some 70% of its power. This is generated by the massive Guri Dam complex on the Orinoco River, which has fallen more than 9m (30ft) below normal. (10feb, bbc)
Eel populations in London's River Thames crash by 98% "It is difficult to say what is going on - it could be due to a number of potential factors including changes in oceanic currents due to climate change, man-made structures such as dams and the presence of certain diseases and parasites."
World's biodiversity 'crisis' needs action, says UN Eight years ago, governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but the pledge will not be met. ...Conservation organisations acknowledge that despite some regional successes, the target is not going to be met; some analyses suggest that nature loss is accelerating rather than decelerating. (keywords: 190e enviromath)...With species extinctions running at about 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate, some biologists contend that we are in the middle of the Earth's sixth great extinction..(bbc 10jan)
US scientists demand government ban on mountaintop mining Mountaintop mining should be banned for causing vast and permanent destruction to US environment and exposing its people to serious health consequences such as birth defects, a new study says today. An article in the journal Science, by a team of 12 ecologists, hydrologists, and engineers, provides the most comprehensive analysis so far of the damage done by the controversial mining practice. ..Margaret Palmer, an ecologist at the University of Maryland Centre for Environmental Science, who led the study, said the science left no excuse for the Obama administration not to ban the highly destructive practice. (10jan, peakoil.com from Guardian article)
Tipping Elements in the Earth System: How Stable Is the Contemporary Environment? . If one or more of those components is tipped -- especially in the course of global warming -- then the age of remarkably stable environmental conditions on Earth throughout the Holocene may end quickly and irreversibly."Currently, the climate system still operates in the Holocene mode, but the research presented here underlines that a rise of the global mean temperature beyond two degrees Celsius might push the world into singular-change terrain and therefore needs to be avoided," (10jan,ScienceDaily)
Saudi Arabia says it is "satisfied" with the conclusion of last month's UN climate summit in Copenhage
Climate change far worse than thought before IANS 3 January 2010, 12:09pm IST (10jan) and E-mails: 'The world is already giving us a powerful sense of what is going on'
During the previous interglacial period, about 125,000 years ago, the average global temperature was around 1.3 degrees higher than it is today,...A new paper in the scientific journal Nature shows that sea levels during that period were between 6.6 and 9.4 metres higher than today's(Monbiot Dec 21 '09)
Global warming hike may be steeper: research Global temperatures could rise substantially more because of increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than previously thought, according to a new study by US and Chinese scientists released Sunday. The researchers used a long-term model for assessing climate change, confirming a similar British study released this month that said calculations for man-made global warming may be underestimated by between 30 and 50 percent. They also found that the global temperature was between two and three degrees Celsius (3.6 and 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than today even though carbon dioxide levels were similar to the current ones, the statement said. [keywords: worse than previusly thought](09dec)
Polar ice may vanish in 5-7 years In the summer of 2007, the Arctic ice cap dwindled to a record-low minimum extent of 4.3 million square kilometers (1.7 million square miles) in September. The melting in 2008 and 2009 was not as extensive, but still ranked as the second- and third-greatest decreases on record. (09dec)
The Flemish city of Ghent, which has collectively decided to try vegetarianism one day a week The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, for example, recently spearheaded a "meatless Mondays" campaign in which it and 28 other public health schools run local outreach programs that promote a meat-free start to the week. Germany's federal environment agency issued an advisory earlier this year urging Germans to return to prewar norms of eating meats only on special occasions.. (2009 May, TimeMagazine)
2 meter sea levelrise is upper limit (i.e. is possible) by 2100 warn scientists 09nov
Not-So-Permafrost: Big Thaw of Arctic Soil May Unleash Runaway Warming New estimates show that frozen Arctic soil contains far more potential greenhouse gas than previously recognized--and could speed climate change as it melts (2008 august)Scientific American..[keywords: worse than previously ]
In 2008 the world's oceans absorbed around 150 billion tons of man-made carbon emissions to the atmosphere, say scientists in the US. Although this ocean uptake has increased sharply since the 1950s, the rate of increase has declined over the last few decades. The proportion of emissions taken up by the ocean remained roughly stable between the 1950s to 2000, with perhaps a smallish long-term decline. But between 2000 and 2007 that proportion declined by 10%, falling from 27% in 2000 to 24% seven years later...."Because of this chemical effect, over time the ocean is expected to become a less efficient sink of man-made carbon," he said. "The surprise is that we may already be seeing evidence for this, perhaps compounded by the ocean's slow circulation in the face of accelerating emissions." (09Noiv)
2008 Carbon Budget Highlights PUBLISHED: Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 5:18 pm (Press Release: Global Carbon Project )
The pair also reviewed recent findings by Dutch colleagues, who found strong evidence that most current climate models could have a systematic bias towards the AMOC being far too stable, compared to the real ocean. "So we may still be underestimating the risk, based on the current climate models," said Hofmann. "These models are good at computing simple things like global mean temperature, but they are still unreliable when it comes to highly non-linear threshold responses like an instability in ocean currents." keywords: "gulf stream" nonlinear, tippingpoints,possibly-worse-than-previously predicted (09nov)
The Greenland ice sheet is losing its mass faster than in previous years and making an increasing contribution to sea level rise, a study has confirmed. [keywords: worse than previously predicted]For the period 2000-2008, melting Greenland ice raised sea levels by an average of about 0.46mm per year.Since 2006, that has increased to 0.75mm per year..Another analysis of satellite data, published in September, showed that of 111 fast-moving Greenland glaciers studied, 81 were thinning at twice the rate of the slow-moving ice beside them.(09nov bbc)
China prudent [if you say so ;-( -ED] over tapping combustible ice: project leader "We do not need to drill very deep to get the flammable frozen compound from tundra here in Muli Prefecture in Qinghai province. However, as the sample is taken out, methane gas is easily released into the atmosphere," said Wen Huaijun, chief engineer of the combustible ice project in Qinghai. (the article focuses on the assertion that they WILL be careful ("prudent") about it, but WILL go ahead with this (keywords: methane hydrates)
Saudi Arabia: Kingdom fears fuel shortage (peakoil.com) The kingdom is now pursuing an urgent multibillion dollar search for gas that stretches from the Gulf to the vast, remote desert of its Empty Quarter. Gas consumption is growing at 7 per cent a year and this appetite is unlikely to slow in the near future. The kingdom's plans to diversify its economy by utilising its hydrocarbon resources to attract energy-intensive industries is putting pressure on energy consumption, which is already growing through increasing demand for electricity and water desalination plants.(09 oct 2)
(keywords: peak oil peak natural gas)(09 oct 2)
Scientists are stunned by new satellite information that shows some of the world's largest ice sheets are shrinking faster than first thought. The edges of sheets in Greenland and western Antarctica are melting at an alarming rate, causing a "runaway effect", British researchers say.(keywords: worse than previously thought)(sept 24 '09)
about 6 percent of the nearly 1,500 male fish had a bit of female in them [for sometypes of fish:] one out of five male black bass in American river basins have egg cells growing inside their sexual organs... Past studies have linked the problem to endocrine-disrupting hormones, such as estrogen from women's medicines. While the fish can still reproduce, studies have shown they don't reproduce as well, Hinck said. ...ntersex fish are also seen as a general warning about what some experts see as a wider problem of endocrine disruptors in the environment...The study used data from 1995 to 2004, when the government stopped funding the research. ...(09 sept)

Warming waters release methane plumes into Arctic sea Scientists have found more than 250 plumes of methane gas rising from the seabed near Svalbard in the Arctic Circle. Similar gas plumes have been found elsewhere in places like the Black Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, but this is the first time scientists have found them in where the conditions for their occurrence can be clearly attributed to climate warming. (24 Aug '09)
Climate trouble may be bubbling up in far north (AP news) Researchers say air temperatures here in northwest Canada, in Siberia and elsewhere in the Arctic have risen more than 2.5 C (4.5 F) since 1970-- much faster than the global average..and a further 7 C (13 F) temperature rise is possible this century, says the authoritative..IPCC.. In 2007, air monitors detected a rise in methane concentrations in the atmosphere, apparently from far northern sources. Russian researchers in Siberia expressed alarm
Researchers led by the University of Florida's Ted Schuur last year calculated that the top 3 meters (10 feet) of permafrost alone contain more carbon than is currently in the atmosphere.
"It's safe to say the surface permafrost, 3 to 5 meters, is at risk of thawing in the next 100 years," Schuur said by telephone from an Alaska research site. "It can't stay intact.
...
"If we lost just 1 percent of the carbon in permafrost today, we'd be close to a year's contributions from industrial sources," he said. "I don't think policymakers have woken up to this. It's not in their risk assessments."
How likely is a major release?
"I don't think it's a case of likelihood," he said. "I think we are playing with fire."
As Arctic Ocean warms, megatonnes of methane bubble up (NewScientist.com, 17 Aug '09) "It's been predicted for years, and now it's happening. Deep in the Arctic Ocean, water warmed by climate change is forcing the release of methane from beneath the sea floor"...The region where the team found the plumes is being warmed by the West Spitsbergen current, which has warmed by 1 C (or 1.8 F) over the past 30 years ( "Bigger bubbles of methane make it all the way to the top, but smaller ones dissolve," says Minshull. Just because it fails to reach the surface doesn't mean the methane is harmless, though, as some of it gets converted to carbon dioxide. The CO2 then dissolves in seawater and makes the oceans more acidic)(And it is possible that other, more vigorous plumes are releasing methane into the atmosphere. The team studied only one group of plumes, which were in a small area and were erratic. "Almost none of the Arctic has been surveyed in a way that might detect a gas release like this,)(methane may not be from hydrate, but could be coming from the methane's primary source, which might be deep within the Earth. If that was the case, the warming of the West Spitsbergen current may not be to blame. He says that the large amounts of methane being released make this unlikely, however: "If the methane is all primary, it would be an unprecedented amount." )

Prozac in Drinking Water? Likely So Water Treatment Plants Not Designed to Get Rid of Medications"There's evidence that concentrations coming out of treatment plants have an effect on things living in the water. They're obviously going to get the highest exposure. Whether the lower exposure has an effect on humans, we don't know." (summary from both 2004 and 2002 reports) --- "The list of chemicals being produced is huge. The mixture coming down these waterways contains many, many chemicals. We don't know how they interact. We don't know their total effect."
Frogs, fish and pharmaceuticals a troubling brew (CNN, 2003), "We need to ask the question, 'what does accumulation in fish tissue actually mean to the organism's ability to live, grow, or reproduce?'" said Bryan Brooks, a Baylor University toxicologist.
ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (ahrp.org) summarizes several articles.
Antarctic glacier 'thinning fast' One of the largest glaciers in Antarctica is thinning four times faster than it was 10 years ago, according to research seen by the BBC. Calculations based on the rate of melting 15 years ago had suggested the glacier would last for 600 years. But the new data points to a lifespan for the vast ice stream of only another 100 years. (09 aug)
Military Admits Global Warming a Threat to National Security Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, a retired Marine and the former head of the Central Command, recently co-authored a report prepared by a military advisory board saying "We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today, and we'll have to take an economic hit of some kind. Or we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives.
UPI:"The United States may have to resort to" military interventions to deal with the future effects of climate change, military and intelligence analysts say. (09aug)
Ocean current shutdown may take place more slowly than previously believed "Our data still show that current is slowing, and may decline by 30 percent by the end of this century"(AMOC,Atlantic meridional overturning circulation)09 jul --- he added "it's very significant, and it could cause substantial climate change. But s not as abrupt as some concerns that it could shut down within a few decades,"
NASA data shows 'dramatically thinned' Arctic ice ICESat allows scientists to measure changes in the thickness and volume of Arctic ice, whereas previously scientists relied only on measurements of area to determine how much of the Arctic Ocean is covered in ice. Scientists found that Arctic sea ice thinned some seven inches (17.8 centimeters) a year, or 2.2 feet (67 centimeters) over four winters..."
They also found that thicker, older ice, which has survived one or more summers, shrank by 42 percent.."Between 2004 and 2008, multi-year ice cover shrank 595,000 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers) -- nearly the size of Alaska's land area,"
A study published in April by the Colorado-based National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) also showed that the Arctic ice cap is thinner than ever and the maximum extent of Arctic ice was at an all-time low. The same month, US researchers warned that the Arctic could be almost ice-free within 30 years, not 90 as scientists had previously estimated. [and some analyses note it's possible it may be far less thn even 30] (09 july)
An unacceptable number of species are still being lost forever despite world leaders pledging action The main policy mechanism to tackle the loss is the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD), which came into force in 1993 ..The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says the commitment to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010 will not be met. (09jul)
Climate change turning seas acid, academies warn Climate change is turning the oceans more acid in a trend that could endanger everything from clams to coral and be irreversible for thousands of years, national science academies said on Monday. Seventy academies from around the world urged governments meeting in Bonn for climate talks from June 1-12 to take more account of risks to the oceans in a new U.N. treaty for fighting global warming May 31, 09
Amazon could shrink by 85% due to [4 degree C] climate change and 20-40% from 2C above pre-industrial levels
Global warming accounted for around half of the extra hurricane-fueling warmth in the waters of the tropical North Atlantic in 2005 (NCAR, June 2006)
"Stalagmites reveal rapid sea level change" By comparing the dates of sea level rises with known increases in temperature, based on studies of ice cores from the Antarctic, they have shown the ice sheets respond rapidly to global warming. It was previously believed that temperature rise preceded ice sheet melting by more than 3000 years....That view appears to be supported by the Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment report released this week, which suggests sea temperatures in the Southern Ocean are rising faster than in other oceans. It predicts ice melts in the Antarctic Peninsula and Western Ice Shelf will be greater and more rapid than expected, An Antarctic ice shelf has disappeared -scientists "One Antarctic ice shelf has quickly vanished, another is disappearing and glaciers are melting faster than anyone thought due to climate change. Climate change is to blame, according to the report from the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey" (April 2009) The Wordie Ice Shelf..is now gone and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf (keywords: worse than previously thought)
Greenhouse gas threatens ocean food chain RISING concentrations of acid in the Southern Ocean caused by greenhouse gases are damaging the ability of some sea creatures to form shells, posing a serious threat to marine life, a study by Australian scientists has found. (09 march)
A predicted slowdown in Atlantic Ocean currents will cause sea levels along the US north-east coast to rise twice as fast as the global average, exposing New York and other big cities to violent and frequent storm surges, according to a new study. Manhattan's Wall Street, barely a metre above sea level, for example, will find itself underwater more often as the 21st century unfolds, said the study, published online on Sunday in Nature Geoscience. They found that sea levels in the North Atlantic adjusted in all cases to the projected slowing of the Gulf Stream and its northward extension, the North Atlantic Current. The weakened currents account for nearly half of a predicted sea rise -from thermal expansion alone [i.e. not counting melting ice sheets' contribution] -- of 36 to 51cm for the US north-eastern coast, especially near New York, they found.Rapid sea level increases would put cities such as New York, Boston, Baltimore and Washington, DC at significantly greater risk of coastal hazards such as hurricanes and intense winter storm surges. A study released last year by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists showed that, due to rising sea levels, once-in-a-century storms would occur on average every 10 years by 2100.
good similar article in New Scientist 09march
Sea level rise poses threat to New York City Jianjun Yin, a climate modeler at the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) at Florida State, said there is a better than 90 percent chance that the sea level rise along this heavily populated coast will exceed the mean global sea level rise by the year 2100. The rising waters in this region -- perhaps by as much as 18 inches or more -- can be attributed to thermal expansion and the slowing of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation because of warmer ocean surface temperatures. 09 mar
"It is now clear that there are going to be massive flooding disasters around the globe" according to who? Some "alarmist"? According to Dr David Vaughan, of the British Antarctic Survey. Elsewhere: "Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting faster than previously estimated." (keywords: worse than previously thought) 09 march
Scientists find bigger than expected polar ice melt "http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090225/sc_afp/climateenvironmentsciencepolaroceanswmo;_ylt=ApAnb2qwVpfVCKzwzCvtWtFpl88F" Feb 25, 2009 (AP) [keywords: worse than previously thought]
Scambosri, lead scientist at the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, pointed out that a recently published research paper in the journal Nature indicated that east Antarctica, contrary to earlier scientific belief, has been warming in recent decades. "Our preliminary results support that," he said of the traverse expedition's research. "The temperature measurements we were able to make looks like there was a very slight warming." (keyword: worse than previously thought) (09feb)
World lags in breeding climate-proof crops: experts "Unlike the bank that needs to be bailed out this week, this problem is going to be an emergency 20 years from now. But by then it will be too late" (09feb)
Any abrupt climate changes in the North Atlantic region have a quick see-saw effect on the South Atlantic Any abrupt climate changes in the North Atlantic region have a quick see-saw effect on the South Atlantic (09feb)
Professor Wootton says the most troubling finding is the speed of acidification, with the pH level dropping at a much greater rate than was previously thought."It's going down 10 to 20 times faster than the previous models predicted," he says. (Keyword: worse than previously thought)(keyword: ocean acidification)
Climate change likely to be more devastating than experts predicted, warns top IPCC scientist Stanford University press release. (09feb)
Ice collapse 'could raise sea levels 20 feet' (print version) A team of experts has calculated that if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses -- as many expect it to -- the outcome will be worse than has been forecast. (09 feb)
"I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen," he said. "We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California."
Arctic storms seen worsening; threat to oil, ships 09feb
Acid oceans 'need urgent action' (although they claim "0.14 to 0.35" additional lowering of pH by 2100 rather than 0.35 to 0.45+ I have seen elsewhere............. (BBC 09jan)
A Millennia-Long Greenhouse Disaster Science Magazine. And NOAA and Associated Press articles on same study.
Geo-Engineering to save us from climate destruction? "No quick or easy technological fix" researchers say researchers. Turco and Yu have been studying a particular geoengineering approach that involves the injection of nanoparticles, or their precursor gasessuch as sulfur dioxide or hydrogen sulfide -- into the stratosphere from aircraft or large balloons.
"We found that schemes to emit precursor gases in large quantities would be extremely difficult to design and implement within the constraints of a narrow tolerance for error, and in addition, the outcomes would be very sensitive to variables over which we would have little control, such as the stability and mixing conditions that occur locally,"
"We're talking about tinkering with the climate system that affects everybody on Earth," said Turco, an atmospheric chemist with expertise in the microphysics of fine particles suspended in the atmosphere. "Some of the ideas are extreme. There would certainly be winners and losers, but no one would know who until it's too late.
..."Advocates of geoengineering have tried to make climate engineering sound so simple," he added. "It's not simple at all. We now know that the properties and effects of a geoengineered particle layer in the stratosphere would be far more unpredictable, for example, than the physics of global warming associated with carbon dioxide emissions. Embarking on such a project could be foolhardy."

