Polar Bears and Climate Change

CNN's Jenny Harrison talks to Jessica Ellis about the polar bears and their habitat

Source:
Cable Network News, "Polar Bears and Climate Change", accessed December 21, 2009

Boliva's Melting Glacier

Scientists say ice in the Andes Mountains is disappearing rapidly. CNN's Rafael Romo has the story.

Source:
Cable News Network, "Boliva's Melting Glacier", accessed December 21, 2009

Spain's Wind Energy Increases

CNN's Al Goodman explains why Spain is now a global leader in wind energy.

Source:
Cable Network News, "Spain's Wind Energy Increases", accessed December 21, 2009

Threat of rising seas looms over coastal Africa

Africans living on the coast, who face the loss of their cities, homes and livelihoods to rising seas, are less interested in haggling over greenhouse gas emissions than getting aid to move to higher ground.

Speaking as talks on a global climate deal in Copenhagen ran into disagreements over how to share the burden of emissions cuts, some residents of low-lying coastal Africa said they had more pressing concerns.

"We want the authorities of the world powers to come and rescue the poor people from the sea," said Diakite Abdullaye, 46, looking over his shoulder at the ruins of a house he said had already been destroyed by the advancing ocean.

"If they can't stop the sea rising, then help us move somewhere else," said the resident of Ivory Coast's biggest city.

Rising sea levels caused by the melting of polar ice caps are seen by climate experts as largely unavoidable for centuries to come, even if substantial cuts in carbon dioxide emissions are made.

"Like a slowly boiling kettle, the oceanic system has very long response time to changing conditions and the seas will go on slowly rising for centuries even if all greenhouse gas emissions stopped tomorrow," wrote Mark Lynas, a British climate expert and author who advises the government of the Maldives.

The U.N.'s climate change panel in 2007 predicted global warming would raise sea levels by between 18 and 59 cm (7 and 24 inches) this century. Many climate scientists believe the estimate is conservative, and a rise of a meter or more is likely.

Either way, it could spell disaster for much of coastal Africa, especially densely populated tropical West Africa whose economic centers sprawl along the coast.

The United Nations estimates Africa has 320 coastal cities and about 56 million people living in "low lying" coastal zones, those less than 10 meters above mean sea level.

ENCROACHING TIDE

Some expects say sea levels have risen by about 20 cm since the start of the Industrial Revolution in northern Europe.

That is no surprise to residents of Abidjan's Port Bouet, where abandoned concrete shacks litter the beach. Some have lost their front walls. Scaffolding is all that remains of others.

"Twenty years ago the sea was far away from here," said Samassa Awa, 39, an unemployed nurse whose wooden shack has been flooded by the Atlantic many times. "You see all these destroyed houses? Many people fled but we decided to stay."

Poor planning and the haphazard construction of homes on reclaimed land subject to erosion has compounded the problem.

In Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, millions may have to move. The city is home to 15 million people spread over creeks and lagoons. The Lagos state government has been battling to reinforce the long sand spits that protect the mouth of the main lagoon from the Atlantic.

Gilbert Pandy, a resident of the Congolese capital Brazzaville, said advancing seas had washed away a village cemetery. "We are exposed to a disaster ... Sadly, no one cares," he said.

Africa's island paradises such as the Seychelles could be among the first to suffer.

Rolph Payet, an adviser to the government who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore for his work on climate change, said that half of the Seychelles' islands were barely two meters above sea level.

"All of our infrastructure, telecommunications, fuel, ports, airports, are located on the coast," he said, adding that tourist resorts in outlying islands risked being submerged.

"The most frustrating thing is that we can do something. If an asteroid hits the planet, fine, we will all be doomed, but we are in a situation where we can actually solve the problem."

Source:
Reuters, "Threat of rising seas looms over coastal Africa", accessed December 19, 2009

Climate Change and Africa

As over 100 leaders converged on Copenhagen last week to address global climate change, this video focuses on Africa.

Inside Africa talk's to Professor Peter Webster, a leading expert on climate change in Africa and Asia

Source:
Cable Network News, "Climate Change and Africa", accessed December 21, 2009

Iceland and geothermal energy

CNN's Charles Hodson talks to Iceland's president about the country's efforts to produce geothermal power.

Source:
Cable Network News, "Iceland and geothermal", accessed December 21, 2009

Meat Production and Climate Change

World View takes a look at the impact meat production can have on climate change.

Source:
Cable Network News, "Meat Production and Climate Change", accessed December 21, 2009

California senator acts to widen desert protection

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill on Monday to set aside over one million acres of California desert for wildlife and scenic conservation, closing those areas to renewable energy companies hungry for sunny, wide-open spaces.

The measure marks the latest move by the California Democrat to protect ecologically fragile tracts of the Mojave Desert, putting conservation interests at odds with the search for large swaths of land suitable for solar power arrays and wind farms.

California has set some of the nation's most ambitious clean-energy goals, including a target to meet a third of the state's electricity needs from renewable resources by 2020.

