Climate-Change Strategy: Be Afraid — but Only a Little

While researching a feature for TIME.com recently, I had the chance to sift through TIME's decades of environment coverage. I came to two conclusions: First, we were writing stories about virtually the same subjects 40 years ago as we do now. (Air pollution, endangered species, the polluted oceans, dwindling natural resources.) Second, our coverage of climate change has been really scary — by which I mean, we've emphasized the catastrophic threats of global warming in dire language. That reached a height in 2006, when we titled our cover story on climate change, crowned with a photo of a lonely polar bear on an ice floe, "Be Worried. Be Very Worried." And since it was published, I've seen that cover image pop up in countless PowerPoint presentations on climate change, always used to underscore just how catastrophic warming would be.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2032405,00.html#ixzz1Dy1XIEi7

Animals 'hit by global warming'

Climate change could lead to the extinction of many animals including migratory birds, says a report commissioned by the UK government.

Melting ice, spreading deserts and the impact of warm seas on the sex of turtles are among threats identified. The report is being launched at a meeting of EU nature conservation chiefs in Scotland. It says that warming has already changed the migration routes of some birds and other animals. The UK's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) commissioned the research, which was led by the British Trust for Ornithology. The meeting, in the Scottish holiday resort of Aviemore, was called to discuss ways in which wildlife might be helped to adapt to global warming.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4313726.stm

For Many Species, No Escape as Temperature Rises

Over the past two decades, an increasing number of settlers who have moved here to farm have impinged on bird habitats and reduced bird populations by cutting down forests and turning grasslands into fields. Now the early effects of global warming and other climate changes have helped send the populations of many local mountain species into a steep downward spiral, from which many experts say they will never recover.

Over the next 100 years, many scientists predict, 20 percent to 30 percent of species could be lost if the temperature rises 3.6 degrees to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit. If the most extreme warming predictions are realized, the loss could be over 50 percent, according to the United Nations climate change panel.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/science/earth/22kenya.html

Freezing US Set For Dramatic Temperature Rise

The US was in the grip of a cold snap on Thursday and Friday, with snow on the ground in 49 out of 50 states, including Hawaii.
The only state without snow was Florida. Oklahoma had experienced its snowiest month in 100 years.
However, a dramatic increase in temperature is forecast for this weekend; the mercury set to rise by as much as a 100 degrees (farenheit) in some places.
So what is responsible for this dramatic change?
The jet stream, a fast-moving ribbon of air high up in the atmosphere that marks the boundary between cold and warm air, has been further south than usual, with cold air to its north and warm air to its south.
The jet stream is moving northwards this weekend, allowing southern and central states to warm up.

Senate Climate Bill Would Cut Emissions 20% by 2020.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, calls for the U.S. to reduce its emissions by 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.

That's a slightly steeper short-term cut than the one passed in a controversial House bill in June, which called for 17 percent reduction by 2020. The bills require equal levels of cuts by 2050.

Both bills would establish a cap-and-trade system that would limit greenhouse gas emissions by issuing pollution offsets. Power plants, factories and others could buy and sell those offsets in a regulated market. The number would be reduced over time, reducing the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions.

"We know clean energy is the ticket to strong, sustainable economic growth," Boxer said at a rally to introduce the bill.

Most environmental lobbyists said they were pleased with the legislation.

Climate change: Contrary motion? BBC News Earth Watch

One issue, two reports, two different conclusions.

In short, a recipe for confusion - at least, on the surface.

Last week the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the London-based think-tank, published a report suggesting that fears of mass migration caused by climate change were misplaced.

A few days later, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) trailed its forthcoming report with a release recommending that:

"Governments in Asia and the Pacific need to prepare for a large increase in climate-induced migration in the coming years..."

At face value, then, the starkest of contradictions: and an important one, because if millions of people (perhaps a billion, according to a 2007 report from Christian Aid [pdf link]) are forced away from their homes, that's a huge issue for governments and international agencies to deal with.
If they're not, the money and resources that might have been mis-directed at this issue can be re-directed at others.

So why the confused picture? Is it really a confusion of conclusions - or of terminologies?

>> Read the full story on BBC News

Wolverine to Vanish From U.S. Due to Warming?

The wolverine may have finally met an enemy it can't claw past: The fierce creature is at risk of being KO'd by climate change, a new study says.

Built for the cold, wolverines make their homes mostly in the northern forests and tundras of North America, Europe, and Asia. The carnivores are rarely found in places where temperatures get higher than 72 degrees F (22 degrees C).
During winter, the animals' thick, oily fur serves as insulation, while large, padded paws help them run across deep snow. In the spring, wolverines build dens in the lingering snowpack to shelter newborns.

Currently about 15,000 or more wolverines are believed to roam Canada, and an unknown number reside in Alaska. Only a few dozen to a few hundred are believed to live in the contiguous United States, almost all of them in the mountains of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and Washington State.