Ocean Acidification Could Have Broad Effects On Marine Ecosystems "It's not just a question of coral reefs, and it's not just a question of calcification," he said. "What we are potentially looking at are disruptions of developmental processes and of populations and communities on many scales...Many phytoplankton--microscopic algae that form the base of the marine -- food web--build calcium carbonate shells to protect themselves from microscopic predators called ciliate protozoa. A disruption of the ability of phytoplankton to build their shells could have ripple effects throughout the marine food web, Potts said."It's going to change the dominant organism in the food chain, and there's a very real danger that it may short-circuit the food chains,"(08dec ScienceDaily)
Rise in CO2 'affects jumbo squid' ..The researchers say increased acidification of the ocean will reduce the availability of oxygen near the surface and so depress the squids' metabolism.. (08 dec)
Methane, Potent Greenhouse Gas, Flowing Into The Atmosphere From Tundra Much Faster Than Expected 08 dec
Greenhouse gases will heat up planet 'for ever' New study shows the effects of CO2 pollution will be felt for hundreds of thousands of years 08nov
Climate change gathers steam, say scientists future global warming may be driven not just by things over which humans have a degree of control, such as burning fossil fuels or destroying forest,..current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, if unchecked, would unleash devastating droughts, floods and huge increases in human misery by century's end. But the new studies, they say, indicate that human activity may be triggering powerful natural forces that would be nearly impossible to reverse and that could push temperatures up even further. 08 nov "We had always known that the Arctic was going to respond first..What has us puzzled is that the changes are even faster than we would have thought possible, (good article despite embarrassing typo, "During the 1970s, there were on average 1.3 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide -- the main greenhouse gas -- in the air. In the 1980s the figure was 1.6 ppm, and in the 1990s 1.5 ppm. " when they mean that the level was going up BY 1.3 ppm PER YEAR)
Ocean growing more acidic faster than once thought 08nov PhysOrg.com
Water Vapor's confoirmed role strengthens confidence in global warming models (for some background see the scientist-run blog RealClimate.org on Water vapour: feedback or forcing?)
Fall in tiny animals a 'disaster' Experts on invertebrates have expressed "profound shock" over a government report showing a decline in zooplankton of more than 70% since the 1960s..."This is a biodiversity disaster of enormous proportions." (another copy at naturalnews)
Acid Soils in Slovakia Tell Somber Tale "The study shows what can happen when nitrogen deposition in any part of the world increases to certain levels--levels similar to those projected to occur in parts of Europe by 2050, according to some global change models... The results of this further acidification, wrote the authors, are highly reduced soil fertility and leaching of acids and toxic metals into surface waters. 08nov
Effects of ocean acidification will come 30 years earlier than expected mongabay.com November 11, 2008
How Climate Change Is Killing Our Oceans A frequently touted example of rapid change in the geologic record is the so-called Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. About 55 million years ago the Earth abruptly warmed , the oceans acidified, atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns shifted and a large number of bottom-dwellers died off. That change happened over perhaps 10,000 years -- not even close to today's pace.In absorbing those emissions the oceans have buffered humanity from the worst effects of climate change. But in doing so ocean chemistry has changed, acidifying to levels not seen in 800,000 years...if emissions remain unchecked, Oceana warned, the oceans in 40 years will be more acidic than anything experienced in the past 20 million years.
Polar warming 'caused by humans'In 2007, the UN's climate change body presented strong scientific evidence the rise in average global temperature is mostly due to human activities. This contradicted ideas that it was a result of natural processes such as an increase in the Sun's intensity. At the time, there was not sufficient evidence to say this for sure about the Arctic and Antarctic. Now that gap in research has been plugged, according to scientists who carried out a detailed analysis of temperature variations at both poles. Their study indicates that humans have indeed contributed to warming in both regions. (08oct)
Man-made climate change seen in Antarctica, Arctic The U.N. Climate Panel, which draws on work by 2,500 experts, said last year that the human fingerprint on climate "has been detected in every continent except Antarctica," which has insufficient observational coverage to make an assessment. The scientists, writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, said the new findings filled that gap...The study also formally linked greenhouse gas emissions to rising temperatures in the Arctic, where big natural variations included a sharp temperature rise in the 1930s and 1940s. (keyword: worse than previously thought -- Asked if the findings would affect his view of the likely pace of melting, he said: "I would say that it would lean toward a little bit bleaker side of the picture.")
Arctic ice thickness 'plummets' The thickness of Arctic sea ice "plummeted" last winter, thinning by as much as one-fifth in some regions, satellite data has revealed. (08 oct)
Arctic is melting even in winter -- "likely to melt much faster than had been thought" 08 oct
Salinity changes in ocean, linked to GHG emission (see last paragraphs of story) 08 oct
AUTUMN temperatures in the Arctic region are a record 5.0 degree Celsius higher than normal due the melting of the ice cap, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report said on Friday. 08 oct
MISLEADING HEADLINE: Gulf Stream here to stay" NEAR THE END MORE SPECIFIC BEANS ARE SPILLED: " 'We Can't rule that out,' Olsen wrote in an article publishing the group's findings. The risk of a collapse in the warm circulation of the Atlantic just 'isn't as probable in the near future as we had feared.' "
Ozone Pollution to Worsen Under Climate Change "It's the third most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and methane," David Fowler of the National Environmental Research Council in the United Kingdom said. "But it's not the biggest one, and it's not the biggest threat to human health -- particulates in the atmosphere are worse. So it's a sort of Cinderella gas that has been mostly ignored.".. even though nations like the United States, the U.K., and Japan have taken steps to curtail pollution that causes ozone, global warming will negate their efforts by the year 2050. In developing countries, the outlook is far worse. (08oct)
Melting permafrost may hasten global warming sept 13, 08
At least 25% of the world's mammal species are at risk of extinction, according to the first assessment of their status for a decade. 08 sept ...........................
The rapid rise in emissions meant the world could warm faster than previously predicted, said professor Barry Brook, director of the Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability at the University of Adelaide in Australia. He said CO2 concentrations could hit 450 ppm by 2030 instead of 2040 as currently predicted. They are just above 380 ppm at present. "But whatever the specific date, 450 ppm CO2 commits us to 2 degrees Celsius global warming and all the disastrous consequences this sets in train."
http://peakoil.com/article42953.html"The other thing we confirm is that China is indeed now the top emitter,"
Greenland's ice cap melting faster than expected: experts
Permafrost Bogs of Siberia Thaw Too Fast Researchers said that they were nearly shocked with the rate of bog permafrost thawing. Their estimations show that during last three years melting rate added 20% to its normal values. 08 sep
Ice Core Studies Confirm Accuracy Of Climate Models
Oceans are 'too noisy' for whales ...In some regions, the level of ocean noise is doubling each decade, and Ifaw says protective measures are failing. ...The problem is that most of the activities causing the problem -- commercia shipping, mineral extraction -- are part and parcel of the modern, interconnected economy.
Melting permafrost may hasten global warming Scientists had estimated there were between 400 billion and 800 billion tonnes of carbon locked in these regions, but the study, published in the journal BioScience, has increased this to more than 1500 billion tonnes. (SHM, Australia) ; The study, by an international team of researchers, more than doubles previous estimates of the amount of carbon stored in the permafrost: the new figure is equivalent to twice the total amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide...authors conclude that releases of the gas from melting permafrost could amount to roughly half those resulting from global land-use change during this century. (Xinhua. So land use is another very big factor) ;; Mongabay:The U.N. has called the melting of permafrost a "wild card" that could dramatically worsen global warming by releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases. "The balance of evidence suggests that Arctic feedbacks that amplify warming, globally and regionally, will dominate during the next 50 to 100 years," warned the UNEP Year Book 2008 [Cites: Edward A. G. Schuur et al (2008) Vulnerability of Permafrost Carbon to Climate Change: Implications for the Global Carbon Cycle. Biosicence September 2008 ]
Most Europeans 'very concerned' by climate change A majority of the 30,000-plus people interviewed throughout the EU and candidate nations, believe neither industry, national governments nor the European Unon itself is doing enough to tackle the problem Global warming/climate change was deemed one of the most serious world problems by 62 percent of those asked, ranking second behind poverty and the lack of food and water (68 percent) but ahead of international terrorism, armed conflicts and the global economic slowdown.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7600005.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7600005.stm
compressed air energy storage for wind
The strongest tropical storms are becoming even stronger as the world's oceans warm, scientists have confirmed. Analysis of satellite data shows that in the last 25 years, strong cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons have become more frequent in most of the tropics. Writing in the journal Nature, they say the number of weaker storms has not noticeably altered.
A new study by climate scientists behind the controversial 1998 "hockey stick" graph suggests their earlier analysis was broadly correct. Different analytical methods give the same result, they report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. a 2006 report from the National Research Council (NRC), commissioned by the US Congress, broadly endorsed its conclusion that Northern Hemisphere temperatures in the late 20th Century were probably warmer than at any time in the previous 400 years, and perhaps at any time during the previous 1,000 years. ..In their latest study, Dr Mann's group collated more than 1,200 proxy records - the majority from the Northern Hemisphere - and used different statistical methods to analyse their cumulative message.
Arctic ice 'is at tipping point'
Climate change could release unexpectedly huge stores of carbon dioxide from Arctic soils, which would in turn fuel a vicious circle of global warming, a new study warned Sunday. The study, published in the British journal Nature Geoscience, found that the stock of organic carbon "is considerably higher than previously thought" -- 60 percent more than the previously estimated. This is roughly equivalent of one sixth of the entire carbon content in the atmosphere. And that is just for North America. T
Wetlands could unleash "carbon bomb" Wetlands contain 771 billion tons of greenhouse gases, one-fifth of all the carbon on Earth and about the same amount of carbon as is now in the atmosphere, the scientists said before an international conference linking wetlands and global warming. Wetlands are not just swamps: they also include marshes, peat bogs, river deltas, mangroves, tundra, lagoons and river flood plains...About 60 percent of wetlands worldwide have been destroyed in the past century, mostly due to draining for agriculture. Pollution, dams, canals, groundwater pumping, urban development and peat extraction add to the destruction.So far, the impacts of climate change are minor compared to human depredations, the scientists said in a statement [that does not change the fact that they could still make climate change much worse
Northern wetlands, where permanently frozen soil locks up billions of tons of carbon, are at risk from climate change because warming is forecast to be more extreme at high latitudes The melting of wetland permafrost in the Arctic and the resulting release of carbon into the atmosphere may be "unstoppable" in the next 20 years, but wetlands closer to the equator, like those in Louisiana, can be restored, he said.
'Alarming' plight of coral reefsOne-third of the world's reef-building coral species are facing extinction. That is the stark conclusion from the first global study to assess the extinction risks of corals. Writing in the journal Science, researchers say climate change, coastal development, overfishing, and pollution are the major threats. scientists have come to realise in recent years, is ocean acidification. The water absorbs some of the atmosphere's extra carbon dioxide, making it slightly more acid, enough to compromise the capacity of corals to build their skeletons, and snails to build their shells. "We know that high sea surface temperatures are bad for coral, but we also have an idea that some might be able to adapt," said Professor Carpenter. "But ocean acidification is a much more insidious thing. We don't know how bad it will be, but the evidence suggests it will be absolutely devastating.."
Current estimates indicate that western U.S. forests are responsible for 20 to 40% of total U.S. carbon sequestration. If wildfire trends continue, at least initially, this biomass burning will result in carbon release, suggesting that the forests of the western United States may become a source of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide rather than a sink, even under a relatively modest temperature-increase scenario. per Science MAgazine quote in Huff. Post. and data on US-wide acres burned per year shows records broken in 2000, then 2004 , then 2005, then 2006, (not 2007) and possibly 2008.
Permanent drought predicted for Southwest The data tell "a story which is pretty darn scary and very strong," said Jonathan Overpeck, a climate researcher at the University of Arizona who was not involved in the study. (08 apr)
Extreme floods, storms seen increasing in North America Floods, droughts and severe storms are likely to ravage North America more frequently as emissions of planet-warming gases rise, according to a U.S. government study. Extreme weather events, "could seriously affect" human health, agricultural production, and the availability and quality of water in the future, according to the report, issued by the Climate Change Science Program on Thursday. Led by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the report was the government's widest assessment yet of how global warming may change the climate in coming decades.
Some see human link in severity of U.S. floods -- "CLIMATE CHANGE LINK? " AND land use changes...........................(08 june)
Another Antarctic Ice Shelf May Be About to Break Up 6/15/08 A 62-square-mile chunk of ice has broken off the Wilkins Ice Shelf, the first ever observed to do so in winter. The chunk is a portion of an ice "bridge" between the islands of Charcot and Latady that keeps the rest of the shelf from breaking up. The bridge was narrowed to a 3.7-mile wide strip of ice in February, when a larger chunk broke off. The latest piece broke at the end of May, reducing the bridge to 1.7 miles wide. If it breaks, thousands of square kilometers of ice will break up. In the past 50 years, the Antarctic Peninsula has warmed by 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit. In the past two decades, seven other Antarctic ice shelves have disintegrated or retreated. Scientists believe the Wilkins shelf will soon break up.
Arctic sea ice melt 'even faster' "I think we're going to beat last year's record melt, though I'd love to be wrong," said Dr Stroeve. "If we do, then I don't think 2013 is far off anymore. If what we think is going to happen does happen, then it'll be within a decade anyway." BACKGROUND: A few years ago, scientists were predicting ice-free Arctic summers by about 2080. Then computer models started projecting earlier dates, around 2030 to 2050. Then came the 2007 summer that saw Arctic sea ice shrink to the smallest extent ever recorded, down to 4.2 million sq km from 7.8 million sq km in 1980. By the end of last year, one research group was forecasting ice-free summers by 2013. But from a climate point of view, the melt could bring global impacts accelerating the rate of warming and of sea level rise. "This is a positive feedback process," commented Dr Ian Willis, from the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge. "Sea ice has a higher albedo (reflectivity) than ocean water; so as the ice melts, the water absorbs more of the Sun's energy and warms up more, and that in turn warms the atmosphere more - including the atmosphere over the Greenland ice sheet."
A Storehouse of Greenhouse Gases Is Opening in Siberia t's always been a disturbing what-if scenario for climate researchers: Gas hydrates stored in the Arctic ocean floor -- hard clumps of ice and methane, conserved by freezing temperatures and high pressure -- could grow unstable and release massive amounts of methane into the atmosphere...Until now this idea was mostly academic; scientists had warned that such a thing could happen. Now it seems more likely that it will.In the permafrost bottom of the 200-meter-deep sea, enormous stores of gas hydrates lie dormant in mighty frozen layers of sediment. The carbon content of the ice-and-methane mixture here is estimated at 540 billion tons. "This submarine hydrate was considered stable until now,"The permafrost has grown porous, says Shakhova, and already the shelf sea has become "a source of methane passing into the atmosphere." The Russian scientists have estimated what might happen when this Siberian permafrost-seal thaws completely and all the stored gas escapes. They believe the methane content of the planet's atmosphere would increase twelvefold. "The result would be catastrophic global warming," say the scientists.
U.S. Pacific Coast Waters Turning More Acidic [acidification] When the upwelled water was last at the surface, it was exposed to an atmosphere with much lower CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels than today's," pointed out Burke Hales, an associate professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University and an author on the Science study. "The water that will upwell off the coast in future years already is making its undersea trek toward us, with ever-increasing levels of carbon dioxide and acidity. "The coastal ocean acidification train has left the station," Hales added, "and there not much we can do to derail it."
Too close for comfort: U.S. Pacific Coast Waters Turning More Acidic [keywords ocean acidification]
Marine life is destroyed by acid environment (keywords: ocean acidification] Until now marine scientists have only been able to use laboratory experiments and modelling techniques to predict what the possible consequences of increased CO2 levels for marine life will be. But observations by the international team ..have confirmed fears that entire ecosystems face possibly catastrophic change. "Nobody has looked at the biological effects of ocean acidification on this scale before...We show how whole marine communities and ecosystems change due to the long-term effects of acidification" "All the predictions made in lab experiments about acidity causing the disappearance of species is coming true. "When we looked in the field it was already happening. I must admit I though a lot of the claims being made about species disappearing amounted to scaremongering but now I have seen it with my own eyes. (08 June , UK Telegraph)
It's clear that marine food webs as we know them are going to alter, and biodiversity will decrease" "Those impacts are inevitable because acidification is inevitable - we've started it, and we can't stop it." (08 june) [keywords: ocean acidification] ....Globally, the seas now have an average pH of about 8.1 - down about 0.1 since the dawn of the industrial age. Around the vents, it fell as low as 7.4 in some places. But even at 7.8 to 7.9, the number of species present was 30% down compared with neighbouring areasThese observations confirm that some of the processes seen in laboratory experiments and some of the predictions made by computer models of ocean ecosystems do also happen in the real world...he Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that without measures to restrain carbon dioxide emissions, ocean pH is likely to fall to about 7.8 by 2100. Last month, scientists reported that water with CO2 levels high enough to be "corrosive" to marine life was rising up off the western US coast. Bottom water naturally contains more CO2 than at shallower depths. This scientific team argues that human emissions have pushed these levels even higher, contributing to pH values as low 7.5 in waters heavily used by US fishermen.
The dominant global warming legislation, the Climate Security Act sponsored by Senators Lieberman and Warner and modified by committee chairperson Barbara Boxer, says it would nearly achieve the 80 by 2050 goal. But in order to contain energy costs--which must incr. dramatically for cap and trade to work --the legislation allows firms to delay emissions reductions long into the future, postponing action until after many members of Congress have either left Washington or this world altogether The cost-containment provision contains something known as an "emergency off-ramp"which allows firms to borrow emissions from the future so as to avoid reducing emissions today. In addition, the legislation contains various measures to keep the price for polluting well under $35 per ton of carbon dioxide, less than the price for CO2 in the EU, where a coal-building boom is underway. According to an analysis by World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank, the result would be few if any emissions reductions before 2025, 13 years after the bill's start date. More likely, U.S. emissions would continue to increase at the same rate, roughly 0.5 percent per year, as they have since 2000.
"If you (don't want) run-away climate change, you need to be at about 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 ... We're currently at 387 ppm CO2, going up at 2 per annum," said [Sir David King].."
"If you include all greenhouse gases, we're at around 420 ppm CO2e," he [David King] said, speaking at a climate change workshop hosted by Thomson Reuters in London. [keywords: co2 equivalent co2e CO2e CO2E]
Spain ships water into Barcelona to help alleviate drought (and video)
AFP Melting of methane ice triggered long-ago warming surge: study (keywords: methane hydrates clathrates) "Melting of methane ice unleashed runaway global warming some 635 million years ago..Release of the potent greenhouse-gas, at first in small amounts and then in massive volumes, brought a sudden end to the planet's longest Ice Age, its authors believe. (08 may)
Methane rise points to wetlands Higher atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas methane noted last year are probably related to emissions from wetlands, especially around the Arctic. Dr Dlugokencky also suggested that the drastic reduction in summer sea ice around the Arctic between 2006 and 2007 could have increased release of methane from seawater into the atmosphere.A further possibility is that the gas is being released in increasing amounts from permafrost as temperatures rise. (08 may)
Green energy plant gets thumbs down (Mining News via Peakoil.com) the Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that the planned project would not go ahead, since it had been discovered that the rock formations selected to permanently store the CO2 could not seal in the gas. A spokesperson for BP told SMH that the proposed reservoir was not fully understood [keywords ccs cabon capture sequestrations 'clean coal' etc]

.... Ancient air bubbles trapped in Antarctica's ice have revealed that levels of carbon dioxide and methane in the Earth's atmosphere are at their highest in 800,000 years, two studies in the journal Nature said. (08 may) "The remarkably strong correlations of methane and carbon dioxide with temperature reconstructions also stand" In the so-called paleo-climate archive, temperature increases typically came before gains in atmospheric carbon dioxide, Stocker said. That doesn't mean that CO2 doesn't act as a trigger for warming, he said..We know that if the greenhouse gases had not responded to the physical changes within the climate system at the end of ice ages, the planet would actually not have made the transition to warm phases,..The warming was simply not enough without the increase of greenhouse gases." Over the last 150 years, the concentration of CO2 has risen more than 100 times faster than any speed derived from the ice cores, Stocker said. That raises concern about whether global warming can be contained to within the 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) that the European Union is targeting, he said.
Human-caused climate change widely impact Earth A new NASA-led study shows human-caused climate change has made an impact on a wide range of Earth's natural systems, including permafrost thawing, plants blooming earlier across Europe, and lakes declining in productivity in Africa. (08 may)
Nuclear's CO2 cost 'will climb' (keywords not-carbon-neutral nuclear energy) (08 apr)
'Flammable ice' could be mined for fuel (keywords methane burp clathrates methane hydrates) "Mining methane may be easier said than done, however. There are fears that disturbing the hydrates could trigger blowouts that might release huge volumes of gas." (08 apr)
Oceans absorbing less CO2 may have 1,500 year impact 08 apr
While some might call for drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge [keyword: ANWR] to beef up the U.S. oil supply, Brown's model shows that the amount of oil there is only a minute fraction of what is needed to push forward a production peak
o 'No Sun link' to climate change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its vast assessment of climate science last year, concluded that since temperatures began rising rapidly in the 1970s, the contribution of humankind's greenhouse gas emissions has outweighed that of solar variability by a factor of about 13 to one. According to Terry Sloan, the message coming from his research is simple. "We tried to corroborate Svensmark's hypothesis, but we could not; as far as we can see, he has no reason to challenge the IPCC - the IPCC has got it right. (08 apr)
GM seeds can 'last for 10 years' "We were surprised, very surprised," she told BBC News. [we] thought [GM genetically engineered seeds that invaded other areas] all have gone by now." Another person, a professor: "This study confirms that GM crops are difficult to confine," he said. "We should assume that GM organisms cannot be confined, and ask instead what will become of them when they escape." (08 apr) This was despite intensive efforts in the intervening years to remove seeds...[and despite the fact that] the Swedish Board of Agriculture sprayed the field intensively with chemicals that should have killed all the remaining plants. And for two years, inspectors looked specifically for volunteer plants and killed them. This is much more effort than would usually be deployed on a normal farmer's field. Rapeseed - often known by its Canadian name canola - is the fourth most commonly grown GM crop in the world, after soya beans, maize and cotton.
Storing Wind/Other Renewable Energy in Compressed Air Bags Under the Sea: The man making 'wind bags' 08 mar
Antarctic shelf 'hangs by thread' A chunk of ice the size of the Isle of Man has started to break away from Antarctica in what scientists say is further evidence of a warming climate. (08 mar 25)
More practically, they are a vital part of the planet's system for collecting, storing and delivering the fresh water that billions of people depend on for washing, drinking, agriculture and power...as they retreat, glacial lakes will burst, debris and ice will fall in avalanches, rivers will flood and then dry up, and sea levels will rise even further, say the climate experts. Communities will be deprived of essential water, crops will be ruined and power stations which rely on river flows paralysed.Glaciers act like gigantic water towers: snow falls on the top in wet seasons, where it freezes and compacts over years, while melting water at the bottom is released gradually, keeping rivers flowing even in the hottest weather. 'Glaciers are like a bank,' says Professor Wilfried Haeberli, director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service. 'You have income - mainly snow - and you have expenditure - mainly melting: the difference between snowfall and melting is the yearly balance.'From 1850 to 1970, the team estimates net losses averaged about 30cm a year; between 1970 to 2000 they rose to 60-90cm a year; and since 2000 the average has been more than one metre a year. Last year the total net loss was the biggest ever, 1.3m, and only one glacier became larger.
More evidence of rapid glacier melt: UN (The Globe and Mail).UN Environment Program says glaciers are shrinking at record rates and many could disappear within decades. The UN agency says scientists measuring the health of almost 30 glaciers around the world found that ice loss reached record levels in 2006. The agency says millions of people depend on glaciers for drinking water, irrigation and power generation. (March 2008 story about the year 2006[sic]) Mr. Haeberli said glaciers lost an average of 0.3 metres of ice a year between 1980 and 1999. But since the turn of the millennium, the average loss has increased to about 0.5 metres..On average, the glaciers shrank by 1.5 metres in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available.. (also afp story) 08 mar
..."The measurements from last season seem to show an incredible acceleration, a rate of up to 7%. That is far greater than the accelerations they were getting excited about in the 1990s." The reason does not seem to be warming in the surrounding air. One possible culprit could be a deep ocean current that is channelled onto the continental shelf close to the mouth of the glacier. .. ...there may be other forces at work as well. Much higher up the course of the glacier there is evidence of a volcano that erupted through the ice about 2,000 years ago and the whole region could be volcanically active, releasing geothermal heat ... (08 feb) If the glacier does continue to surge and discharge most of it ice into the sea, say the researchers, the Pine Island Glacier alone could raise global sea level by 25cm. That might take decades or a century, but neighbouring glaciers are accelerating too and if the entire region were to lose its ice, the sea would rise by 1.5m worldwide.
Warming risks Antarctic sea life "In the last 50 years, sea surface temperatures around Antarctica have risen by 1 to 2C, which is more than twice the global average." (keywords: temperature rise in arctic and (in this case) antarctic) (08 feb)
[Certain types of and uses ofBiofuel farms make CO2 emissions worse (08 feb)The team also identified biofuels which did not contribute to global warming, including agricultural waste and grasses grown on land not suitable for crops. "Biofuels made on perennial crops grown on degraded land that is no longer useful for growing food crops may actually help us fight global warming," said Jason Hill of the University of Minnesota, who also took part in the study. "One example is ethanol made from diverse mixtures of native prairie plants."
Rain forests fall at 'alarming' rate
Climate 'could devastate crops' 08 feb
Global warming worsening U.S. water crisis (in the West) (Mongabay). and Scientists see looming water crisis in western U.S. (Reuters.com) -- 08 jan
Climate 'clearly out of balance': American Geophysical Union (AGU) (08 jan)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_sc/ye_climate_records 29 Dec 2007
Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts (December 2007)
'Doomsday'The world's sea levels could rise twice as high this century as UN climate scientists have previously predicted, according to a study. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change proposes a maximum sea level rise of 81cm (32in) this century. But in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers say the true maximum could be about twice that: 163cm (64in). (keywords: ipcc worst than p reviously expected) (Dec 2007) Last year, a separate study found sea level rise projections could be under-estimating the impact of human-induced climate change on the world's oceans. Stefan Rahmstorf, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, and colleagues plotted global mean surface temperatures against sea level rise, and found that levels could rise by 59% more than current forecasts.
New research discredits $100B global warming 'fix' Scientists have revealed an important discovery that raises doubts concerning the viability of plans to fertilize the ocean to solve global warming, a projected $100 billion venture. 07 nov
NOAA: Drought hinders CO2 uptake Study finds 2002 dry weather left extra carbon in atmosphere (07 nov)
The fires that ravaged Greece this summer killed 67 people and destroyed some 642,000 acres of forest and farmland, thousands of houses and barns, and countless people's hopes and livelihoods. tenth [10%] of Greece's forest cover is gone; large tracts of countryside are at risk of depopulation. (07 nov)
The panel's chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, highlighted the need to deal with impacts which are coming whether or not global emissions are curbed. Even if levels of CO2 in the atmosphere stayed where they are now, he said, research showed sea levels would rise by between 0.4 and 1.4 metres simply because sea water would continue warming up, which makes it expand. "This is a very important finding, likely to bring major changes to coastlines and inundating low-lying areas, with a great effect in river deltas and low-lying islands," he said. "If you add to this the melting of some of the ice bodies on Earth, this gives a picture of the kinds of issue we are likely to face ." During the course of its existence, it has become more certain that modern-day climate change is real and principally due to human activities; it has also become firmer about the scale of the impacts. "If you look at the overall picture of impacts, both those occurring now and those projected for the future, they appear to be both larger and appearing earlier than we thought [in our 2001 report]," Martin Parry, co-chair of the impacts working group, told BBC News. "Some of the changes that we previously projected for around 2020 or 2030 are occurring now, such as the Arctic melt and shifts in the locations of various species."

