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| World CO2 levels at record high, scientists warn |
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 Guest writes: The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to new figures that renew fears that climate change could begin to slide out of control.
Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii say that CO2 levels in the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40% since the industrial revolution and the highest for at least the last 650,000 years.
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| Japan scientists warn Arctic ice melting fast |
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| Guest writes: TOKYO (Reuters) - Arctic ice is melting fast and the area covered by ice sheets in ocean could shrink this summer to the smallest since 1978 when satellite observation first started, Japanese scientists warned in a report.
Ice sheets in the Arctic Ocean shrank to the smallest area on record in late summer in 2007, researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said in a report on the website (http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/imgdata/topics/2008/tp080430.html).
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| NZ: Smelter threatens closure over Govt's carbon scheme |
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| jakeemon writes: The owners of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter near Invercargill are threatening to close – which would put thousands of Kiwis out of work – and they are blaming the Government's costly carbon emissions trading scheme.
The Asia Pacific head of owners Rio Tinto flew from Europe to Parliament today – to tell MPs if the bill is passed in its current form, the company will start the "path to closure".
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| Green groups urge upholding U.S. tar sands fuel ban |
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| Guest writes: A who's who of major U.S. and Canadian environmental organizations is urging the U.S. Senate to keep in place a rule banning the United States government from buying fuel from Alberta's tar sands on the grounds that it is too environmentally tainted.
Yesterday, the groups released a letter sent to all members of the U.S. Congress, urging them to reject efforts to revoke the fuel measure through amendments to other legislation, arguing that taxpayer dollars shouldn't be spent "to develop alternative fuel sources that make global warming worse."
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| Attenborough: ''Wasting energy is an appalling thing.'' |
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| It's in David Attenborough's Nature to Explore the Environment -- and Speak Up for It
At 82, naturalist David Attenborough is still hard at work (up next is a TV series on evolution), and the Internet is reinvigorating his oeuvre: A clip from 1998's "The Life of Birds," featuring a lyrebird that can mimic cameras, car alarms and chainsaws, has been viewed almost 840,000 times since it was posted on YouTube last year. "The Life of Birds" is one of four Attenborough-hosted series included in a recently released 17-disc box set.
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| Overlooked in the global food crisis: A problem with dirt |
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| vox_mundi writes: WASHINGTON - Science has provided the souped-up seeds to feed the world, through biotechnology and old-fashioned crossbreeding. Now the problem is the dirt they're planted in.
As seeds get better, much of the world's soil is getting worse and people are going hungry. Scientists say if they can get the world out of the economically triggered global food crisis, better dirt will be at the root of the solution.
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| vox_mundi writes:
Canadian and U.S. spotters are being kept busy this year by hundreds of the frozen chunks in Atlantic shipping lanes
A surge in the number of icebergs off Newfoundland has imperilled marine traffic and added work for the flight crews who monitor offshore.
About 600 icebergs are currently on the Grand Banks, roughly double the total all last year, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Two years ago, the area had virtually none.
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| Sea changes could warn of Day After Tomorrow scenario |
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| vox_mundi writes: In the movie The Day After Tomorrow, the world froze pretty quickly when a major ocean current, dubbed the "ocean conveyor belt", turned off.
While that was a work of fiction, slowdowns of the conveyor are possible and researchers have now found a way of giving us a few years' advance notice.
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| U.S. last on country list of eco-consumers |
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| coyote writes: Brazil and India top the 'Greendex' commissioned by National Geographic
WASHINGTON - Brazilians and Indian consumers ranked the most environmentally friendly in a new study that put Americans in last place.
Indians and Brazilians each scored 60.0 points on the new "Greendex," announced Wednesday by the National Geographic Society.
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| Germany Warns Of Economic Risks From Species Loss |
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| Nations must act to slow extinction rates, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday, arguing the loss of species threatened food supplies for billions of people.
Just 10 days before the start of a UN summit on biodiversity in the western city of Bonn, Gabriel told the German parliament that both industrialised and developing countries had to step up their efforts.
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| Transit systems travel 'green' track |
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| Guest writes:
NEW YORK — This year, the surging current of the East River will help provide power to a nearby subway station. The lights that lace the ornate interior of Manhattan's Grand Central Station have largely been replaced by bulbs that burn brightly but save energy. There are plans to make the rooftop of a Queens bus depot bloom like a garden.
"Carbon footprint" has become part of the national lexicon, and mass transit systems throughout the country are taking steps to ease their impact on the environment even as they strive to provide more service to a growing number of riders.
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| DoE announces carbon-storage funding |
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| Guest writes: WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy announced $126.6 million in carbon-capture funding.
The money will go to the West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership and the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership adding two more projects to the existing four funded by the department.
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| U.S. Military Measures Climate Change |
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| Intelligence Establishment Calling It a Major Security Problem
Last April, Congress directed the National Intelligence Council to issue the first ever National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on climate change. Expected to be completed in May, the NIE is a comprehensive analysis of national security threats prepared in concert by all 16 branches of the federal intelligence and military establishment. How much if any of the report will be released to the public is unknown.
Though Congressional Republicans opposed it, the commissioning of the NIE was supported by prominent members of the military and intelligence communities, including high-level officials appointed by President Bush. In a letter leaked to the Washington Post, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell wrote that it was “entirely appropriate for the National Intelligence Council [NIC] to prepare an assessment on the geopolitical and security implications of global climate change.”
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| Survey shows rise in U.S. honey bee deaths |
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| coyote writes: SAN FRANCISCO - A survey of bee health released Tuesday revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation's commercially managed hives lost since last year.
Last year's survey commissioned by the Apiary Inspectors of America found losses of about 32 percent.
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| Climate link with killer cyclones spurs fierce scientific debate |
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| PARIS (AFP) - Climate scientists have begun to debate whether global warming is producing more powerful storms, after Nargis smashed into Myanmar -- brutally changing gear from a Category One to a Category Four cyclone just before it made landfall.
Nagris wasn't an isolated incident: Hurricane Katrina laid waste to parts of the US Gulf Coast in 2005.
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