But Feinstein has led efforts to prevent renewable energy expansion from spoiling pristine lands prized for their scenic values and regarded by scientists as crucial habitat for such species as bighorn sheep and desert tortoises.

"I strongly believe that conservation, renewable energy development and recreation can and must co-exist in the California desert," Feinstein said in a statement. She also was a chief sponsor of a 1994 law that bolstered protection for more than 7 million acres (2.8 million hectares) of desert.

Two energy projects that ran afoul of her efforts were canceled earlier this year -- a 500-megwatt solar thermal plant under development by BrightSource Inc and a sprawling solar complex planned by Stirling Energy Systems. Both concerns are privately held.

"We wanted to be respectful of what she's doing and it didn't make sense for us to develop that project further," said Stirling spokeswoman Janette Coates.

The Stirling project originally was planned for a panoramic stretch of desert called Sleeping Beauty Valley, included as part of the 941,000-acre (381,000-hectare) Mojave Trails National Monument now proposed by Feinstein's bill.

A second 134,000-acre (54,000-hectare) area near Joshua Tree National Park would be designated as the Sand to Snow National Monument. National monuments are similar to national parks and administered by the National Park Service.

The bill also would set aside 250,000 acres of public land as wilderness -- a more restrictive classification barring roads and permanent buildings -- near the U.S. Army's Fort Irwin training center; expand Death Valley National Park by 41,000 acres ; and add 2,900 acres to Joshua Tree Park.

BrightSource and Stirling are not alone. Various companies have filed more than 130 applications with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to build solar arrays or wind turbine farms in California's desert.

To help accommodate such demands, the U.S. Interior Department has designated 670,000 acres of land especially for potential solar energy production in six western states.

And the agency recently fast-tracked the permit process for more than 2.4 gigawatts worth of renewable energy projects in California alone, including another Stirling solar venture.

In her bill, Feinstein included provisions to ease the permit process for large wind and solar projects on public and private lands in the California desert.

Source:
Reuters,"California senator acts to widen desert protection", accessed December 21, 2009

Mixed Reviews of Cop15

The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference concludes, but not everyone is happy. ITN's Lawrence McGinty reports.

Source:
Cable Network News, "Mixed Reviews of Cop15", accessed December 21, 2009

Volcano Ready to Blow

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes as scientists warn the towering Mayon volcano is about to explode in the Philippines, the country's national news agency reported Monday.

More than 9,000 families -- a total of 44,394 people -- are being housed in evacuation camps after authorities Sunday raised the alert status of the country's most active volcano, Albay Province Gov. Joey Salceda said.

The first of 20 vehicles, including army trucks, were sent to villages to take residents to schools and other temporary housing, provincial emergency management official Jukes Nunez said.

"It's 10 days before Christmas. Most likely people will be in evacuation centers, and if Mayon's activity won't ease down we will not allow them to return to their homes," Nunez said. "It's difficult and sad, especially for children."

But officials said not everyone is heeding their warnings -- some villagers were spotted within the danger zone checking on their homes and farms on the foothills of the volcano.

The government is trying to enforce a "no man's land" rule in the designated danger zone, with military and police instructed to double the personnel manning the nine checkpoints and double their foot patrol operation inside the restricted area, PNA reported.

Philippine authorities raised the alert status to Level 4 on Sunday which "means that a hazardous explosive eruption is possible within days," according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

"Audible booming and rumbling sounds were first reported in the eastern flank of the volcano" Sunday afternoon, and 1,942 volcanic earthquakes were detected by the institute's seismic network in the 24 hours to 7 a.m. local time on Monday (6 p.m. ET on Sunday), the institute said.

One was "an explosion-type earthquake" that launched a cloud of ash about 500 meters (1,640 feet) into the air, according to the statement.

Level 4 means an eruption is considered imminent and Level 5, the highest, means an eruption is taking place.

The Institute recommended extending already-established danger zones of 8 km (4.9 miles) south of the summit and 7 km (4.3 miles) north of the summit of the the 8,077-foot volcano.

People in surrounding Albay Province have flocked to town centers to catch a glimpse of glowing lava cascading down the slopes of Mayon since the mountain began oozing fiery lava and belching clouds of ash last week.

The volcano, located about 500 km (310 miles) south of the Philippine capital of Manila, has erupted 49 times since its first documented eruption in 1616.

The Philippines is situated in the so-called Ring of Fire, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Mayon's most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and devastated several towns. Its last major eruption was in 1993. Since then, it has remained restless, emitting ash and spewing lava.

Source:
Cable Network News, "Volcano Ready to Blow", accessed December 21, 2009
Cable Network News, "Philippines' Mayon Volcano to explode 'within days'", accessed December 21, 2009

Why don't Shanghainese people care about the environment?

For those who come to Shanghai for the first time, what strikes them the most is not only how tall the skyscrapers are, but also how smoggy the skies can be.

With the UN’s 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen still in the news, it seems almost politically incorrect to not talk about the environment; however, according to QQ.com, environmental issues barely make the daily list of concerns for average Shanghainese person.