IPCC to warn of 'abrupt' warming Climate change may bring "abrupt and irreversible" impacts, the UN's climate advisory panel is set to announce. Among its top-line conclusions are that climate change is "unequivocal", that humankind's emissions of greenhouse gases are more than 90% likely to be the main cause, and that impacts can be reduced at reasonable cost.
IPCC PROJECTIONS Probable temperature rise between 1.8C (by 3.25F) and 4C (by 7.2 F) Possible temperature rise between 1.1C (by 2F) and 6.4C (by 11.5 F) Sea level most likely to rise by 28-43cm Arctic summer sea ice disappears in second half of century Increase in heatwaves very likely Increase in tropical storm intensity likely

2) New evidence suggests that to avoid dangerous climate change, it's not enough to limit the heating up of the Earth by "only" 2 degrees Celsius. Current proposals may allow the earth to heat up by not just 2 but even 3 degrees Celsius: "Proposals for a 60% cut on 1990 levels by 2050 implies a 3 degrees C target. The last time temperatures were 3 degrees C higher than our pre-industrial levels, the northern hemisphere was free of glaciers and ice sheets, beech trees grew in the Transantarctic mountains, sea levels were 25 metres higher" and of course many politicians don't want to even have a 60% cut by 2050. http://peakoil.com/article33203.html Compare with: ################################################## 3) At the same time, even if we wanted to allow the dangers of a full 2 degrees Celsius, "Only the total elimination of industrial emissions [a 100% cut so we are fully non-fossil fuels energy wise) will succeed in limiting climate change to a 20C rise in temperatures, according to computer analysis of climate change. Anything above this target has been identified as "dangerous" by some scientists, and the limit has been adopted by many policymakers." The researchers say their study highlights the shortcomings of governmental plans to limit climate change. http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn12775-zero-emissions-needed-to-avert-dangerous-warming.html

Marine species are under threat from rising levels of acidity in the oceans, says the UK's Royal Society. Unless carbon dioxide emissions are cut, there could be irreversible damage to ecosystems, it warns. (keywords: acidification) Dr Carol Turley of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory said that ocean acidification is a "sister" problem to that of climate change... .."Essentially, the oceans have been reducing the impact of climate change but at their own expense."
Acid Oceans From Carbon Dioxide Will Endanger One Third Of Marine Life, Scientists Predict The world's oceans are becoming more acid, with potentially devastating consequences for corals and the marine organisms that build reefs and provide much of the Earth's breathable oxygen.The acidity is caused by the gradual buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, dissolving into the oceans. Scientists fear it could be lethal for animals with chalky skeletons which make up more than a third of the planet's marine life" (oct 2007) (keywords: acidification)

New insect species arrives in UK The Barkfly has been found at five National Trust sites along the Cornish coast. Experts believe that this wave of colonisation is strongly linked to the changing nature of Britain's climate, as the milder and humid weather means that the Barkfly is more likely to survive. (07 nov)
Corinne Lequere, a climate researcher at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, says that stronger winds in the southern ocean, caused by global warming and the loss of the ozone layer, has resulted in more dissolved carbon dioxide in the deep sea being brought to the surface, and consequently less carbon dioxide being absorbed from the This is incredibly important. It is bad news because we can't do much about these natural carbon sinks, but the good news is that we can increase the efficiency of fossil fuel use. I would say this is a wake-up call. Things are happening much faster than we expected" says Lequere,.
Biofuels 'crime against humanity' It was, he said, a crime against humanity to divert arable land to the production of crops which are then burned for fuel.He called for a five-year ban on the practice. Within that time, according to Mr Ziegler, technological advances would enable the use of agricultural waste, such as corn cobs and banana leaves, rather than crops themselves to produce fuel...Mr Ziegler is not alone in warning of the problem. The IMF last week voiced concern that the increasing global reliance on grain as a source of fuel could have serious implications for the world's poor (07 oct)
The reduction in the sea ice extent has been much faster than global climate models predict. According to Douglas Bancroft, Director of the Canadian Ice Service, the record reduction in 2007 stunned the international operational ice charting community: "The overall extent was similar to what some of the models envisioned but decades in advance of when they expected that would occur. In fact, the summer of 2007 looked very similar to some climate model forecasts for 2030 to 2050." Less Arctic ice means higher risks, experts warn (07 oct)
Third of primates 'under threat' Almost a third of the world's primates are in danger of extinction because of destruction of their habitats, a report by conservation groups has warned.M 07 oct
Natural decline 'hurting lives' (07 oct)
TALE OF DECLINE * There is "visible and unequivocal" evidence of the impacts of climate change * Many farming systems have reached their limits of production * Warmer temperatures and ocean acidification threaten food supplies * 1.8 billion people face water shortages by 2025 * Three-quarters of marine fisheries exploited to or beyond their limits * Exposure to pollutants causes 20% of disease in developing nations * Pollution being "exported" to developing world * About 60% of "ecosystem services" are degraded

'Unexpected growth' in CO2 found Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere have risen 35% faster than expected since 2000, says a study. ...The other 18% came from a DECLINE IN THE NATURAL ABILITY of land AND OCEANS to soak up CO2 from the atmosphere. (07 oct)
The planet's ability to absorb the impact of humans is at its limits. article by: Ian Dunlop was formerly an international oil, gas and coal industry executive. He is deputy convener of the Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil. (07 oct)
The amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by the world's oceans has reduced, scientists have said. Results of their 10-year study in the North Atlantic show CO2 uptake halved between the mid-90s and 2000 to 2005. Researchers said the findings, published in a paper for the Journal of Geophysical Research, were surprising and worrying because there were grounds for believing that, in time, the ocean might become saturated with our emissions. (07 oct)
'Warm wind' hits Arctic climate The Arctic is being hit by melting ice, hotter air and dying wildlife, according to a US government report on the impact of global warming there. A new wind circulation pattern is blowing more warm air towards the North Pole than in the 20th Century (07 oct) "This is an unusual feature and it looks like the beginning of a signal from global warming," the NOAA's James Overland told reporters.
The story of its demise typifies ocean fisheries "management" [AND TYPIFIES JUST ABOUT ALL OTHER INTERNATIONAL ECOLOGICAL ATTEMPTS CORREUPTED BY THE MARKET-PROFIT-BASED NATURE OF THE ECONOMIC MODELS WE CHOSE TO HAVE] . Measures that independent scientists recommend are watered down by politicians keener on keeping a share of the diminishing stock than allowing the stock to rebuild; scarcity brings a high market price, keeping fishing profitable. [THUS THE WORSE IT GETS, MORE SCARSE, THE MORE OUR MODEL (FOR WHICH THINGS OF TRUE VALUE ARE 'EXTERNALITIES' AND ONLY MARKETABLE THINGS HAVE 'VALUE') ENCOURAGES EVEN MORE EXPLOITATION 07 0ct
Zero emissions needed to avert 'dangerous' warming A warming of 20C above pre-industrial temperatures is frequently cited as the limit beyond which the world will face "dangerous" climate change. Beyond this level, analysis suggests the continents will cease to absorb more carbon dioxide than they produce. As the tundra and other regions of permafrost thaw, they will spew more gas into the atmosphere, adding to the warming effect of human emissions [creating runaway pozitive feedback loops].....In January 2007, the European Commission issued a communication stating that "the European Union's objective is to limit global average temperature increase to less than 20C compared to pre-industrial levels".....The European Union nations have agreed to limit their emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, and support dropping global emissions to 50% below 1990 levels by 2050. "There is a disconnect between the European Union arguing for a 20C threshold and calling for 50% cuts at 2050 - you can't have it both ways," says Weaver, who adds: "If you're going to talk about 20C you have got to be talking 90% emissions cuts." found Weaver's team.Tim Lenton, a climatologist at the University of East Anglia in the UK, agrees that even the most ambitious climate change policies so far proposed by governments may not go far enough. "It is overly simplistic assume we can take emissions down to 50% at 2050 and just hold them there. We already know that that's not going to work," he says."People are easily misled into thinking that 50% by 2050 is all we have to do when in fact have to continue reducing emissions afterwards, all the way down to zero," Lenton says. 07 oct
Greenhouse gas emissions hit danger mark: scientist Flannery said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report will show that greenhouse gas in the atmosphere in mid-2005 had reached about 455 parts per million of carbon dioxide equivalent -- a level [which was] not expected for another 10 years (07 oct)
Record 22C temperatures in Arctic heatwave , with one research station in the Canadian High Arctic recording temperatures above 20C, about 15C higher than the long-term average. Other parts of the Arctic also experienced ..."particularly to the north of Siberia where the temperatures have reached between 4C and 5C above average,.." (07 sep)
Multiple Studies Reveal Dire Meltdown in Arctic in recent years, rising air and ocean temperatures, fueled by global warming, have caused more and more ice to melt each summer, with ice extent reaching a record low on Sept. 16 this year,..Winter sea ice, on the other hand, had remained fairly steady-- until now.A new A new study examining satellite measurements of the winter sea ice covering the Barents Sea (located north of Scandinavia) over the past 26 years has shown that the ice edge has recently been retreating in the face of rising sea surface temperatures, waters in the Barents Sea .which have risen about 3 degrees Celsius since 1980 are to blame...IN ANOTHER STUDY...Stroeve and her colleagues found that while most of the Arctic sea ice in the 1980s was around 5 years old (with some sections even climbing up to 9 or 10 years old), the oldest ice the researchers can find now is only 2 or 3 years old. All the 10-year-old ice has melted away..."We're about 30 years ahead of where the climate models say we should be," Stroeve told LiveScience.
Rich nations 'ignore' power shift ..former World Bank boss..predicted that China will grab the crown from the US as the world's richest country by 2040, with India close behind. Yet, these countries were still treated with a "colonial" attitude, he said. notice the implicit idea that countries would NOT deserve respect (ie treated other than "colonially") if they WERENT on a path to being richer.. 07sep
"A lot of temperate and polar wetlands are going to be wetter, and of course warmer as well. "That implies a switch to more anaerobic conditions which are more likely to release methane. That's what's predicted, and that would be a positive feedback--and we have evidence now that this is what happened."
Gorillas head race to extinction Governments have pledged to stem the loss of species by 2010; but it does not appear to be happening. (07 sep) "The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing,.." with false "climate change 'VERSUS' biodiversity" illogic, where policies that hurt the fight against climate change -- i.e. meaningless or -- bad-policy actions 'against cliamte change' are used as exmaples of how (anti) climate change efforts are in competition against the struggle for biodiversity...(keywords: bbc bias mainstream)
Melting ice cap triggering earthquakes..The glacier at Ilulissat, which supposedly spawned the iceberg that sank the Titantic, is now flowing three times faster into the sea than it was 10 years ago. Robert Corell, chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment,..Dr Corell, director of the global change programme at the Heinz Centre in Washington, said the estimates of sea level rise in the IPCC report were based on data two years old. The predicted rise this century was 20-60cm (about 8-24ins) , but it would be at the upper end of this range at a minimum, he said, and some believed it could be two metres. This would be catastrophic for European coastlines.
US predicts polar bear meltdown Two-thirds of the world's polar bears will be gone by the middle of the century, says a US government agency. The US Geological Survey (USGS) says...(07 sep)
Greenland ice melt shocks scientists "Offshore, the sea level is rising faster than ever in modern times, approaching speeds scientists did not expect until later this century. Greenland is a question mark that, if its ice continues the rush seaward, could push the seas even higher, even faster." "Scientists know that seas rose as fast as a foot a decade -- some 10 -- times faster than today -- when the climate warmed in the past at the rate it is now. Greenland probably contributed much of that." (07 sep)
EU target of ensuring 10% of petrol and diesel comes from renewable sources by 2020 is not an effective way to curb carbon emissions..team of scientists: reforestation and habitat protection was a better option. 07 aug (RE-READ************************)
Forests fires that have ravaged southern Europe during the past month were some of the worst on record. Experts described the fires on Tenerife and Gran Canaria as an environmental catastrophe. Some 20% of forests have been destroyed, and recovery is expected to take years.July 2007 was one of the worst-ever months on record, according to figures from the European Forest Fire Information System, which date back some 20 years...Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Italy have all been affected, as well as countries like the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Turkey. More than 3,000 sq km (1,200 sq miles) of forest had already burned this year, almost as much as in the whole of 2006, (07 aug)..The BBC's Dominic Hughes in Brussels says as climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather patterns, closer..cooperation..becomes more pressing.
China lightning kills record 141 (in 1 month) China's top meteorological official blamed global warming for the extreme seasonal weather. "Extreme weather has incurred frequent natural disasters such as rainstorms, floods and droughts across the country this year," (07 aug)
Asia's brown clouds 'warm planet'Clouds of pollution over the Indian Ocean appear to cause as much warming [in that region] as greenhouse gases released by human activity, a study has suggested.
"Low levels of exposure to air pollution can still increase the risk of dying early, a study says. ..Although air pollution had fallen over the decades, the risk of an early death remained..Experts suggested that pollution may be becoming more toxic. They found the levels of black smoke - unburned carbon from traffic and industrial processes - were five times lower for the most recent time period compared to the first one. Sulphur dioxide was four times lower, the study found. But the researchers said the risk of death remained fairly constant..the risk of early death from respiratory disease actually increased from below 10% in the first time period to 19% for black smoke, and from just above 10% to over 20% for sulphur dioxide. The figures held true even after adjusting for factors known to increase the chances of an early death, such as social deprivation. .."There is evidence to suggest the nature of the pollution has changed so that despite levels declining it is more harmful. "It may also be related to our reaction to the pollution, perhaps over the last 40 years we have become more susceptible. (07 jul)
Atlantic Tropical Storms Have Doubled -- increases coincided with rising sea -- surface temperature, largely the byproduct of human-induced climate warming, Published by Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.-- But: "sloppy science" sayw Natl center But Kerry Emanuel, a hurricane expert at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the study was significant. "It refutes recent suggestions that the upward trend in Atlantic hurricane activity is an artifact of changing measurement systems," (Washington Post 07 jul) (see also bbc article)
Human-induced climate change has affected global rainfall patterns over the 20th Century, a study (in the scientific journal Nature) suggests. 07 jul
Thousands of chemicals should be re-assessed for possible toxicity to human and environmental health, according to a new study. Scientists found that conventional tests underestimate how some substances accumulate along the food chain. These include some pesticides, and possibly some pharmaceuticals. 07 jul
Emissions don't make Europe happy. Europe's carbon emissions have risen markedly over the last 40 years, but the extra fuel use has brought little increase in happiness, a report says. 07 jul
"All we've done is export a great slice of the West's carbon footprint to China, and today we see the result. <"Let us not forget that the average Chinese emits just 3.5 tonnes of CO2 per year, whereas Britons emit nearly 10 tonnes and Americans 20 tonnes.
Black Sea: Exampleof Overfishing effects on entire ecysystems 07 jun
Carbon trade scheme 'is failing' An investigation by BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme has found that after two and half years the scheme has yet to cut in carbon dioxide emissions. The consumer body Energywatch said customers are getting a raw deal. The EU's Emission Trading Scheme (begun in '05)..is essentially a permit to pollute.Power generators received their allowances free of charge but were allowed to reflect the value of those in increased prices to customers, as if the companies had actually had to buy the allowances. Energywatch believes this increased electricity bills by about 7% in 2005. that delivered winfall profits of 1.3B British pounds..even more than env campaigners had estimated. 07
Arctic ice cap melting 30 years ahead of forecast This means the ocean at the top of the world could be free or nearly free of summer ice by 2020, three decades sooner than the global panel's gloomiest forecast of 2050. No ice on the Arctic Ocean during summer would be a major spur to global warming .."Right now ... the Arctic helps keep the Earth cool," Scambos said in a telephone interview. "Without that Arctic ice, or with much less of it, the Earth will warm much faster." (07 may)
Polar ocean 'soaking up less CO2' 07 may
Australia to turn off water to farmers as drought bites 07 apr
World needs to axe greenhouse gases by 80 percent (backup)
Extreme Climate and Weather: Temps to Shoot up by 12 degrees F in Australia says IPCC 2nd report of 2007 07 mar
Antarctic melting may be speeding up, scientists say 07 mar
Australia's "Gulf Stream" -- Reuters Southern Ocean current faces slowdown threat [THE CURRENTLY HAPPENING] Melting ice-sheets and glaciers in Antarctica are releasing fresh water, [AND IS CURRENTLY] interfering with the formation of dense "bottom water," which sinks 4-5 kilometers to the ocean floor and helps drive the world's ocean circulation system. (07 mar)
Some of the world's major rivers are reaching crisis point because of dams, shipping, pollution and climate change, according to the environment group WWF 07 mar The world is facing a massive freshwater crisis, which has the potential to be every bit as devastating as climate change," said Dr David Tickner, head of the freshwater programme at WWF-UK.
Winter in the northern hemisphere this year has been the warmest since records began more than 125 years ago, says NOAA "Contributing factors were the long-term trend toward warmer temperatures as well as a moderate El Nino in the Pacific," but despite this "long term trend" it is "not" global warming they try to suggest!?!? what's the "trend" about then? LATER THEY ADMIT "..We know as a part of [recent IPCC report], the conclusions have been reached and the warming trend is due in part to rises in greenhouse gas emissions," he said. 07 mar
Climate report warns of drought, disease WASHINGTON - The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people won't have enough water, top scientists will say next month at a meeting in Belgium. At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year as the Earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press."This is the story. This is the whole play. This is how it's going to affect people. The science is one thing. This is how it affects me, you and the person next door," said University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver
Remotely Operated Vehicle observations revealed streams of methane-rich gas bubbles coming from the crests of pingo-like-features (PLFs) -- due to warm water influx (jan 07)
Amazon rainforest 'could become a desert'--and make Global Warming much worse (july 2006)
A new study [published in Science] the eve of [IPCC's next major] publication suggests its previous reports may have been too conservative. "There is no doubt that for this period, the climate has been changing faster than the IPCC predicted" -Stefan Rahmstorf. "Research by an international group of scientists concludes that temperatures and sea levels have been rising at or above the maximum rates proposed during the last IPCC report in 2001." -BBC 2/1/07 (Feb 07)
We're Ruining the Earth, Scientists Warn One of the unanimous agreements in this is that the efficiency with which the earth can take up carbon dioxide is likely to decrease in coming decades. "That's something we didn't want to hear, because it means the carbon dioxide we release will stay with us. We are more sensitive to what we do than we thought we were in the past." (KEYWORD yet another "worse than we thought")
Sex-change chemicals in Potomac ...wastewater effluent..both treated and untreated..agricultural and pest control activities and industrial wastewater all contributed to the problem. 07 jan
Global Warming and Warm Weather: Connected? It was expected to reach into the 70s today in New York City. Cherry blossoms were blooming in Washington, D.C. Is there a connection between the January heat wave that is sweeping the East Coast and man-made global warming? ...While there were freak weather events like this in the past, even before the Industrial Age started pumping out more greenhouse gases, they were rare. But in recent decades they have increased...Already, the 10 hottest years [since records began] have been in the past 11 years. 07 jan, ABC news.
Ancient global warming was jarring, not subtle, study finds A team led by researchers at UC Davis said Thursday that early global warming caused unexpectedly severe and erratic temperature swings as rising levels of greenhouse gases helped transform Earth. 07 jan
Double ticking time bomb: Methane, Droughts, and their newly discovered relationship (Climate disruption)
Climate 2006: Our worst fears are exceeded by reality The once-frozen peat bogs of Siberia - bigger than France and Germany combined - began to "boil" furiously in the summer of 2006 as methane bubbled to the surface. Exactly how much is being released into the atmosphere is unknown, although some estimates put it as high as 100,000 tons a day - which means a warming effect greater than America's man-made emissions of carbon dioxide. and more -- ARTICLE SUMMARIZES (RE MANY FINDINGS) 06 dec. [[[AN ARTICLE SUMMARIZING THE PRECEDING]]]
Dire warnings from China's first climate change report Compared with 2000, the annual average temperature in China will rise by as much as 3.3 degrees Celsius by [which is to say, by a whopping 6 degrees F by] 2050, the China News Service reported, citing the assessment. By 2100, average temperatures could soar by as much as six degrees Celsius [that's about 11 degrees F] , according to the news service. In just over a decade, global warming will start to be felt in the world's most populous country, as average temperatures will increase by between 1.3 and 2.1 degrees Celsius by 2020 [that's by 2 to 4 degrees F in the next 13-14 years] 06 dec
The need for new defences is underlined by a study that concludes that levels may rise more quickly in the coming decades than previously thought - by as much as an additional metre (39in) over the next century..[the study analyzee] the impact of rising levels on the Thames Estuary, where 1.25 million people currently live, 1.5 million commute and there are assets worth up to #100billion. [this from UK's conservative Telegraph paper] 06 dec
BBC and hindu.com re "Planting trees to save planet 'pointless' [if not very near the Equator] say ecoogists" [trees otherwise have a net WARMING effect. But note to self: it *might* be a break-even to warm but a little and cut CO2 since CO2 causees toher damage..so I'd *slightly* tone down the message..but otherwise, importnat study) 06 dec
sian's GHG Emissions Could Triple in next 25 years Of course even then they would use far less per capita than the US, but that's small comfort: the world can't afford it. So if we want Asia to cut emissions at a much lower per-capita rate than the US then it takes two to tango, including technology transfer and aid, as well as sharp cuts at our end, to make this work. Or we could just b*tch and complain and get back in our SUVs and have our children and grandkids react the way one can expect them to react for litrally as well as figuratively trashing the only liveable planet we have 06 dec
Curren Sea Level rise projections may be under-estimating by over 50% 06 dec
"The Central England Temperature Record (CET) is the oldest continuous dataset for temperature anywhere in the world. Its principal finding this year is that the average temperature [in England] for 2006 was almost certainly the highest ever seen in 347 years" (06 dec) and other records for England and, "Globally, 2006 was the sixth hottest year on record, cooled by La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean. The top 10 warmest years recorded globally have all occurred during the last 12 years"
Marine Plants Die in Warmer Oceans, Speeding Climate Change
Climate Change Skeptics Lose Vital ArgumentIn particular, "they cite the 'Little Ice Age' and 'Medieval Warming Period' as pieces of evidence not reflected in the hockey stick." Mann asserts that both of these events were "examples of [extreme] regional, not global, phenomena" and would thus not be expected to show up in such data. Now, new evidence has been revealed that supports Mann's assertion and essentially eliminates one of the skeptics primary rationales for dismissing the idea of human-induced climate change. 906 dec)
"We need to be much more ambitious in reducing global temperatures to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels. "At the moment the language is all about 60% cuts. We are working on the basis that it should be 80%," said Mr Hurd.
Global warming said killing some species Parmesan and others have been predicting such changes for years, but even she was surprised to find evidence that it's already happening; she figured it would be another decade away. Just five years ago biologists, though not complacent, figured the harmful biological effects of global warming were much farther down the road, said Douglas Futuyma, professor of ecology and evolution at the State University of New York in Stony Brook. "I feel as though we are staring crisis in the face," Futuyma said. "It's not just down the road somewhere. It is just hurtling toward us. Anyone who is 10 years old right now is going to be facing a very different and frightening world by the time that they are 50 or 60." (06 nov)
Siberian heatwave brings chilling warning SIBERIA is basking in its warmest November for 70 years, putting its permafrost, wildlife and even the human population at risk "A 984,000-square-kilometre expanse of permafrost has started to melt, releasing into the atmosphere large quantities of methane and carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gases that cause global warming. (06 nov)
Human Madness: NASA looks at plan to blot out Sun This should be in The Onion but unfortunately it's serious. The phrase "Sorcerer's Apprentice" comes to mind.. (06 nov) [a simliar idea, and similarly insane " Scientists: Pollution could combat global warming" though "It [proposal he co-wrote] was meant to startle the policymakers," said Paul J. Crutzen, of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. "If they don't take action much more strongly than they have in the past, then in the end we have to do experiments like this."
Signs of warming continue in the Arctic with a decline in sea ice, an increase in shrubs growing on the tundra and rising concerns about the Greenland ice sheet 06 nov
The growth in global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels over the past five years was four times greater than for the preceding 10 years, according to a study that exposes critical flaws in the attempts to avert damaging climate change.
Data on carbon dioxide emissions shows that the global growth rate was 3.2 per cent in the five years to 2005 compared with 0.8 per cent from 1990 to 1999, despite efforts to reduce carbon pollution through the Kyoto agreement. (06 nov) Dr Peter Falloon, a climate impact scientist at the Met Office's Hadley Centre, said the latest findings did not augur well for attempts at averting climate change. "It's not what we want or hope to see. The concern comes from the fact that the greater the emissions are now, the harder it will be to bring them down in the future," he said. "It takes 30 or 40 years to realise the change in carbon dioxide emissions. It highlights how important it is to take quick and effective action now."
The research concludes, based on a reasonable set of assumptions, that to have a "very low to low risk" (9%-32% chance of exceeding a 2degreeC increase ), global emissions of CO2 would need to peak by 2010-2013, achieve a maximum annual rate of decline of 4%-5% by 2015-2020, and fall to about 70%-80% below 1990 levels by 2050. This would need to be matched by similarly stringent reductions in the other greenhouse gases.
These calculations are based on scenarios in which atmospheric concentrations of CO2, which stand at 380 parts per million (ppm) today, peak at between 410-421 ppm by around 2050, before falling to between 355-366 ppm by 2100. These conclusions go further than the Stern Review's report, which proposes a long-term goal of stabilising greenhouse gases at 450-550 ppm...scenarios in which CO2 stabilised at 450 ppm had a 46%-86% chance of exceeding 2C 500 ppm had a 70%-95% chance; and 550 ppm had a 78%-99% chance. Even more troublingly, these scenarios had an 11%-24%, 18%-47% and 28%-71% chance respectively of exceeding a 3C rise (06 nov)
RELATED: http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2006/09/21/how-much-reality-can-you-take/ [PDF reprot by FoE cites Meinshausen, M. (2006). "What does a 2C target mean for greenhouse gas concentrations? a brief analysis based on multi-gas emission pathways and several climate sensitivity uncertainty estimates." Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change Chapter 28.]
Yesterday's report from the Institute of Public Policy Research suggests Lord Stern's analysis was too conservative and governments need to move further and faster. To minimise the risk of a 2C rise -- seen as the threshold for dangerous climate change -- the authors say -- global carbon dioxide emissions would need to peak between 2010 and 2013. By 2015 to 2020 the world would need to be cutting carbon emissions by 4%-5% annually [in other words to cut by as much every year as the Kyoto Protocol has countries do by 2012 realtvei 1990 emissions..-ED] and by mid century CO2 levels should be 70%-80% below what they were in 1990 (06 nov)
font size=4>"In other words, if the planet warms by 2 degrees, 3 or 4 degrees becomes almost inevitable." Two degrees is the point at which some of the most dangerous processes catalysed by climate change could become irreversible. This includes the melting of the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, which between them could raise global sea levels by seven metres(1). It includes the drying out of many parts of Africa, and the inundation by salt water of the aquifers used by cities such as Shanghai, Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, Kolkata, Mumbai, Karachi, Lagos, Buenos Aires and Lima(2). It also means runaway positive feedback, as the Arctic tundras begin to release the methane they contain(3), and the Amazon rainforest dies off, turning trees back into carbon dioxide...(Monbiot.com)
Climate change threatens agricultural crisis: UN ..mmediate steps are needed to avert a potential catastrophe as climate change dries up water resources in drought affected areas, hitting poor farmers, a United Nations report said.."Even with drastic reductions in carbon emissions, past emissions mean that the world now has to live with dangerous climate change."..."We estimate that in the next 25 years the number of people living in water-stressed countries will up from around 800 million to 3 billion people,".. (06 nov)
Water Flow in China's Yellow River Hits Record Low Water levels in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, China's second longest, have hit a historic low, Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday, after a senior official warned that China might run out of water by 2030. The river, which supplies water to over 150 million people and irrigates 15 percent of the country's farmland, is also at serious risk from over-exploitation...Nearly two-thirds of the river's water is used for residential and industrial supplies, while international guidelines suggest a 40 percent limit... (06 nov)
Australia's dry horrors 'worst for 1000 years' Australia is facing its worst drought in 1000 years. The prediction, made at an emergency summit on Australia's mounting water crisis, is 10 times worse than earlier forecasts and prompted urgent action to secure drinking water supplies for Adelaide and rural towns. South Australian Premier Mike Rann said the prediction was worrying. "We are into uncharted territory," Mr Rann said. 06 oct
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has called an emergency drought summit as climate change and rising interest rates threaten a 10-year economic boom -- and his grip on power. Shaping up as the worst drought since white settlement more than 200 years ago, the "big dry" is likely to cut agricultural output by 20 percent and GDP by around 0.7 percent, government officials say. With an electorate increasingly ready to blame the drought on global warming, Howard has abandoned his previously sceptical response to the idea that pollution is driving climate change and has announced a series of "clean energy" initiatives. (06 nov)
"[By] 2003, 29% of open sea fisheries were in a state of collapse, defined as a decline to less than 10% of their original yield..." There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study. graph of decline (06 nov)
Last week alone there was confirmation that the destruction of the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002 was caused by Antarctic global warming; that the Gulf Stream was actually turned off briefly in 2004; and that a six-year drought in south Australia has been caused by climate change.Capitalist development is all about discontinuities: "creative destruction," as the great economist Joseph Schumpeter called it. But this might be a destruction too far; we cannot afford to wait until the market makes its own climate change correction. ..It is as if, right at the moment when the world needs a leap of human technological ingenuity, we have lost the capacity for adaptation that made our species so successful. We have become fatalists, passive objects instead of agents of renewal. The market is seen as an inviolable force of nature. Politicians are hypnotised, irrationally convinced of its infallibility in the face of all evidence.We keep waiting for the free market to somehow make it all right. (06 oct)
(Keyword: Gulf stream) Ocean array acts as climate alertMeasurements from a network of monitors stretching across the Atlantic Ocean could offer an early warning of "sudden climate change", scientists have said.....The array of 19 "moorings" is positioned at points 26.5 degrees north in the Atlantic Ocean, providing an insight to the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) that acts as the Earth's "heat pump"....
..Current calculations suggest that if and when the level reaches 450ppm there will be a 50% chance of the earth's temperature exceeding a rise of 2 degrees C --in other words an even chance of potentially catastrophic climate change To be on the safe side (the so-called precautionary principle, which so many politicians claim they endorse) some scientists believe that the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere must be pegged back to 400ppm--a mere 18ppm above the current level [whcih is 382ppm..and rising at about 2ppm per year]. So, on their current calculations, since man began the industrial revolution, and unwittingly an experiment with the climate, the human race has already got more than 80% [since 280ppm in pre-industrial times] of the way to causing a potential disaster. ..Recent evidence demands, according to a consensus of the world's best climate scientists, that we need to cut existing emissions by between 60% and 80% in the next 40 years to stand a chance of preventing climate change becoming unstoppable, and keeping control of our own destiny [versus Kyoto's..5.4% ....Best estimates are that there is a 25- to 30-year time lag between greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere and their full heat-trapping potential taking effect. That wipes out any feeling of comfort. It means that most of the increase of 0.8 C seen so far is not caused by current levels of carbon dioxide but by those already in the atmosphere up to the end of the 1970s. .. 06 oct and alongside it this article pegs 'current' at not 382 but 381 (seasonally it fluctuates anyway, soit's give or take 0.5ppm or so in any case) Leading climatologists, such as James Hansen, head of NASA's climate agency, say that global emissions must be capped by 2016 if there is to be any hope for societies around the world to continue functioning with minimum disturbance. And after 2016, he says, global emissions need to be driven down 60 to 80 per cent, not the 45 to 65 per cent that the federal government is planning. The objective is to try to hold global temperature increases to around 1C. But it's necessary to remember that there already is a 0.6C increase in the pipeline because the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, plus the increases in emissions that are unavoidable, have established a momentum for warming that can't be avoided. A 1C increase in temperatures translates into an atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO{-2}) of about 450 parts per million (ppm). Currently, the concentration is 381 ppm and it is rising at a rate slightly above 2 ppm a year. So, by 2020, the concentration will have passed the 400 ppm mark.........To give a hint of what's in store, Munich Re, the large global reinsurance company, estimates it could cost insurance companies up to $346 billion a year by 2010 to pay for damage caused by warming global and that's long before things start getting bad.
"We are seeing extinctions at about 1,000 times the natural rate. What's behind them isn't always clear - it can be climate, overgrazing, overpopulation - but the fact is they are happening, and the reasons are likely to be anthropogenic." The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew has issued a "position paper" saying that man-made global warming is changing the outlook for plants and trees worldwide (06 sep?)
Tebaldi pointed to the Western U.S., Mediterranean nations and Brazil as "hot spots" that will get extremes at their worst, according to the computer models. And some places, such as the Pacific Northwest, are predicted to get a strange double whammy of longer dry spells punctuated by heavier rainfall. Extreme events are the kinds of things that have the biggest impacts, not only on humans, but on mammals and ecosystems," Meehl said. The study, to be published in the December issue of the peer-reviewed journal Climatic Change, "gives us stronger and more compelling evidence that these changes in extremes are more likely." Tebaldi's assessment jibes with the National Climatic Data Center's tracking of extreme events in the United States, said David Easterling, chief of the center's scientific services. Easterling's group has created a massive climate extreme index that measures the weather in America. Last year, the United States experienced the second most extreme year in 95 years; the worst year was in 1998.
'Nutrient pollution' harming UK "Levels of nitrogen and phosphorus [in nature] have doubled and trebled respectively since the industrial revolution, the report said. And [artificial chemical] fertiliser now accounts for about 60% of the nitrogen and about 80% of phosphorus used in the UK."......A separate report from watchdog the Environment Agency has highlighted the threat pollution and growing demand is putting on groundwater supplies in England and Wales. Nitrogen, pesticides, solvents and other chemicals were seeping through soils and from water running off roads and other surfaces, it said. (06 oct)
"The temperatures have been going up for the past 20 to 30 years, and we think that is almost certainly because of man-made influences -- global warming. And with that, the measure of hurricane activity has been going up," MIT Researcher Professor Kerry Emanuel said. That's right, almost 20 years of research showing a direct link between global warming and hurricane activity. "This measure actually responds both to the frequency of storms and their intensity, Also their lifetime, how long do they last," Emanuel said. (06 oct)
One of the world's most prominent business leaders has expressed his fears over the "daunting" challenge of preventing dangerous climate change. Rick Samans, head of the Davos-based World Economic Forum, said the global effort to tackle the problem was beginning 10-15 years late. but technology [and carbon capture] will supposedly save us they assert yet again.... 06 oct
Ozone Hole Over Antarctica Reaches New Record 06 oct
Methane levels to rise again after slowdown. Scientists have uncovered evidence that levels of the greenhouse gas methane will rise sharply in the next few years, warming the planet faster than previously expected. The new data from an international team of scientists has revealed that while methane levels began to level off in the 1990s, emissions from human activity started to climb again before the end of the last century. (06 sept)
IARC scientists document warm water surging into Arctic Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks International Arctic Research Center this fall documented that recent surges of warm water from the North Atlantic Ocean continue to pulse into the Arctic Ocean and are moving toward Alaska and the Canadian Basin. That finding indicates that the warm water is moving further and further into the Arctic, he said, which could increase the overall temperature of the Arctic Ocean. While the causes of the influx of warm water will require further study, the observations from the NABOS project suggest that the Arctic Ocean is moving toward a warmer state, a change that could have global implications. "The large area of the Arctic Ocean promises to become much warmer
Earth May Be at Warmest Point in 1 Million Years What is significant, the scientists wrote, is that 2005 was in the same temperature range as 1998, and probably was the warmest year ever, with no sign of the warm surface water in the eastern equatorial Pacific typical of an El Nino. Weak El Nino conditions were present this month in the tropical Pacific, and could strengthen to a moderate event by winter, according to the US NOAA..in the US, private forecaster WSI Corp. predicted warmer-than-normal weather over the Northeast and Midwest for the rest of this year, spelling sluggish energy demand for the start of the heating season. The warm outlook, after the mildest winter on record last year, is due to uncertainty over the El Nino -- a warming of Pacific waters around the equator that can drive weather patterns around the globe, WSI Corp. said. (06 sep)
Most of the glaciers stretching from Yakutat Bay to the Stikine Icefield, which goes into northwestern British Columbia, are thinning at twice the rate that was previously estimated, according to a new study co-authored by Hood's mentor, glaciologist Roman Motyka of the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute. The scientists calculated that an average of 3.5 cubic miles of glacier ice melts each year in the region due to a combination of climate change and glacier dynamics. They say even that may be an understatement of the actual rate of melting. ....... ..95 percent of Southeast Alaska's glaciers are thinning. Some glacier surface elevations had dropped as much as 2,100 feet since 1948, such as the Muir Glacier in the popular Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. ... In Juneau, the winters have been getting warmer and rainier -- 6.8 -- -- degrees warmer compared to 50 years ago,
<"Extremely unusual": Melted Ice Region in Arctic doing strange things (Climate)/b> Director of British Antarctic Survey, Professor Chris Rapley, described how satellite and field data reveal that changes are taking place in the Polar Regions faster than scientists had predicted even five years ago.
Sea levels are rising faster than predicted, warns Antarctic Survey The global sea level rise caused by climate change, severely threatening many of the world's coastal and low-lying areas from Bangladesh to East Anglia, is proceeding faster than UN scientists predicted only five years ago, Professor Chris Rapley, director of the British Antarctic Survey, said yesterday. (peakoil links to independent of london story) The present prediction (IPCC's 2001 report) is of global sea levels rising by 9cm to 88cm by 2100, with a best guess of about 50cm over the century. This would present a substantial threat of flooding, storm surge and even complete submersion of many of the world's populous low-lying areas, such as Bangladesh, the Nile Delta and even London. But the new evidence, from a series of scientific papers published this year, indicates that this rate would be exceeded, said Professor Rapley, who runs the world's leading institute on Antarctic science - although he could not say what any new rate would be. (06 sep) "We have learned in the last 18 months that the ice sheets are capable in selected areas of much more rapid changes and dynamic discharges than we previously thought,"
AFP Scientists shocked as Arctic polar route emerges European scientists voiced shock as they showed pictures which showed Arctic ice cover had disappeared so much last month that a ship could sail unhindered from Europe's most northerly outpost to the North Pole itself. Perennial sea ice -- thick ice that is normally present year-round and is not affected by the -- Arctic summer -- had disappeared over an area bigger than the British Isles, ESA said. This situation is unlike anything observed in previous record low-ice seasons," said Mark Drinkwater of ESA's Oceans/Ice Unit. The shrinkage of the Arctic icecap is viewed with alarm by scientists, as it appears to perturb important ocean currents elsewhere, notably the Gulf Stream, which gives western Europe its balmy climate. (AFP, 06 sep)
The heat is on to stop global warming: 95% cuts in emissions for US, ~90% for UK 06 sep
England's warming 'not natural' Temperatures in central England are about 1C higher than in the 1950s, and humanity's greenhouse gas emissions are the reason, a new study indicates. Researchers at the Meteorological Office analysed temperature records going back almost 350 years. 06 sept....used a recent computer model of climate to work out the chance that this rise was part of a natural cycle. The probability was, they calculated, less than 5%.
Mercury Contamination Moves Beyond Fish 'Every Link of the Food Chain Affected' a New Report Says"Nearly every aspect of our food web has been contaminated. It's difficult to find an ecosystem that's not contaminated, whether it's ocean or forest or coastal waters or wetlands." Mercury is a naturally occurring element, but people release much more mercury pollution that ends up in our forests, lakes, and streams -- 100 tons in this country alone annually. The primary sources include coal-burning power plants, wastewater treatment plants and waste incinerators...The report points out "there truly is no link in the food chain untouched by mercury," and according to Stadler, this carries broad implications for humans. "The research shows [that] birds that eat contaminated insects get contaminated themselves," Stadler said. "Turkeys and chickens, which humans eat, eat those same contaminated insects, so this is the tip of the iceberg." (keywords: peak oil, coal, carbon)
The two Nasa Arctic studies, released simultaneously, break fresh ground in dealing with the perennial, or "multi-winter" ice, rather than the "seasonal" ice at the edge of the icefield, which melts every summer. "Concern about the melting rate has hitherto focused on the seasonal ice..Such rapid shrinkage of the perennial ice [however] has not been shown before [until now] "The overall decrease in the ice cover was 720,000 sq km (280,000 sq miles) - an area almost the size of Turkey, gone in a single year. "The other study, from the Goddard Space Flight Centre..shows that the perennial ice melting rate, which has averaged 0.15 per cent a year since satellite observations began in 1979, has suddenly accelerated hugely. In the past two winters the rate has increased to six per cent a year - that is, it has got more than 30 times faster. (06 sept)
Pesticide use worldwide quarupled in last 4 decades 06 sept
Humans 'causing stronger storms' Scientists calculate that two-thirds of the recent rise in sea temperatures, thought to fuel hurricanes, is down to anthropogenic emissions. 06 sept
Thawing Siberian bogs are releasing more of the greenhouse gas methane than previously believed, according to new scientific research. oreholes in permafrost in Svalbard, Norway, indicate that ground temperatures rose 0.4C over the past decade, four times faster than they did in the previous century.... "Methane flux from thaw lakes in our study region MAY BE FIVE TIMES GREATER than previously estimated"(06 sept)
Global Warming Desalination of Arctic could lead to "Day After Tomorrow" Gulf Stream disruption 06 sept.
Carbon dioxide levels are substantially higher now than at anytime in the last 800,000 years, the latest study of ice drilled out of Antarctica confirms.
The world faces a catastrophic rise in global warming in 2050 unless urgent action is taken to cut human-induced carbon emissions, a leading academic warned yesterday. Professor Peter Cox, of Exeter University, told the Royal Geographical Society annual conference that temperatures could rise 8C by 2100 because of a "compost effect" which could see carbon dioxide levels increase 50 per cent faster than previously estimated. 0
Dangerous Human Climate Disruption is already here: Top U.S. Scientist 06 sep 1
Global Erratic Weather Shrivels World's Wheat Supplies 06 aug
Climate changes shift springtime A Europe-wide study has provided "conclusive proof" that the seasons are changing, with spring arriving earlier each year, researchers say. (06 aug)
Warming 'more severe' for citiesThe impact of climate change is likely to be more severe in major cities, with the elderly most at risk, according to a study commissioned for the Greater London Authority and obtained exclusively by the BBC Ten O'Clock News. The predicted rise in temperatures in the coming decades will be exacerbated by what scientists call the "urban heat island effect", in which temperatures during heatwaves can be 6-7C higher in cities than in surrounding areas. (06 aug)
Climatic changes could lead to more outbreaks of bubonic plague among human populations, a study suggests...recent changes to the region's climate suggested that warmer springs were becoming more frequent, increasing the risk of human infections. (06 aug)
lobal warming affects hurricane intensity: study
Water shortage 'a global problem' 06 aug INCLUDING FOR RICH COUNTRIES/CITIES
Greenland melt 'speeding up' Data from a US space agency (Nasa) satellite show that the melting rate has accelerated since 2004. If the ice cap were to completely disappear, global sea levels would rise by 6.5m (21 feet) ..[the just-measured rate]is about three times higher than an earlier estimate of the mass loss from Greenland made using the first two years of Grace ['02-'04] measurements. 06 aug
Mediterranean on jellyfish alert...over-fishing and global warming may be causes (06 jul)
Global Warming Could Slam Food Supply
More frequent heat waves linked to global warming In a separate 2004 study, researchers at Britain's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research produced computer models showing that greenhouse gas emissions had doubled the likelihood of events like the lethal 2003 European heat wave, and that by 2040 it is likely such heat waves will take place there every other year. And researchers at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., reported this week that nighttime summer temperatures across the country have been unusually high for the past eight years, a record streak. "It's just incredible, when you look at this thing," said Richard Heim, a research meteorologist at the center. He added that only the Dust Bowl period of the mid-1930s rivaled recent summers for sustained heat levels. 06 jul
Two pieces of new research have found that the US government's probable centrepiece for its climate change proposals, the use of [forests a] 'carbon sinks', are far less effective than originally thought.
Oceans may soon be more corrosive than in 65m years: Human Fossil Fuel Burning
Global warming risk 'much higher' Global temperatures will rise further in the future than previous studies have indicated, according to new research from two scientific teams. They both used historical records to calculate the likely amplification of warming as higher temperatures induce release of CO2 from ecosystems. They both conclude that current estimates of warming are too low, by anything up to 75%. 06 may
"Bleaching in 1998 occurred in all reef regions of the world; 16% of the world's reefs were lost in that one year, alone. But the western Indian Ocean suffered most.. "Since 1998, another three bleaching events have been recorded in the Indian Ocean and at least two in the Pacific. "'Various [computer simulations] suggest we'll be having a 1998-scale bleaching event annually within 30 years, so the outlook is pretty bleak for how common these events will become,' said Dr Graham. "Worldwide, coral reefs cover an estimated 284,300 sq km and support over 25% of all known marine species"
'Clear' human impact on climate A scientific report commissioned by the US government has concluded there is "clear evidence" of climate change caused by human activities. 06 may 3rd
Air trends 'amplifying' warming Reduced air pollution and increased water evaporation appear to be adding to man-made global warming. bbc 06 apr 7.....Scientists suggest both trends may push temperatures higher than believed. But they say there is an urgent need for further research, particularly at sea. ..http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41526000/gif/_41526596_green-house2.gif
Earth could be headed for catastrophic sea level rise in the next few centuries if greenhouse gases continue to rise at present rates, experts say.
Climate Scientists Issue Dire Warning The Earth's temperature could rise under the impact of global warming to levels far higher than previously predicted, according to the United Nations' team of climate experts. A draft of the next influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report will tell politicians that scientists are now unable to place a reliable upper limit on how quickly the atmosphere will warm as carbon dioxide levels increase. [the report] raises the possibility of the Earth's temperature rising well above the ceiling quoted in earlier accounts. [http://peakoil.com/article12429.html] [full at The Guardian]
FEEDBACK LOOP: "Bacteria aiding global warming" The level of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is likely to grow more than expected as soil bacteria, in response to rising temperatures, break down more organic material and produce more CO2, according to results by an international research team. The phenomenon will in turn accelerate global warming, and the team's findings serve as a renewed warning to the international community about the need to further reduce CO2 emissions..........The team concluded that global warming will progress faster than expected, saying the average global temperature in 2100 will be 0.1 C to 1.5 C higher than current estimates. "The team found that discharged CO2 from organic material such as leaves and animal bodies broken down by bacteria is larger than the absorbed CO2 from plant photosynthesis. In addition, less CO2 will be absorbed by the ocean due to rises in water temperature." (06 Feb)
The UK could face major flooding and tropical temperatures by the year 3000 if greenhouse gas emissions are not sharply reduced, a new study says. * What would happen if our emissions increased by burning not just conventional fossil fuels but by exploiting unconventional reserves as well, such as methyl hydrates and oil shales...Dr Tim Lenton, the UEA lead author on the paper and a climate change modeller, said: "If we follow business-as-usual then we will commit future generations to dangerous climate change, and if we exploit unconventional fossil fuels we could return the Earth to a hot state it hasn't seen since 55 million years ago.. Admittedly it is inexactly tp predict as far ahead as the year 3,000 but have a look at this article from the mainstream Baltimore Sun: Methane Burps: Ticking Time Bomb.
Consuming the future There is no meaningful response to climate change without massive social change. A cap on this and a quota on the other won't do it. Tinker at the edges as we may, we cannot sustain earth's life-support systems within the present economic system. Opinion (The Age, Australia), Feb 06
In the late 20th Century, the northern hemisphere experienced its most widespread warmth for 1,200 years, according to the journal Science.
UK Govt's "Stark warning over climate change 06 jan 30
Global Warming: Ocean Ecosystems "have passed some threshhold" in 70s 06 jan
Study: Global Warming Could Devastate Plankton, Food Chain, Lessen Carbon Removal 06 Jan
'Doomsday' seed bank to be built The Norwegian government will hollow out a cave on the ice-bound island of Spitsbergen to hold the seed bank. It will be designed to withstand global catastrophes like nuclear war or natural disasters that would destroy the planet's sources of food.
A rapid rise in global temperature 55 million years ago caused major disruption to ocean currents, new research shows. Scientists found that the disruption took 140,000 years to reverse.. Computer models of modern climate suggest that temperature changes could affect ocean currents, and recent research has found indications that it is happening now in the north Atlantic. [During the PEThermalMaximum] One theory is that an initial warming changed the distribution of heat in the oceans so that deposits of gas hydrates on the sea floor were released, with carbon dioxide and methane rising to the surface and entering the atmosphere, causing further greenhouse warming. The new research provides some support for this theory, as well as demonstrating that abrupt temperature changes can have a long-term impact on ocean currents which are, as the Gulf Stream demonstrates, intimately tied to weather systems. Some researchers have raised concern that release of gas hydrates could contribute to present-day global warming.
'Critical danger' warning on fish Deep sea fish species in the northern Atlantic are on the brink of extinction, new research suggests. Canadian scientists studied five deep water species including hake and eel. Writing in the journal Nature, they say that some populations have plummeted by 98% in a generation, meeting the definition of 'critically endangered'.
45% chance Gulf Stream current will collapse by 2100: Research Study
Ocean changes to cool Europe Researchers from the UK's National Oceanography Centre say currents derived from the Gulf Stream are weakening, bringing less heat north. Their conclusions, reported in the scientific journal Nature, are based on 50 years of Atlantic observations. "The slowing down of the southward return occurs between 3,000 and 5,000m; and this more or less constitutes a smoking gun," -Professor Michael Schlesinger who a decade ago, showed that the north Atlantic conveyor undergoes a natural 70-year cycle of strengthening and weakening. (05 nov)
Failing ocean current raises fears of mini ice age The ocean current that gives western Europe its relatively balmy climate is stuttering, raising fears that it might fail entirely and plunge the continent into a mini ice age. The dramatic finding comes from a study of ocean circulation in the North Atlantic, which found a 30% reduction in the warm currents that carry water north from the Gulf Stream. (05 Nov)
CO2 'highest for 650,000 years' 05 november. Current levels of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere are higher now than at any time in the last 650,000 years. "We find that CO2 is about 30% higher than at any time, and methane 130% higher than at any time; and the rates of increase are absolutely exceptional: for CO2, 200 times faster than at any time in the last 650,000 years."
Modeling Of Long-Term Fossil Fuel Consumption Shows 14.5 Degree Hike In Temperature These are the stunning results of climate and carbon cycle model simulations conducted by scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. By using a coupled climate and carbon cycle model to look at global climate and carbon cycle changes, the scientists found that the earth would warm by 8 degrees Celsius (14.5 degrees Fahrenheit) if humans use the entire planet's available fossil fuels by the year 2300. (05 nov)
Aviation 'huge threat to CO2 aim' UK homes, firms and motorists will have to cut carbon dioxide emissions to zero due to air travel growth, a study says
during the 2003 heatwave, European plants produced more carbon dioxide than they absorbed from the atmosphere. They produced nearly a tenth as much as fossil fuel burning globally. The study shows that ecosystems which currently absorb CO2 from the atmosphere may in future produce it..The 2003 European summer was abnormally hot; but other studies show that these temperatures could become commonplace.
* * * ANALYSIS PIECE: What to do in a failing civilization * * *
Killer 'triple burp' of methane caused massive global warming What our present study shows is that this methane release was not just one event, but 3 consecutive pulses..."One of the most important aspects of the study is that it provides an accurate timescale for how the Earth, and life, reacted to a sudden increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Today we are releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere [possibly faster than back then]
Climate change shock unearthed The new research indicates that the amount of carbon being released from soil is enough to cancel out all the carbon dioxide emission reductions achieved by Britain between 1990 and 2002. "Our findings suggest that the soil part of the equation is scarier than had been thought. If the 25 per cent is going to go, it means we've got 25 per cent more carbon to worry about. We should be concerned, for sure ...If we don't do something about it, global warming will accelerate and the consequences will be disaster."
A rise in UK temperatures means soils are giving off far more carbon dioxide than was previously realised, scientists report....Our findings suggest the soil part of the equation is scarier than we had thought," Professor Guy Kirk, of Cranfield University, told journalists...."The consequence is that there is more urgency about doing something [or] global warming will accelerate"
Indeed, as an illustration of how big a problem this is, it is likely the carbon lost from British soils since 1990 will have completely wiped out any reductions the country might have made through technological gains over the same period. 05 sep
The destruction of tropical peatlands is contributing significantly to global warming, according to a study. It has been calculated that in 1997, 2.67 billion tonnes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide were released through burning of these peatlands. This is equivalent to 40% of one year's global fossil fuel combustion, Dr Page says. That year was unusually high, however; the intermediate estimate is one billion tonnes, about 15% of fossil fuel combustion for a year. 05 sep
"A computer simulation of the Earth's climate 250 million years ago suggests that global warming triggered the so-called "great dying". THE RESEARCH ADDS TO THE GROWING BODY OF EVIDENCE THAT HIGHER TEMPERATURES, RATHER THAN A GIANT SPACE ROCK HITTING THE PLANET, LED TO THE GREATEST MASS EXTINCTION IN HISTORY. 05 aug
Global warming doubled a storm threat: research
Experts predict all the Peruvian glaciers below 5,500m will disappear by 2015. This is the majority of Peru's glaciers. 05 aug BBC
"It's kind of a bleak outlook for tropical organisms, and it shows how the lack of seasonal temperature variation can magnify the impact of climate warming." -- Global warming most evident at high latitudes, but greatest impact [might well] be in tropics. 05 aug.
child cancer linked to exhaust emissions 05 aug
Siberia's rapid thaw causes alarm The world's largest frozen peat bog is melting, which could speed the rate of global warming, New Scientist reports. 05 aug (see New Scientist with "In May this year, Katey Walter of the University of Alaska Fairbanks told a meeting in Washington of the Arctic Research Consortium of the US that she had found methane hotspots in eastern Siberia, where the gas was bubbling from thawing permafrost so fast it was preventing the surface from freezing, even in the midst of winter" too and see Guardian article stating: The permafrost is likely to take many decades at least to thaw, so the methane locked within it will not be released into the atmosphere in one burst, said Stephen Sitch, a climate scientist at the Met Office's Hadley Centre in Exeter. But calculations by Dr Sitch and his colleagues show that even if methane seeped from the permafrost over the next 100 years, it would add around 700m tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere each year, roughly the same amount that is released annually from the world's wetlands and agriculture.) -- SEE ALSO:
Will Climate Wake Up Call Be Answered? It would effectively double atmospheric levels of the gas, leading to a 10% to 25% increase in global warming, he said.
June 2005 was the second warmest June on record according to a new report issued by the U.S. National Climate Data Center [and] monthly global average temperatures have been warmer than the 1971-2000 average monthly temperatures for 120 straight months, going back to May 1995. [Recorded was] the second warmest June for combined land and ocean surface temperatures since 1880 (the beginning of reliable instrumental records).
Carbon emissions threaten sea life Excessive carbon in the atmosphere is already causing irreparable environmental damage to the Earth's oceans and drastic cuts in emissions are necessary to prevent further devastation, a panel of leading scientists has warned. 05 Aug.
http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/s/krwashbureau/20050708/ts_krwashbureau/_bc_env_sealevels_wa"Many of us have been quite surprised at how rapidly that melting has occurred," (05 Aug)

GOULBURN, Australia, June 19 (Reuters) - Severe drought is drying up drinking water in cities and towns across Australia, threatening to shut down major population centres..Worst hit is the farming town of Goulburn, population 25,000, southwest of Australia's biggest city, Sydney. Its main dam, Pejar, is a cracked-earth dustbowl holding less than 10 percent of its 1,000-megalitre (220-million-gallon) capacity.. The worst drought in 100 years is forcing Australians to close the tap on profligate water use and turn treated waste, most of which flows into the sea, into drinking water "Goulburn residents are likely to become the first Australians to start drinking treated sewerage returned directly to their water supply"
Australia is the world's driest inhabited continent ..But scientists say global warming is changing rainfall patterns, particularly in the populated southwest and southeastern corners, causing a long-term drop in annual rainfall and greater extremes of weather. Townfolk were limited to 100-second showers////Goulburn's water usage has been halved and will be cut further if it does not rain. Each person is now down to 120 litres a day -- a washing machine full --- compared with 400 litres in big cities.////
The deserts of north Africa are threatening to leap the Mediterranean and creep through Spain, according to government figures made public as part of a national campaign to halt desertification. A third of the country is at risk of being turned into desert as climate change and tourism add to the effects of farming. 05 june ( Over-grazing and irrigation methods that wash away topsoil were to blame for some of the damage, experts said. Building developments and climate change were doing the rest.)
The chief executive of BT has become the first boss of a British company to admit that climate change is already affecting his company, and that environmental damage could threaten the stability of the world's financial system. 05 june
Researchers estimated that during this period [182m yrs ago], global temperatures increased by nearly 12 degrees. Here's the sobering part: Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are increasing at a rate 90 times faster than the dramatic increase during the dinosaur era [with its volcanism]. "It doesn't take much imagination to realize what will happen if we burn most of the Earth's remaining fossil fuels over the coming century, which is what we are in the process of doing," The study is published in the journal Nature. 05 May Chicago Sun Times
"It may seem impossible to imagine that a technologically advanced society could choose, in essence, to destroy itself, but that is what we are now in the process of doing." -Elizabeth Kolbert in the New Yorker, in her series on climate change (more accurately, climate disruption/distabilization)

If we continue with current rates of species extinction, we will have no chance of rolling back poverty (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), the most comprehensive audit of the health of our planet to date.) Organisms are disappearing at something like 100 to 1,000 times the "background levels" seen in the fossil record -- "in the next 100 years, we'll be seeing extinction rates that are a thousand to 10,000 times those in the fossil record."
26,000 sq km of Amazon (2nd highest figure on record) chopped down Aug 03-Aug 04 . 05 may
A third of the world's population lives in countries that find it difficult or impossible to meet water needs, a proportion that could double (to 2/3 of the world!?!) by 2025, said RajendraK. Pachauri, chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC), Wednesday.
A senior Chinese meteorologist has warned the country may face an "apocalyptic summer" of floods and drought, threatening corn, cotton and rice crops,...And southern Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan provinces are already suffering their worst drought in 50 years, taking a toll on rubber and sugar. "China may face a grim situation from seasonal floods or drought this year with potential damage worse than that of last year.." (thought 2004 China Grain was GOOD; WORLD (not "China" but world) 2004 grain was looking so-so according to Lester Brown)
"The planet Venus is a little closer to the sun than Earth is, but the physics should permit Venus to be very earthlike in temperature. But it's not.Venus has a runaway greenhouse effect and a surface temperature hotter than molten lead. As we have seen, distance from the sun is only one of several variables that determine habitability on Earth. At 93 million miles from the sun, our planet could be a frozen wasteland, or it could be a Venusian inferno. The fact is that it is neither. Instead it has this delicately balanced partial greenhouse effect that is ideal for creatures like us. We mess with that greenhouse effect at our peril." -Physicist and Caltech Vice-Provost David Goodstein (Author, "Out of Gas")

Australia has had one of its warmest Aprils (think "October" if you're in the Northern hemisphere) on record, opting for sun block and air conditioning, rather than autumn woollies and heaters. It has not only been warm, it has also been very dry. Only once before since 1910 has Australia had so little rain in the period from January to April. As a result, much of the country is in the grip of an unyielding drought, with an increasing number of farmers receiving emergency government aid.
"Glaciers in Everest melting faster due to global warming" 05 may 7 (The Hindu)
Britain faces big chill as ocean current slows CLIMATE change researchers have detected the first signs of a slowdown in the Gulf Stream -- the mighty ocean current that keeps Britain and Europe from freezing. They have found that one of the "engines" driving the Gulf Stream the sinking of supercooled water in the Greenland Sea -- has weakened to less than a quarter of its former strength (original is here)
Huge radioactive leak closes plant A leak of highly radioactive nuclear fuel dissolved in concentrated nitric acid, enough to half fill an Olympic-size swimming pool, has forced the closure of Sellafield's Thorp reprocessing plant. The highly dangerous mixture, containing about 20 tonnes of uranium and plutonium fuel, has leaked through a fractured pipe into a huge stainless steel chamber which is so radioactive that it is impossible to enter. Recovering the liquids and fixing the pipes will take months and may require special robots to be built and sophisticated engineering techniques devised to repair the #2billion plant.
SPANISH ministers agreed to set aside 300 million euros ($390 million) on Friday to guarantee the country's taps do not run dry this summer after the driest winter since records began. (1947).. Reservoirs are 62 percent full compared with 90 percent this time last year..
Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the nation's main power provider, is to double capacity purchases from China to 400 megawatts to make up for a domestic HYDRO-POWER SHORTAGE CAUSED BY DROUGHT, state-run media said on Friday.
Climate change is a bigger threat to elephants, tigers and the rhinoceroses than poaching, a wildlife expert says. bbc 05 may "I think we may well be looking at a mass extinction; and I think the question is, can we do anything to adapt to it?" Dr. Richard Leakey.
Of 1,756 plant types, about 20% are currently threatened with extinction...They have been pushed out by highly intensive methods of crop production that give little opportunity for competing seeds to flourish on farmland.
Climate change is set to do far worse damage to global food production than even the gloomiest of previous forecasts, according to studies presented at the Royal Society in London, UK, on Tuesday...US. Output is "likely to be far lower than previously estimated"... New Scientists 05 may (backup here)
..report from the US Energy Information Administration, which found that reducing emissions would cost much less than opponents of emissions reduction had said. The EIA analysed a set of recommendations made by the National Commission on Energy Policy late last year. It found that reducing US greenhouse gas emissions by 4 per cent by 2015 and by 7 per cent by 2025, in accordance with the NCEP's recommendations, would cost 0.15 per cent of gross domestic product. [let's put aside that perpetual growth GDP is not workable -ED] That would be the equivalent of $78 per year to each US househould by 2025. Electricity prices would rise by less than 5 per cent more by 2025 than they are estimated to rise without the pressure of emissions reductions.
EPA Sued Over Refusal to Protect Americans from Pollution from Greenhouse Gases 05 apr
Countering Despair with the Momentum of Hope By David Cromwell MediaLens, on Contraction and Convergance, after good overview.."Climate crisis is not a future risk. It is today's reality. As Myles Allen, a climate scientist at Oxford University, warned recently: "The danger zone is not something we are going to reach in the middle of this century. We are in it now."
The Big Meltdown Something's Happening at Both Poles============================================================
US in race to unlock new energy source Locked in mysterious crystals, the sediment beneath the seabed holds enough natural gas to fuel America's energy-guzzling society for decades, or to bring about sufficient climate change to melt the planet's glaciers and cause catastrophic flooding, depending on whom you talk to (Peakoil and Guardian Unlimited, 05 apr)
The atmospheric concentration of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide has reached a new high, say US researchers. (05 mar/apr, BBC)
Carbon dioxide continues its rise The figures - 378 parts per million (ppm) - were gathered [at Mauna Loa].. NOTE: 379 WAS HIT IN MARCH 2004 BUT APPARENTLY 378 IS FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR?
Study highlights global decline. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was drawn up by 1,300 researchers from 95 nations over four years. "This report is essentially an audit of nature's economy, and the audit shows we've driven most of the accounts into the red,"
a parliamentary committee..The Environmental Audit Committee.. says..Britain and the developed world need to reduce emissions by 60-80% by 2050...but this cannot be achieved by technology and market mechanisms alone.
Ice Is Melting Everywhere (ENS).Average surface temperatures in the Arctic Circle have risen by more than half a degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade since 1981. and buried in the middle of the article:
Arctic permafrost has warmed by up to 2 degrees Celsius in recent decades, with soils thawing to greater depths..The Greenland ice sheet is the largest land ice mass in the Northern Hemisphere. It holds enough fresh water to raise the earth's sea level by 7.2 meters (24 feet) if it were to melt completely, a result expected if the regional temperature rises 3 degrees Celsius. Scientists project that concentrations of greenhouse gases will be high enough by 2100 to push temperatures past this threshold.

Both studies show that some of the damaging effects of climate change are unavoidable. "We're already committed to a significant amount of climate change, even if we could stabilize concentrations at some point," Meehl says. "And the longer we wait, the worse it gets." In the two studies' best-case scenarios, the world could be just tenths of a degree from the temperature the European Union has set as 'unsafe' for the world, Schneider points out. (05 mar 17)
Three scientists speaking out from AAAS meeting on Global Warming Dangers "The West Antarctic Ice Sheet may disintegrate in response to greenhouse gas emissions, according to Keller. This would lead to a global sea level rise of around 6 meters, which would inundate half of Florida and many of the world?s major cities. It could also disrupt global oceanic circulation patterns, he observed. Another way to look at it is that a rapid rise of atmospheric CO2 to 500 to 700 ppm might cause the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation?the ocean conveyor belt?to collapse, Keller explained. This would mean that warm tropical waters would no longer warm Northern Europe. One trigger for the collapse could be the melting or partial melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. (05 Mar)
Mount Kilimanjaro Photo Wake-Up Call for Action Against Global Warming 05 mar
US [greenhouse] gases to 'dwarf world savings' "The Royal Society has calculated that the 13% rise in greenhouse gas emissions from the United States between 1990 and 2002 is already bigger than the overall cut achieved if all the other parties to the [Kyoto] Protocol reach their targets," he will tell the embassy gathering. "Even if emissions from the United States stay at the same level until 2012, which is an unrealistically conservative assumption, while the other targets are met, the overall results for the original parties to the protocol will be a rise in emissions of 1.6% instead of the desired reduction of 5.2%" 05 march
HJydroelectric power: Another source of greenhouse gases?
Bird flu pandemic 'imminent' 05 feb UK Daily Mail. and WHO warns of bird flu pandemic (BBC, 05 feb)..The World Health Organisation fears bird flu may get deadlier if it mutates into a form that could be easily transmitted between humans.
Mocking Our Dreams: Modern economics, whether informed by Marx or Keynes or Hayek, is premised on the notion that the planet has an infinite capacity to supply us with wealth and absorb our pollution. The cure to all ills is endless growth. Yet endless growth, in a finite world, is impossible....Our economists are exposed by climatologists as utopian fantasists, the leaders of a millenarian cult..But their theories govern our lives, so those who insist that physics and biology still apply are ridiculed by a global consensus founded on wishful thinking. (05 Feb)
Ocean study points to climate change Even if environmental changes are made immediately, researchers said, some parts of the world -- including the western United States, South America and China -- won't be able to stop dramatic water shortages, melting glaciers and ice packs, and other crises in the next 20 years. Mote had not seen details of Barnett's research but said that the Scripps' scientist "typically has been fairly cautious about concluding climate change is a huge problem." ; RELATED: Curry found that between 1965 and 1995, about 4,800 cubic miles of fresh water - more water than is in Lake Superior, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Lake Huron combined - melted from the Arctic region and poured into the normally salty northern Atlantic.
NOAA Loses Funding to Gather Long-Term Climate Data (Science Magazine, Jan. 14, 2005) The surprise assault on the Climate Reference Network (CRN) was buried in the 3000-page omnibus spending package for 2005 signed last month by President George W. Bush..Legislators also took a bite out of a long-established atmospheric monitoring network that includes the historic time sequence of increasing carbon dioxide levels measured at Hawaii's Mauna Loa.
REMINDER: Global Warming is NON-LINEAR "Another doomsday worry is about the future of carbon which is already stored in the soil in the form of decayed leaves and rotting vegetation and in the capacity of the sea to go on absorbing man-made carbon pollution. Scientists at the conference agreed that if temperatures go beyond a threshold, this stored carbon in the soil will be released into the air and at some point, the sea, which has already absorbed 48 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by burning oil, gas and coal, will no longer be able to absorb any more pollution. That means vast amounts of gas will be dumped into the air, amplifying the global warming crisis at a stroke. (05 Feb)
West Antarctic Ice Sheet Shows Early Signs of Disintegration Dramatic change in West Antarctic ice could produce 16ft rise in sea levels (05 Feb) Researchers from the Cambridge-based British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have discovered that a massive Antarctic ice sheet previously assumed to be stable may be starting to disintegrate..Only four years ago, in the last report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), worries that the ice sheet was disintegrating were firmly dismissed. Professor Rapley said: "The last IPCC report characterised Antarctica as a slumbering giant in terms of climate change. I would say it is now an awakened giant. There is real concern." He added: "The previous view was that WAIS would not collapse before the year 2100. We now have to revise that judgement. We cannot be so sanguine." Collapse of the WAIS would be a disaster, putting enormous chunks of low-lying, desperately poor countries such as Bangladesh under water - not to mention much of southern England. Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary..opened the conference..Her forecast that we are powerless to prevent major damage [in next 20-30 years] from climate change is accepted by scientists but it is rare for such a frank admission from a politician.
Only huge emission cuts will curb climate change To have half a chance of curbing global warming to within safe levels, the world?s greenhouse gas emissions need to fall dramatically to between 30 percent and 50 percent of 1990 levels by 2050, a new study suggests. (05 feb).. If CO2 levels stabilise at 400 ppm, there is [only!] about 75% chance of staying on target to stop the world warming by 2 degrees Celcius. At 450 ppm, the odds are about even and beyond 550 ppm, less than 25% chance of avoidign 2C heating.
Greenhouse Gasses "do warm oceans"; ocean warming over the past 40 yrs, linked to industrial release of CO2..study released at the annual gathering of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).."This is perhaps the most compelling evidence yet that global warming is happening right now and it shows that we can successfully simulate its past and likely future evolution,".."If you take this data and combine it with a decade of earlier results, the debate about whether or not there is a global warming signal here [in the ocean] and now is over --at least for rational people." (05 feb)
"If you were prepared to accept more risk of exceeding 20C then 550 ppm would be possible." I think we should be clear about what "more risk" means in this context. It means 70%-99% risk of exceeding 2B0C. Using available climate sensitivity uncertainty estimates (pdfs by Murphy et al., Gregory et al., Forest et al., Wigley&Raper, Knutti et al., etc...), the probability of overshooting 20C global mean temperature rise above pre-industrial levels for a stabilization at 550ppm CO2eq are between 70%-99%. In other words, we can be rather certain that we are going to overshoot 20C, if concentrations are not going to be peaked well below 550ppm. For 400ppm CO2eq stabilisation (and earlier peaking at 475ppm), the risk of overshooting 20C is of course much less, although not zero (specifically: 4% to 55% risk). Assuming the conventional 1.5-4.5K IPCC uncertainty range (and its translation by Wigley & Raper, 2001, into a lognormal pdf assuming the range to be a 90% confidence interval), this risk of overshooting 20C is about 75% (13%) in equilibrium for 550ppm (400ppm) CO2 equivalence stabilization. (see e.g. Exeter presentation http://www.stabilisation2005.com/day2/Meinshausen.pdf ).....However, if we are going to peak concentrations and return to lower levels (e.g. 400ppm), we might be lucky and never find out what the real climate sensitivity is. Thus, research should focus more on peaking scenarios (with a possible stabilization at lower levels later on) than on stabilization scenarios a la "go up & stabilize" - see e.g. excellent talk in Exeter by Myles Allen on this: http://www.stabilisation2005.com/day2/allen.pdf ). [comment #14 in http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=95 ]
It has already risen by 0.6, which means anything above a further 1.4-degree rise would be dangerous to both human safety and the environment Even if we just stopped using energy from today onwards, we're already in trouble, they say. Britain's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research has tried to establish what warming was already inevitable even if we turned off all the lights and left our four-wheel drives in the garage. They found that global temperatures would rise an extra 0.5 degree from today to 2100 because of what we have already done, stabilising hundreds of years later at 1.6 degrees. (cited fe 12 05 here)
Apocalypse now: how mankind is sleepwalking to the end of the Earth from London Independent
The risks from global warming are more serious than previously thought, a major climate conference has concluded. 05 feb The European Union had previously suggested trying to limit any rise in average global temperatures to 2C, but Dr Bill Hare, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, who presented the conference with a worldwide survey of global impacts, said even this rise was too much. "You know, I think the European target is really an upper limit, actually - I think the science is showing that that may even be too high in the long term," he told the BBC News website...A rise of 2C, according to research presented here, would mean the displacement of millions of people from their homes, a fall in the productivity of farmland, widespread devastation of coral reefs and other vulnerable ecosystems, and melting of the Greenland ice cap. "In many cases, the risks are more serious than previously thought....A number of new impacts were identified that are potentially disturbing."
Only huge emissions cuts will curb climate change To have half a chance of curbing global warming to within safe levels, the world's greenhouse gas emissions need to fall dramatically to between 30% and 50% of 1990 levels [ie 50-70% cuts] by 2050, a new study suggests. New Scientists
Storms a 'warning' of future climate change (Australia) Dust storms, raging winds, hail, flooding, blizzards and freezing temperatures hot on the heels of South Australia's devastating bushfires were the early warnings of a climate fundamentally altered by greenhouse gases, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said. 'Freak storms and the climate havoc we are currently experiencing across Australia is a taste of tomorrow's world unless we start to cut greenhouse pollution' ACF spokesman John Connor said
Antarctic ice sheet is an 'awakened giant' The massive west Antarctic ice sheet, previously assumed to be stable, is starting to collapse, scientists warned on Tuesday. ..The last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published in 2001, said that collapse of this ice sheet was unlikely during the 21st century. That may now need to be reassessed, Rapley warned 05 Feb..another: Others presented new assessments of the thermohaline circulation, which drives the gulf stream that warms Europe. It may be more likely to collapse than we realised
Antarctic's ice 'melting faster' 05 feb
Climate change 'disaster by 2026' (in 21 yrs) 05 Jan
Water shortages + global warming = grain supply problems 05 jan
Shell Exec: We Need to Shift from Oil...given the potentially "disasterous" consequences of climate change. with citation of msnbc story w/more. 05 jan
STUDY BOLSTERS GREENHOUSE EFFECT THEORY, SOLVES ICE AGE MYSTERY Ohio State University researchers have solved an inconsistency that has puzzled climatologists for years: how can CO2 levels have been so high during the Ordovician period, a time noted for its ice age? The answer is, it wasn't: the ice formed ten million years earlier, before volcanic activity caused a global warming.
Alarm at new climate warning. Global temperatures could rise by as much as eleven degrees Celsius, according to one of the largest climate prediction projects ever run. This figure is twice the level that previous studies have suggested. ("increase by 6 C" is the top of the IPCC range)On Monday, the International Climate Change Taskforce, co-chaired by the British MP Stephen Byers, claimed it had shown that a carbon dioxide concentration of over 400 ppm (parts per million) would be 'dangerous'. The current concentration is around 378 ppm, rising at roughly 2ppm per year. ..."Stabilisation as an exclusive target may not be adequate," he told BBC News. "Stephen Byers claims to know that 400 ppm is the maximum 'safe' level; what we show is that it may be impossible to pin down a safe level, and therefore we should not focus exclusively on stabilisation." important question: did they factor in soot in the atmosphere? if not, then even their top estimate may be too low a 'top ceiling' estimate.
urgent action is needed to stop the global average temperature rising by 2 degrees Celsius above the level in 1750 -- the approximate start of the Industrial Revolution when mankind first started significantly polluting the atmosphere with carbon dioxide. 05 jan...The two degrees rise could be avoided by keeping the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere below 400 parts per million (ppm). Current concentrations of 379 ppm "are likely to rise above 400 ppm in coming decades and could rise far higher under a business-as-usual scenario"... (problem: other sources say we are experiencing effect of the 1960s right now...doens't that mean that even if emissions go to ZERO tomorrow morning, we'll easily reach from 379 to 400ppm as the higher levels of the 70s 80s and 90s and 2000-2004 then come into effect, taking us higher? in what more precise sense are todays' events relfletive of 60s emissions?)
Beyond a 2 degrees rise, "the risks to human societies and ecosystems grow significantly" the report said, adding there would be a risk of "abrupt, accelerated, or runaway climate change." It warned of "climatic tipping points" such as the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melting and the Gulf Stream shutting down.

Planet a decade from global warming point of no return
Global warming approaching point of no return, warns leading climate expert
BBC TRANSCRIPT of program on Global Dimming (For background see Shadow of Extinction by Monbiot; see also "Dim Sun" an earlier, sept 04 article on Global Dimming)
Breakthrough in climate research. New research (soil organisms) suggests that climate warming may be occurring even faster than previously recognised 05 jan
Earth dries up as temperatures rise: Study by US Center for Atmospheric Research 05 jan
Uranium shortage? World demand will outpace supply by 11 percent in the decade ending in 2013 as inventories decline, the World Nuclear Association estimates. The decline in stockpiles has been hastened by the decision of Russia, the world's biggest uranium exporter after Canada, in October 2003 to limit its exports to conserve fuel for 25 plants it wants to build by 2020. (05 jan)
Why the Sun seems to be 'dimming'...This means that the climate may in fact be more sensitive to the greenhouse effect than previously thought. If so, then this is bad news, according to Dr Peter Cox, one of the world's leading climate modellers. (BBC 05 jan)
"These have been the warmest first 10 days of January since the beginning of weather monitoring in the country in 1879," Tatyana Pozdnyakova of the Moscow weather bureau said
"Belgium had its warmest Jan. 10 on record, when the mercury peaked at 57.2 degrees in Brussels, breaking the previous mark of 54 set in 1993. "It was even warmer - a touch under 61 - in the southern Czech city of Ceske Budejovice on Saturday, the balmiest Jan. 8 recorded in 230 years.......it was bad for brown bears in parts of the Czech Republic and neighboring Slovakia, some of whom awoke from hibernation as grumpy as anyone roused early from a deep sleep. Naturalists warned that the testy animals were unlikely to fall back asleep and could be dangerous to people later in the season. "Birds also seemed to have been tricked into thinking spring has sprung. "One species that usually doesn't start singing until late February already was heard in the eastern Beskydy Mountains, and flamingos at a zoo in Jihlava, 75 miles southeast of Prague, were building nests - something they normally don't do until April.
"So much for Kyoto. By 2012, nearly 850 new coal-fired plants planned by China, India, and the US would be pumping up to five times as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce..[in fact] By 2012, the plants in three key countries - China, India, and the United States - are expected to emit as much as an extra 2.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide, according to a Monitor analysis of power-plant construction data. In contrast, Kyoto countries by that year are supposed to have cut their CO2 emissions by some 483 million tons 04 Dec (see also here)
World health officials seem in little doubt that we stand on the verge of another influenza pandemic. Experts believe it highly likely that a bird flu virus will soon mix with a human or pig virus and pass from human to human. 04 dec bbc
They investigate one scenario prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which envisages medium to high emissions of greenhouse gases. On that basis, they predict that by the 2040s more than half of all European summers are likely to be warmer than 2003's.They add: "By the 2060s, a 2003-type summer would be unusually cool." The Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research is one of the world's leading scientific groups studying what a warming world will be like (04 Dec)
60% cuts needed is the scientific consensus
More Frequent (and deadly) Heatwaves now linked to Global Warming 04 dec
Kyoto Q/A Industrialised countries have committed to cut their combined emissions to 5% below 1990 levels by 2008 - 2012. Each country that signed the protocol agreed to its own specific target. EU countries are expected to cut their present emissions by 8% and Japan by 5%. Some countries with low emissions were permitted to increase them...Industrialised countries cut their overall emissions by about 3% from 1990 to 2000. But this was largely because a sharp decrease in emissions from the collapsing economies of former Soviet countries masked an 8% rise among rich countries. The UN says industrialised countries are now well off target for the end of the decade and predicts emissions 10% above 1990 levels by 2010. Only four EU countries are on track to meet their own targets.
Himalayan glaciers are melting; could spell disaster for millions 04 nov
"It will eliminate about the lower 15 or 20 per cent of Florida." An extra metre of water, he says, "will eliminate 40 per cent of the land mass of Bangladesh. 04 nov
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the Kyoto protocol on climate change - clearing the way for the treaty to come into force next year. This is Russia's final and crucial stamp of approval for Kyoto
Massive 80% drop in key animal in Antarctic food web "The Antarctic Peninsula, a key breeding ground for the krill, has warmed by 2.5C [almost 5 degrees Fahrenheit, and this is past tense, not a prediction -Ed] in the last 50 years.
Arctic heads into warmer future warnings about melting ice, with perhaps all ocean ice disappearing in summers by 2060-2100.."There're vast stores of carbon in permafrost and in ocean sediments and if they get warmer, they could significantly impact the rest of the world." (BBC 04 Nov)
"Without a drastic reduction in our energy use, emissions of carbon dioxide -- one of the leading contributors to climate change -- could have disastrous results for the East of England."
Excellent Graphics on Water Crisis from BBC came along with the article, Water scarcity: A looming crisis?
Global warming raises fears of London flood The Environment Ministry said earlier this year global warming could force the barrier to be closed on average nearly once a day by 2100. (Reuters/MSNBC)
"The fact that one third of amphibians are in a precipitous decline tells us that we are rapidly moving towards a potentially epidemic number of extinctions." another researcher, "their rapid decline tells us that one of Earth's most critical life support systems is breaking down." 04 Oct
On present trends, Sir David said, the world was just 60 years from triggering an irreversible climate disaster. nonsense, it is not likely to be LINEAR increases, and even if it was linear, it's nonsense on a second level: we're not going to "have 60 years" since if the first 55 years take us almost to 500ppm we're not going to be able to u-turn on a dime, is pretty clear, and even if things were "not clear" the inability to be safe and certain that we *could* u-turn on a dime alone, would tell us that to change policy, we have far less than 60 years.""Is there a point where the melting becomes irreversible?" he asked. "Yes, there is. When the temperature around Greenland is 2.7C above the pre-industrial level - that is the tipping point. "We're already 0.6C above it, and to avoid raising temperatures too far we should prevent atmospheric CO2 going beyond 500ppm." In BBC, "Carbon 'reaching danger levels'", 04 oct
The (south african) govt launched a strategy yesterday designed to minimise the effects of climate change - and in the same breath said South Africa would double its greenhouse gas emissions over the next 15 years..This comes after scientists said in Johannesburg this week that SA would be one of the worst hit by climate change, becoming hotter and drier over the next few decades.
Planet Under Pressure first of a six-part BBC Online series 04 oct
RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES THE KYOTO CLIMATE TREATY 3 months? for Russian Parliament final approval? (Sept 30, 04)
Scientists Confirm: Global Warming to Raise Hurricane Intensity
Dim Sun The implication is that the power of both particulate matter and greenhouse gases on the climate have been underestimated.
more studies on faster glacier melts
Ice collapse speeds up glaciers "If anyone was waiting to find out whether Antarctica would respond quickly to climate warming, I think the answer is yes," said Dr Scambos. [The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the three fastest-warming regions on Earth - temperatures have risen 2.5 degrees in 50 years.]
Hurricane Frances and climate change:But experts are getting increasingly worried. Last month beat all previous US records for big hurricanes and tornadoes.. ..and equalled them for tropical storms. "We expect this to be the eighth of the past 10 seasons that have had hurricane activity much above the last 55-year average," he said. NOAA reported last week that 173 tornadoes had been reported across the US in August, far exceeding the previous record of 126, set in 1979. NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, based at Princeton University, says on its website: "The strongest hurricanes in the present climate may be upstaged by even more intense hurricanes over the next century as the Earth's climate is warmed by increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere." This admission is the second official embarrassment for the Bush administration over climate change in less than 10 days. Just over a week ago, a report to Congress - signed by Mr Bush's two cabinet members in charge of commerce and energy - conceded that the warming of the world's climate over the past 30 years could only be explained by pollution from carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases". [why on earth do US media not tell us these things?].
MAJOR TEMPERATURE RISE recorded in Arctic this year: German scientists 04 Aug -- 1 degree F rise in just *one* year.
"We've been in an accelerating car with one foot on the brake and one foot on the gas," he told the BBC. The scientist said the "climate protection" provided by aerosols was likely to diminish in the future. "The aerosol particles don't stay in the atmosphere for very long, so we don't expect their concentration - their effect - to grow over the next century. "The greenhouse gases, on the other hand - carbon dioxide and methane - they keep accumulating in the atmosphere because they have long lifetimes..." BBC 04 aug
Weird, Erratic Weather in UK -- 2004, not just 2003 04 aug("Last year, the temperature reached 38.5C in Kent on August 10 - the hottest since records began in 1659 [sic]" "Six of the seven warmest years while records have been kept have occurred since 1990.")
Melting ice: the threat to London's future 04 Jul. There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than for 55m years, enough to melt all the ice on the planet and submerge cities like London, New York and New Orleans, Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser has warned...An ice core 3km deep from the Antarctic had a record of the climate for 800,000 years and showed the direct relationship between the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and warm and cold periods for the planet..."Ice melting is a relatively slow process but is speeding up. When the Greenland ice cap goes, the sea level will rise six to seven metres..Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had reached 360 ppm in the 1990s and now was up to 379 ppm and increasing at the rate of 3 ppm a year--reaching a level not seen for 55m years when there was no ice on the planet because the atmosphere was too warm."Above all, we also need to demonstrate that countries do not have to choose between their environmental and economic aspirations, to forfeit one or the other, but that these aspirations can not only be compatible but mutually reinforcing."
Greenhouse Gases, Not Solar Activity, Cause of Global Warming 04 Aug (see also http://www.maxplanck.de/english/illustrationsDocumentation/documentation/pressReleases/2004/pressRelease20040802/ )
SEAS "TURN TO ACID" as they work overtime to slow Global Warming (backup)The research also explodes a heavily touted "solution" to global warming. Critics of international action, including members of the Bush administration, say that there is little need to curb carbon dioxide emissions because the gas could be collected and injected into the oceans for disposal. However, the study shows that this cure could be even worse than the disease. (Jul/Aug 04)
Working Link:from planetArk (Acidification, from London Independent, above)
DISASTER AT SEA: GLOBAL WARMING DEVASTATES UK BIRDS the sandeel stocks have been shrinking for several years, and this summer they have disappeared: the result for seabirds has been mass starvation. The figures for breeding failure, for Shetland in particular, almost defy belief. http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=546138&host=3&dir=58 "The breeding failure of the guillemots is unprecedented in Europe." More than 6,800 pairs of great skuas were recorded in Shetland in the same (year 2000) census; THIS YEAR THEY HAVE PRODUCED A HANDFUL OF CHICKS - PERHAPS FEWER THAN 10 - while the arctic skuas (1,120 pairs in the [2000] census) have failed to produce any surviving young.. (Jul/Aug 04)
Global Warming: Greenland ice-melt 'speeding up' "There is no doubt that something very major is happening here." http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/3922579.stm For the past few years he has been managing a network of 10 automatic monitoring stations and his first results are alarming - the edges of the ice-sheet are melting up to 10 times more rapidly than earlier research had indicated. (Jul/Aug 04)
"Over the last two decades more than 200 super-carriers - cargo ships over 200m long - have been lost at sea."!?!? 200!? and barely mentioned in headlines??
ondon and New York City at risk from Climate Change..."Cuts of around 3% a year are needed and possible, but sadly we have seen no real cuts in carbon dioxide emissions since Tony Blair became prime minister in 1997."
Early Snowmelt Sounds Warning of Global Warming 04 jul ("The Sierra snowpack appears to be melting earlier, while another water source, the Colorado River, is mired in a drought that appears to be the region's worst since the years 1590 to 1594, according to the United States Geological Survey", and one of earliest snowmelts in last 90 yrs)
Church of England Supports Contraction and Convergence 04 july
The American Academy of Science, the most prestegious (and publisher of Science Magazine, one of the two most prestegious science journals (the other being the journal Nature): http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2004/0616climateIntro.shtml "Governments and consumers in the United States and worldwide should take immediate steps to reduce the threat of global warming and to prepare for a future in which coastal flooding, reduced crop yields and elevated rates of climate-related illness are all but certain, top U.S. scientists said Tuesday. "At a meeting organized by AAAS and its journal, Science, the climate researchers argued that while some policy experts and sectors of the public dispute the risk, there is in fact no cause for doubt: The world is significantly warmer today than it was a century ago -- and it's getting warmer.." They note (http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2004/0616climate.shtml) under "Climate experts urge immediate action to offset impact of global warming" that: "Scientists generally agree that temperatures are rising as a result of human activities such as fossil-fuel burning, which releases carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases. This warming has caused glacial melting and subsequent increases in sea levels worldwide.."

Rice yields dip as planet warms. Global warming could have a severe effect on rice production, say scientists working in the Philippines... rice yields drop by 10% for every degree of warming. 04 june BBC
(Antarctic ice station likely to float away (CNN 04 june)) England (Reuters) - Britain's Antarctic ice station has a design problem few architects can have envisaged when it was built - within a decade it is likely to float away. The existing base is built on an ice shelf which is likely to break off into the sea if global warming continues at its current rate.
France, Britain in joint warning on danger of climate change 04 June "The four warned that climate change would have an "uncalculable" cost on health, the environment and national economies and would hit future generations grievously. "The tab 'will clearly be higher than the economic cost of measures to tackle the phenomenon,' they warned."
US experts say global warming faster than thought 04 june
Europe tackles freak weather risk 04 june
Fossil fuel subsidies 'must end' 04 June BBC..."provide at least one billion people with renewable energy by 2010, and increasing the target of access to clean energy by the poorest people to two billion over the next decade..Phasing out World Bank group subsidies to fossil fuel projects by 2008, and all government subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear energy."
While we're off fighting terror, the planet's crumbling ..If we connect these dots, the picture is clear: We are approaching a breaking point on the home planet.
Shell CEO "very worried for the planet" about Global Warming
One of the UK's foremost environmental thinkers, Sir Crispin Tickell: By intensifying natural climate change, he said, humans were pushing the Earth beyond its normal limits of tolerance. Unless we changed both our thinking and our behaviour, we, like almost all other species, would face extinction. *****
BBC: $168/barrel oil? Is the World Running Out Of Oil Fast? 04 June important article. "Dr Campbell has a dire warning: 'If the real figures were to come out there would be panic on the stock markets..'" **********
Oil Prices Could 'Damage Climate Change' As the "genius" of the market drives us faster towards the cliff as a result of the signal of higher pricer, rather than taking the signal as a chance to move towards less oil use... (04 June)
(UK) Insurers warn of climate change threat 04 june
Methane "belch" theory gets a boost: BBC (Recall the previous articles posted here by myself and others about how current global warming could cause super-fast global warming by warming enough to cause massive methane release. Here is yet another study on how real this danger is.) 04 June
World 'appeasing' climate threat -- One of the UK's best-known scientists, Professor James Lovelock, says only a catastrophe will prompt the world to tackle the threat of climate change. 04 June (instead of "sustainable growth" or "sustainable development" we need a planned sustainable retreat)
Europe's energy use still rising latest trends show growing evidence of climate change, on land and at sea. It says there are also worrying levels of urban air pollution and agricultural contamination of water, and increasing amounts of packaging and other waste. 04 June 1
first ever spotted south atlantic hurricane? freak storm hits brazil 04 april (see important details at the UK MET office.
Essay - Global warming: is it already too late? we assume, none the less, that it is not too late; if we do the right things within the next couple of decades, temperatures will eventually stabilise. But what if this is wrong? (Mark Lynas) HREF="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,63365,00.html">Climate Change Out of the Blue A new NASA study claims man-made cirrus clouds formed by commercial jet engine exhaust may be responsible for the increased surface temperatures detected in the United States between 1975 and 1994.
Breakthrough research confirms global warming (see also here) upper-atmosphere temperature mystery solved. 04 May
Plastic fibre a 'major pollutant'"This is the first assessment of plastic fragments accumulating in sediments and in the water column itself. "One concern is that toxic chemicals could attach themselves to the particles which would then help to spread them up the food chain. "..this study suggests that practically everything really is made of plastic these days --even the oceans" (04 May)
Climate Change is wreaking havoc in US West (04 may) "Here and across the West, climate change already is happening. Temperatures are warmer, ocean levels are rising, the snowpack is dwindling and melting earlier, flowers bloom earlier, mountain glaciers are disappearing and a six-year drought is killing trees by the millions."The West..depends so heavily on snowpack -- melting snow provides three-fourths of the water in streams. Over the past 35 years, temperatures across the region have inched up 1 to 3 degrees, causing the snow to melt as much as three weeks earlier...Glaciers are retreating, roads are buckling in Alaska and shifting some supports on the 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Already-low reservoirs are called upon to water fields and quench thirst for longer and longer periods after the seasonal snowpack is gone."
Aircraft vapour trails 'could cause global warming' 04 Apr 29
Global Warming Links to Surging Asthma Rates; Children in Inner Cities Hardest Hit 04 Apr 30 (on page 19..!)
It's too late. Climate change floods are inevitable - no matter what we do 04 apr (hundreds of thousands to lose their home insurance and probably their homes).
TESTIMONY OF THOMAS R. KARL, DIRECTOR NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER before US Senate (July 2001) (Most of the rest, below, is in most-recent-first -- reverse chronological-- order)
Arctic carbon a potential wild card in climate change scenarios If current warming trends in the Arctic continue, we can expect to see more of the old carbon now sequestered in northern soils enter the carbon cycle as carbon dioxide. This will act as a positive feedback, tending to enhance the greenhouse effect and accelerate global warming," 04 apr
(((Forest Expert Says Governor Running Out of Time on 'Monster' Fires))) 04 apr
More about Dead zones and risks to rare UK plants.. 04 apr.
Extreme weather on the rise warns World Meteorological Organization (story from back in July 2003)
Called the Solar-Hydrogen Eco-house, it is the first in the world that is fully self-sustainable and runs entirely on hydrogen
When the oil wells run dry 04 apr
global warming affecting south carolina (March of 2003[sic] links to carolina morning news story
"The Greenland ice sheet is likely to be eliminated by anthropogenic climate change unless much more substantial emission reductions are made than those envisaged by the IPCC," the scientists say."
Greenland's ice cap under threat.. if the ice cap melts global average sea level will rise by about 7 metres. (BBC 04 April)
Soil erosion as big a problem as global warming, say scientists 04 Feb Guardian
America's new coal rush Utilities' dramatic push to build new plants would boost energy security but hurt the environment.After 25 years on the blacklist of America's energy sources, coal is poised to make a comeback, stoked by the demand for affordable electricity and the rising price of other fuels.
At least 94 coal-fired electric power plants - with the capacity to power 62 million American homes - are now planned across 36 states. ***Surprisingly, few state officials or even environmentalists are aware of the magnitude of the new coal rush..."I certainly wasn't aware it was 62 gigawatts. That's an awful lot more coal to burn," says Dan Becker, director of global warming and energy program at the Sierra Club. "I think most Americans would be shocked that utilities are dragging the 19th century into the 21st century."
Robert Dickinson, an atmospheric scientist and climate modeler at the Georgia Institute of Technology, calculates the new US coal plants would add roughly one-tenth of 1 percent to the world's annual carbon-dioxide emissions. "It doesn't sound as bad as SUVs, but we really should be going the other direction," he says. "All these little things add up. How much is east Asia going to add? The rest of the world?"
Z Magazine: Global Warming as a Weapon of Mass Destruction 04 March
Carbon Dioxide Reported at Record Levels 04 March (see also here)
FEEDBACK: GLOBAL WARMING MAY ACCELERATE BY CAUSING METHANE RELEASE "Sweden's sub-arctic bogs are losing permafrost rapidly. It's completely gone in some areas. And Dr. Christensen says that, at the Stordalen site, methane emission is up 'at least 20 percent, but maybe as much as 60 percent, from 1970 to 2000.'"
Sea Wind Europe is a report commissioned by Greenpeace from respected international energy consultants Garrad Hassan. It concludes that almost a third of Europe's total electricity demand could be met solely from clean, renewable offshore wind power by 2020. That's enough to supply electricity to every single one of the 150 million EU households. These conclusions confirm that the full range of renewable energy technologies combined with energy efficiency, offer clean, safe and effective solutions to both climate change and energy security, now. 04 February.
Key Glacier in Southern Ocean (Brown Glacier, Heard Island) Melting Four Times Faster 04 mar ABC-Austrl.
2003 summer hottest in 500 years European researchers say last summer was the hottest on the continent for at least five centuries. 04 march
*2ND LARGEST INSURANCE COMPANY WARNS OF GLOBAL WARMING CATASTROPHE March 4 2003
Professor Schellnhuber, formerly the German government's chief environmental adviser, welcomed a report prepared by the Pentagon which warns of the potentially disastrous consequences of climate change to Europe within decades.
He said: "It's old stuff, about the possible collapse of the thermohaline circulation which keeps the Gulf Stream flowing to north-west Europe.
"If that stopped, average temperatures in countries like the UK could drop by about five degrees. [Centigrade]
"It's a possible 'tipping point', a critical stage in global warming. But it's only one such point. BBC 04 feb
Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us Feb 22, 2004, Guardian Unlimited
Great Barrier Reef is Doomed (04 Feb) "Researchers from Queensland University's Centre for Marine Studies said there was little evidence that corals could adapt quickly enough to cope with EVEN THE LOWEST projected temperature rise of 2C." [EMPH ADDED -ED] "The new study predicts that within about 15 years the Barrier Reef tourist and fishing industries will lose thousands of millions of dollars.."
American Association for the Advancement of Science :A shrinking sink? Carbon fertilization may be flimsy weapon against warming 04 feb
European heatwave caused 35,000 deaths New Scientist Magazine. 03 Oct
The Shadow of Extinction by Monbiot (03 July) concerns cliamte chagn and 251m yrs ago, but this newer study in Nature (03 Dec) about 600 million years ago is relevant:
Scientists at the University of California, Riverside and Columbia University have found evidence of the release of an enormous quantity of methane gas as ice sheets melted at the end of a global ice age about 600 million years ago, possibly altering the ocean's chemistry, influencing oxygen levels in the ocean and atmosphere, and enhancing climate warming because methane is a powerful greenhouse gas
..Methane clathrates are increasingly thought to play a role in mass extinctions associated with significant climate change in the Earth's history, and they are a large and exceedingly unstable source of greenhouse gas, greater than the equivalent of instantaneously burning all the oil reserves on Earth.
"Linking these dramatic climate events to changes in the methane clathrate pool has important implications for the stability of our current climate," said Martin Kennedy, an associate professor of geology at UC Riverside. "The Earth has a large unstable pool of these clathrates in ocean sediments today, and it is thought that a few degrees of ocean warming could trigger large-scale release into the atmosphere. We now have strong evidence of this doomsday scenario in one of the most important intervals of Earth's biologic history".

How Global Warming May Cause Next Ice Age 04 Jan Thom Hartmann
A Picture is worth 1,000 words on Ice cores and CO2 data... (Ice Cores graph and backup) 04 Jan
FORTUNE MAGAZINE: "CLIMATE COLLAPSE" ; "Growing Evidence of Scary Change" 04 Feb
North Europe to Plunge into Ice Age 'In Decades' 04 Jan (See copy at New Zealand Herald)
One million species extinct by 2050: scientists 04 jan (The Age, .au)
Earth 'entering uncharted waters' 04 jan
Europe "could save Kyoto" with incentirves for Russia said WWF BBC 04 Jan
Climate Change Much Larger Threat Than Terrorism Ananova.com 04 jan
many scientists say cuts of around 60-70% will be needed by mid-century to avoid runaway climate change... The convention's executive secretary, Ms Joke Waller-Hunter, told BBC News Online:"It's a very important first step that can lead to much more far-reaching measures. Yes, it's a peanut - but a vital one in the long run." 03 Dec BBC
EARTH WARMING AT FASTER PACE, say top science group's leaders "the unprecedented increases in greenhouse gas concentrations, together with other human influences on climate over the past century and those anticipated for the future, constitute a real basis for concern." 03 Dec more on American Geophysical Union statement.
China's rising grain prices could signal global food crisis "World grain harvests have fallen for four consecutive years and world grain stocks are at the lowest level in 30 years"

Brown said that the world will be facing a 96 million ton shortfall in grain this year following poor harvests in the United States and India in 2002, and a poor harvest in Europe due to scorching temperatures this year. Shortfalls worldwide have been made up through dwindling grain reserves.
Studies by the International Rice Institute and the US-based Carnegie Institution have shown that grain production can fall 10 percent with a one degree celsius (1.7 degree fahrenheit) increase in temperature, as the increased heat stresses the plants.
The UN's International Panel on Climate Control has come to the conclusion that global warming from greenhouse gases caused by the burning of fossil fuels will lead to temperature rises from two to five degrees celsius this century 03 Nov
Warning From Scientists: World's Ocean Cycles Disrupted; Gulf Stream At Risk 03 dec Jerusalem Post
American Geophysical Union Warns: Human Induced Climate Change 03 Dec
Bizarre New "Falling Iceballs" Phenomenon: Due To Global Warming? 03 Dec
"Mega" Ice Balls from global warming? "Humorous" article in Alaska's adn.com (anchorage daily news)
[gernman]GOVERNMENT PANEL: NEW YORK WOULD BE LARGELY SUBMERGED BY CLIMATE CHANGE 03 Dec Deutche Welle
Climate Chagne Will Harm Human Health 03 dec
BBC: 2003 Climate Disasters Cost $60 Billion 03 dec
UK Winter Storms have "Doubled" in past 50yrs: study BBC 03 Dec
"Devastating" Report on Climate Change by Australia's own government 03 Dec
DISAPPEARING ICE SENDS A WARNING FOR CLIMATE "it appears that our estimates of how rapidly the crysophere responds to climate change have been underestimated in the past"... "the Gulf Stream may slow down or even stop." 03 Dec 8
EU considers Kyoto Tax on U.S, Russia,.. 03 dec 8
Top US Scientists: "No Doubt" Global Warming is Real Australian Broadcasting, quoting Reuters, Dec 5, 2003 (another link here form the US embassy to Italy)
Poor countries already voluntarily cutting emissions; Rich countries may be 17% above 1990 levels, instead of Kyoto's 5% below target. Cuts of 60-70% needed in long run. BBC 03 Nov
MORE DOUBTS ABOUT Carbon Sinks 03 nov
connections between global warming (really: "climate change") and ozone depletion.
LOBAL WARMING COULD SHUT DOWN GULF STREAM, THROW UK INTO DEEP FREEZE
ExxonMobil: global CO2 emissions to "increase dramatically" by 2020; up by 50% 03 nov Reuters
Global Wraming 'Detected' in US 03 Nov BBC, Science Magazine. Intersting study
Sleepwalking to Extinction by G Monbiot , 12 Aug 03
Oceans Becoming More Acidic BBC 03 sep
"Earth hits 2000 year warming peak"
Scientists: Hot Spell Cannot Be Explained by Natural Causes; Suggests Man-made factors" 03 Aug Taipei Times
Worst Case of Global Warming could be 10C not 6C (Monbiot piece referencing it; and why 6 degrees C is a cause to worry about the future of life on Earth
Coral Near Crisis Point 03 Aug. World's coral reefs "may disappear" this century.
Climate 'destroying fish stocks' A warming climate and not local fishermen is to blame for the falling fish harvests in Lake Tanganyika [18% of world's freshwater] , according to new research findings published in the British journal Nature BBC 03 aug
50 Deaths in 4 days in France from Heat Wave; records broken in UK, Germany.. BBC Aug 11, '03.
Kyoto 'will not stop global warming' The Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas emissions will not stop climate change, a leading think tank has warned. "..[he] urged the [UK] to come clean about its acceptance of advice from the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. [which] in 2000 said the UK needed to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050. BBC 03 August
"Heatwave part of global trend" One heat wave does not prove that the world is getting hotter, but this week's weather fits a global trend which has seen previous records shattered with increasing regularity. In nine out of the past 12 years, average temperatures worldwide have been higher than at any time since records began in the 19th century and it is very likely that the 1990s were the warmest decade for 1000 years. BBC 03 Aug.. "Yet even drastic cuts would only slow down climate change; the warming trend is fixed for decades to come by the pollution of the past"
UseNet Post on the 70% cut story below plus LINKS for add'l info and alternatives Aug 2003m
Australian Scientist Dr. Graeme Pearman : 70% emissions cuts needed to affect climate change short-term 1C change "could be 'dangerous'" Aug 2003 (no longer seems to work) ((working link re 60% cuts Dr. Graeme Pearman))
oral reefs across the Caribbean have declined by 80% in three decades BBC 03 jul -- overfishing, pollution, deforestatoin, suspected causes.
A water-borne chemical is causing oysters to develop into hermaphrodites, which cannot breed and may affect other organisms BBC Jul 03
HArsh storms hit France, Swiss daily temp highest in 200 years BBC 03 Jul "We live not far from Saumur, in Argenton-Chateau. It was like something from a nightmare, a continuous bank of lightning as wide as the visible sky rolled in, just after sunset" ; "the clouds were so dark and menacing that the usually bright evening sky turned from day to night, incessantly streaked with lightning - proper judgement day stuff" ; "We have woken up to a scene from an Oliver Stone classic...it was more overwhelming than the Great Storm of 99. "
he oldest seed plants known, the cycads: 53% of species thrt'd w/extinction BBC 03 Jul
world's water supply "running low" and middle east water wars bbc jun 03
Large Fish "may follow dinosaurs" BBC Jun 03; Pew Commission condemns US "frontier mentality" in oceans.
Drought threatens US-Mexico relations (May 03) (water)
Rich must pay to save nature, royal soc for prot of birds bbc may 03
wake up call on extinction wave by UK's Nat'l Acad of Sci (bbc may 03)
WHO Warning over "killer Diseases May 03
World 'losing battle against extinctions' May 03
Scientists: Chimps are same Genus as humans BBC May 03
Wake up call on extinction wave 10% of birds/25% of mammals endangered; director of science at the Zoological Society of London:"We support the idea the world is on the breaking crest of the sixth great wave of extinction" (May 2003)
EU current trend is to NOT meet Kyoto by 2008 BBC May 03g
greenhouse gasses "at record levels" highest recorded, ever, at UK station feb 02 bbc
2002 second warmest world temperature on record BBC Apr 03
Gorillas and Chimps to "verge on extinction" by 2013 BBC Apr 03
PARKINSON'S DISEASE LINKED to PESTICIDES (mar 03 bbc)
Alternative Water Future Outlined BBC Mar 03 First People's World Watter Forum
UK May Fail on Climate Cuts but there is still time BBC Feb 03
Antarctica: "These glaciers are already responding to global warming at a rate that has really surprised the scientific community. "We've seen them responding over the past decade. But now we can see the disintegration of the ice sheets much faster than we thought. There's evidence that both small and large glaciers could disintegrate even in our own lifetime."

UK 'close to record warmth' UK close to warmest in 350 yrs; "Globally, probably the second warmest year recorded since [records began in] 1860" BBC Dec 02 Nine of the 10 warmest years have occurred since 1990, including 1999, 2000 and 2001; the only year warmer than 2002 was 1998.
Glaciers in the Bolivian Andes are shrinking at an alarming rate, say scientists. Data collected from tropical ice fields near the world's highest capital, La Paz, show mass loss in the 1990s at rates 10 times greater than previous decades.
Trains 'should replace planes (climate change) BBC Nov 02
Wester Canada is warming: study in Nature magazine BBC nov 02
World's Plants under threat: not 13% but 22-47% bbc nov 02
Pesticide's "sex-change" effects on Frogs BBC Oct 02 Earlier this year, they reported that male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) raised in laboratory tanks contaminated with atrazine developed egg cells in their testes - they became hermaphrodites. This feminisation process, they found, would occur in water with atrazine levels as low as 0.1 parts per billion (ppb), 30 times lower than the current allowable limit for atrazine in drinking water set by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
global fish crisis "to worsen" BBC 0ct 02
Europe's dirty air is "still a killer" bbc oct 02
Asian Lake level, climate change concern BBC oct 02
Iceland invents energy-from-water machine No joke. Currently $2/watt expected. BBC Oct 2002.
UK Minister: mideast oil "too costly for Europe"; "He urged a rapid effort to develop renewable and low-carbon replacement fuels. " ; "to take urgent action to reduce our long-term dependence on oil as our principal transport fuel." (BBC Oct 02) "We have a way of life, a set of consumption patterns, that are going to have to change - all of us. We have to recognise that without a major shift in the whole way we organise ourselves, our pattern of life is simply not sustainable."
Massive emissions cuts needed; by 60% but midcentury; not the 5.2% of Kyoto in fact 2000 emissions are 8.4% HIGHER than 1990. (Keyword: "50-70% cuts")
cleaner air cuts deaths BBC Oct 02

one third of primates at risk of extinction

Deadly Asian Haze can travel halfway around globe in a week. But solutions exist (BBC Aug 2002)
"Better water demands radical farm reform" BBC Sep 02
Seasons "Becoming Muddled" Sept 02
Concentrations of microscopic plants that comprise the foundation of the ocean's food supply have fallen during the past 20 years as much as 30 percent in northern oceans, CNN, Aug 02
Study: Nature pays 'biggest dividends' even looking at number only (not beauty, or human suffering from lack of clean air etc) numbers show capitalist profit is much less than LOSS of value of nature.. (BBC Aug 02)
Study in Science magazine: climate-induced worsening in severity of monsoons expected (BBC Jul 02)
Alaskan glaciers melting faster than prevly thought BBC Jul 02
climate is a future health threat BBC Jun 02
"Faster than expected" melting in Antarctica (BBC Jun 02)
Instead of cutting emissions, the Bush administration has initiated policy changes that could increase its emissions by up to 30% (BBC June 02)
Humans Cause Global Warming, US Admits (BBC June 02)
Quarter of mammals face extinction BBC May02
Japanese supercomputer simulates earth (Apr 02)
During the tests, twice as many chickens died when fed on T-25 GM maize, compared with those fed on conventional maize. .. He said they were "not really good enough to base a student project on, let alone a marketing consent for a GM product" Apr 02
Jan-Mar 2002 WARMEST SINCE RECORDS BEGAN (Apr 02)
Pesticide 'causes frogs to change sex' BBC Apr 02
Pesticide 'causes frogs to change sex' (BBC Apr 02)
"The World is in a water crisis" (BBC Apr 02)
Large expanses of the world's forests are in rapid decline and could be lost much sooner than expected according to a new reprot (BBC Apr 02) 1 degree warming could mean extinction for 'living fossil' (BBC Mar 02)
Professor Wadhams thinks the Arctic could be virtually ice-free during the summer by about 2080 and bears' fertility is being affected by manmade chemicals in environment (BBC Mar 02)
UN: Looming Global Water Criss (BBC MAr 02)
Antactic Ice Shelf Breaks Apart BBC Mar 02
Trawlers "smashing" coral (BBC Feb 02)
GLOBAL FISH CRISIS (BBC Feb 02)
WARNING: Climate change could be "sudden" (Washington Post, Dec 2001) ******************************
Wash Post on non-linear is here
admission: (anti-)global warming treaties 'ineffective', not enough 'teeth'
UK Farming Faces "major shakeup" after report Pro-organic, pro-local (Feb02)
Pollution Link to Birth Defects (Dec 01) http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1723000/1723544.stm">
2001 near-record global temp (Dec 18, 01)
Sewage limits 'harm swimmers' health' A report to the UN says European and US sewage limits fail to protect bathers Nov 01
Forests rae "only temporary" carbon absorbers
Shortsighted' world lets population swell The UN says the rich world is not paying what it promised to curb population growth.
Australia, Japan, others try to reneg on Kyoto promises (BBC Nov 01)
Rapid Antarctic Warming is a Puzzle
Astronaut Warns of Earth Impact (BBC, Aug 01)
Dying Species endanger the earth (Dr. Leakey changes mind, says it's worse)
The number of malnourished African children is forecast to be 18% higher in 2020 than it was in 1997.
PEsticides Linked to MAle Infertility
Hi-tech pollutant harming babies the amount of PBDEs detected has been doubling every five yearsResearch has shown that very low doses of PBDE given to baby mice, led to irreparable brain damage, causing reduced learning capacity and hyperactive behaviour. (Jul 01)
"Winners and loosers in Bonn . . . .
Reserachers narrow probable global warming: it is "alarming"
GLOBAL WARMING "WORSE THAN FEARED" 3,000 top scientists: The report says global temperatures are rising nearly twice as fast as previously thought. (Jul 01)
Scientists warn that climate change "will hit the hungry" (Jul 01)
CARBON SINKS 'LITTLE HELP TO CLIMATE' (Jul 01) (SEE ALSO May 01)
Chemicals may be causing several testicular abnormalities (Jun 01)
Gulf Stream may be in danger
Articles on Climate Change and info on Kyoto....... (Jun 01)
White-house Commissioned Scientists: "Climate Change is REAL".
The Car That Runs on Air (Oct 2000)
Pollution stunts sexual development in teens
STUDY: "CARBON SINKS" MAY NOT HELP MUCH (RE: CLIMATE CHANGE) (May 01)
Great Apes in peril of extinction within 10 years (May 01)
Amazon destruction Surgesdestruction of Brazil's Amazon rainforest jumped to a five-year high last year...size of Belgium..destruction blamed on 'improved economic climate'
EcoAgriculture: Saving BioDiversity while Feeding the Hungry
a thousand years' climate records show the last three decades were the millennium's warmest. (BBC, Apr 26, 01)
Scientists in the United States have produced the strongest evidence yet that man-made global warming is responsible for a significant increase in the temperature (Apr 01)
CLIMATE CHANGE: Half of these potential emissions reductions may be achieved by 2020 with direct benefits (energy saved) exceeding direct costs (net capital, operating and maintenance costs)," the report's summary for policy-makers said
A part of the Antarctic normally icebound in February is now virtually clear water, a sailor has reported.
Go-ahead for 1st GM insect release (BBC, Feb 01)
Climate Change could kill thousands Heatwaves like that of 1976 can currently be expected once every 350 years - by 2050 they could happen every five or six years.
Scientists: there are indications that climate change has begun to feed on itself; up 5.8-10 deg C by 2100.
Antarctic Ice Sheet Shrinks
UN:30% of pesticides marketed in the developing world contain toxic substances which pose a serious threat to human health and the environment.
IPCC: Climate change outstrips forecasts (Jan 01)
Global Warming Alarm Raised at Shanghai U.N. Meeting (Indymedia.org)
WorldWatchInst on climate change: "there really is an urgency to act right away before we see the full evidence of this kind of damage."
Melting permafrost threatens Alps "Areas from as far south as the Sierra Nevada in southern Spain to the peaks of northern Scandinavia have already been affected by global warming"
2000 is fifth or sixth warmest since 1860.
Arctic sea ice 'thins by almost half'
Climate Talks End In Failure "Persistent efforts to weaken the Kyoto Protocol, in particular on the part of the US, Japan, Canada and Australia, brought the talks to the current impasse." -WWF.
The Hague: Science Takes a Back Seat He told a startled group of journalists: "We have found from computer modeling that if you double the atmosphere's carbon dioxide content over 70 years, the sea level continues to rise not for 10 more years, not for a century, but for the next 1,000 years." And a doubling of carbon dioxide by 2070 is perfectly possible.
Scramble ot save Climate Treaty (BBC, 11/23/00)
India's Global Warming Fears
Climate talks near deadlock
| news wire | contact | email article PROTESTERS TAKE DIRECT ACTION INSIDE THE CLIMATE CONFERENCE (Indymedia, 11/22/00)
The [externalities] of [our current] transportation system are nearly 10% of western Europe's gross domestic product.
Mass Extinction Underway, Majority of Biologists Say (IndyMedia: Wash Post)
Pollution trading goes online "Greenhouse gasses can now be traded online by governments and companies who want to buy their way out of trouble without cleaning up their act" (http://co2e.com/)
U.S. accused of seeking to "unravel" the Kyoto Protocol
One of the stumbling blocks..has been the insistence of the US..that it should be allowed to achieve much of its Kyoto reduction targets without actually reducing their emissions at all
Climate Conference Summaries
US Row threatens climate summit
Damning Report on Dams Australian ABC) and BBC story on same issue
Religious leaders vow to conserve
average temperature in Alaska is rising almost 10 times faster than the world average
"We have a real problem in so far as the biggest industrial country in the world has not even submitted the agreement to congress... The American [govt] in this area are very much the villains.. They've not gone along with Kyoto..and yet..are unquestionably the largest polluter"
Global Climate Change BBC Online Guide
"We have a real problem in so far as the biggest industrial country in the world has not even submitted the agreement to congress... The American [govt] in this area are very much the villains.. They've not gone along with Kyoto..and yet..are unquestionably the largest polluter"
Global Climate Change BBC Online Guide
Scientists Claim Nothing Will Stop Global Warming misleading headline: read: "Need much more drastic cuts than Kyoto" (would be a better title to the actual story) 50-70% more like it
Kyoto is not nearly enough ("High stakes at The Hague") 50-70 more like it
Massive Pollution Cuts Needed
Clinton 'warns' on climate change but wants to buy 'rights' to pollute.
indisputable scientific evidence: very serious condition of European fish stocks.
(Global) Warming: World's Winners and Losers
Climate treaty 'robs the poor'
Scientists say European Union policies will have to cope with a drastically different climate by 2100.
Global warming 'worse than feared' Max temp rise by 2100 could be twice as prev. projection. (60% cuts of IPCC cited)
One of the three British scientists who discovered the Antarctic ozone hole: Arctic is next, likely soon <
coral records suggest extreme weather events have become more prevalent since the mid 1970s, possibly because of global warming. he warmer and wetter weather seen in the central Pacific over the last 25 years is unprecedented since 1840
read this
A quarter of the world's mammal species face a high risk of extinction very soon, similar figures for other animals..m
WWF: global warming is happening, probably already affecting weather "possibility of fundamental destabilisation of the global climate. "
Humans Stress Ecosystems to the Limit says WRI study.
90's was warmest decade in at least 1000 yrs
Humans 'face extinction'what's most interesting here is (nonhuman)large mammals dying off...not the prediction about humans
Bacteria 'hasten climate change' carbon dioxide (CO2) is being released by bacteria in the soil to add to that resulting from human activity. ..He believes his discoveries probably mean some disturbing news ahead. "It's quite extraordinary, and we must expect surprises, probably nasty surprises." "We've a positive feedback mechanism. We think it releases more CO2 because of the respiration rates of bacteria in the soil. The natural system accelerates global warming."
Ice records reveal warming trend
Ozone Hole Largest yet recent investigations suggest the problem may be on a much larger scale than anticipated.
Gender-bender' fish problem widens
Scientists find 1 in 100 bears are hermaphrodites (9/1/00)
Antarctic ozone hole widens"this is an alarming rate of decrease. "It is double the amount we had observed two weeks ago, and this could lead to a much greater ozone hole." (BBC, 8/3/00)
Warming 'threatens third of habitats' says WWF (BBC, 8/30/00)
2025: 3 billion people with chronic/ severe water shortage (BBC, 8/24/00)
first time in more than 50 million years that the North Pole has been covered in water rather than ice. (BBC, 8/20/00)
Noah's ark created for plants; up to 25% of Earth's plants may die by 2050.
Carbon at 20 million year high (BBC, 8/17/00)
Arctic warming gathers pace (8/15/00)
Scientists: evidence that reptiles are undergoing a decline even more marked than that now affecting amphibians. (8/10/00)
New greenhouse gas threat Scientists have discovered a potent new greenhouse gas in the upper atmosphere that could increase global warming. (7/27/00)
report says climate change will result in more frequent and stronger El Nino episodes, predisposing more forests to burn. But it says there is still time for governments to make real policy changes, if they act immediately. (7/27/00)
": Red Cross: The Rich World's Pollution is Robbing Poor Countries
Researchers in the US suspect rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere could reduce coral growth by almost half.
Disasters Blamed on Pollution
Climate change from TV and other domestic electric use
Cost of Global Warming ("climate change is happening and we have to defend ourselves")
Soaring ocean temperatures in the Caribbean have caused the first mass die-off of coral in the region for 3,000 years.
Global Threats to intelligence unearthed
Amphibians Facing Global Decline
Severe Loss to ARctic (N Pole) Ozone ECO/
New study finds warming trend in oceans (3/23/00, CNN) ( Borehole temperatures confirm global warming 2/17/00)
Climate worries surface in Florida (3/16/00) &
20th Century: Warmest in 500 years
Winters really are getting wetter (BBC, 3/17/00) "There is very likely a human influence behind this trend."
Polluters 'should pay climate victims' & Billions without clean water & Water arithmetic 'doesn't add up'
Ozone Layer Thinning over Europe (feb 2000)
"Global-warming warnings are more than hot air weakly worded CNN report.
Bangladesh says climate change will make 20 million of its people homeless, and it will ask the developed world to take them in.m
Planet faces 'abrupt changes'
Experts cite 'strong evidence' of global warming an amusingly ideological article by CNN whose very title should be "Experts declare global warming 'undoubtedly real'" but was changed to a weaker title. Similarly last section.
Global Water Crisis "the situation is likely to become severe over the next few decades" (BBC, 1/12/00)
The First Horseman: Environmental Disaster (12/13/99)
Arctic expert unthaws alarming data on ice thinning
Polar wind shift marks new global weather worry (CNN 12/17/99)
Climate change warning (Thursday, November 18, 1999)
British breast milk 'highly contaminated'
Average temperatures across the continent are expected to rise between 0.1 and 0.4 degrees Centigrade each decade.
Climate treaty worries emerge in Bonn Many scientists say cuts 10 times larger than the protocol provides for are needed immediately in order to avert serious climate disruption.
Climate 'next century's biggest challenge'
Climate disaster possible by 2100 (Extinction warning for freshwater species & 12.5% of the world's flora face extinction &
WWF: Ban DDT & Plant Losses Threaten Food Supplies Trees 'will not avert climate change' & Carbon Cuts only buy time)
Deadline for global warming deal Europe's climate forecast is hot
Earth Under Pressure
UN Warns of Earth Crisis
The land and water crisis in river basins contributed to the total of 25 million environmental refugees last year, which for the first time exceeded the number of war-related refugees. "By 2025, the number of environmental refugees could quadruple." according to a report by group chaired by the World Bank's vice-president for special programs, Ismail Serageldin.

The United Nations Environment Programme says the developed countries must cut their use of natural resources by 90% to give the rest of the world a chance of emerging from poverty. Scary? It's not as impossible as it sounds, email us for alternatives allowing for a high quality of life with much less energy/other consumption.

EconomicDemocracy.org
Links

GlobalPublicMedia Global Ecology Environment Global Warming Climate Change INDEX

Links