What do people care about?

A survey done by China Comment Magazine (半月談) in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hebei, Shanxi, Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhong reveals that the top three issues that people pay the most attention to are: the gap between rich and poor, health care, schooling and housing expenses and (un)employment.

With China’s becoming increasingly capitalized,” the income inequality has rapidly increased here. Netizen Lei Qincheng summarizes many peoples feelings by saying, “Food price have risen 15 percent this year. It feels like the only thing that isn’t raising is my wage.”

In additional to cost of living concerns, health care, schooling and housing expenses -- the three most expensive costs an average Shanghainese person has to face -- are attracting heated comments online. Netizen Zhui Xun Er Shi de Meng comments, “A trip to the hospital would cost ten years of my life savings and I can't even think about the expensive schooling I will have pay for my child.”

Even with the city’s economic growth, not everybody thinks Shanghai is the land of opportunities. Yu Guoan, a 45-year-old unemployed worker complains online that it's hard to find a new job, while Yang Hua, a recent university graduate says “there are too many [university] graduates and there are not enough jobs.”

Why the planet is not their top concern

Pollution and environmental issues, ranked No. 7 in the China Comment Magazine survey -- not among people’s top priorities. QQ.com put this idea to the test in an online poll asking users: “Have you done anything about the climate change?” 30 percent of the 13,150 people respondents voted for “yes” while 70 percent admitted they hadn’t.

Netizen Shan Guang Dian explains how, even with such a push toward green technology in China, this sentiment can still be true among the average Chinese citizen. “I can’t even afford to buy an apartment or to get married," say Shan Guang Dian. "How can anyone expect me to care about the environment?”

An internet user called Meng Shou says, “With climate change, it takes a hundred years for Maldives to sink, but with all the housing and rent problems I have, I wish I could live long enough to see that.” Yue Zhi Shen from Zhongshan agrees: “I make RMB 770 per month. With this wage, can I afford environmental protection?”

It looks like Shanghai still has a long way to go before people in China’s fastest developing city and the seat of the green-themed 2010 Expo can afford to start thinking about environmental issues.

Sources:
Cable Network News, "Why don't Shanghainese people care about the environment?", accessed December 18, 2009

Climate change blamed for Great Lakes decline

Canadian-U.S. study attributes discernible drop in water levels in Huron and Michigan to drier weather.

The water levels of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan have been falling steadily compared with those on Lake Erie, and no one knew why.

But a major report financed by the U.S. and Canadian governments suggests an answer: The fingerprints of climate change are starting to be found in the Great Lakes, the world's largest body of fresh water, causing a discernible drop in their levels.

The report, released Tuesday December 15th, estimated that Lake Huron and Lake Michigan have fallen about a quarter metre relative to Lake Erie since the early 1960s, with 40 to 74 per cent of the reduction due to recent changes in precipitation patterns and temperatures.

The alteration in climate is “the most significant factor” in the water level drop and “could be a more substantive issue for the future on the Great Lakes,” said Ted Yuzyk, Canadian co-chair of the International Upper Great Lakes Study Board, which compiled the report.

Previous studies have projected a decline in the amount of water in the Great Lakes due to climate change, but the board is the first to suggest the trend is already happening.

The fall in water levels is attributed to such factors as less precipitation and the persistent, long-term decline in the lakes' ice cover each winter.

The report said generally drier weather and drought-like conditions from 1998 to 2008 in the central part of North America led to a drop of about 20 per cent in the quantity of water flowing into Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, compared with the average since 1948.

The two lakes depend on precipitation and run-off for about three-quarters of their inflow. The other quarter comes from Lake Superior, whose outflow can be partly regulated. Lake Erie, by contrast, receives nearly 80 per cent of its supplies from Lake Huron, so it hasn't been influenced as dramatically by the reduction in precipitation.

The finding that climate change is already undermining the Great Lakes is politically sensitive. The board has written to the Canadian and U.S. governments to see whether it is within its mandate to study ways to hold back some of the water in Lakes Huron and Michigan to maintain their size in the face of global warming. Mr. Yuzyk said the clarification is still being assessed.

The board was assembled by the International Joint Commission, a bi-national U.S. and Canadian organization that monitors boundary waters the two countries share.

The concerns about Lake Huron and Lake Michigan levels arose in 2005, when a Canadian environmental organization, Georgian Bay Forever, said levels were diminishing because dredging of the St. Clair River in the 1960s allowed more water to drain from the lakes. The river, which runs by the Ontario community of Sarnia, drains the two lakes and ultimately flows into Lake Erie, leading to worries that the Great Lakes had sprung a leak.

But the report said that while the riverbed experienced some erosion in the 1980s, it now appears to be stable. In addition, it said a small part of the observed water level changes were due to the way land around the Great Lakes is rebounding from the melting of glaciers that covered the area during the last ice age.

While most of the world's attention on disappearing ice has focused on the Arctic, the trend is also happening on the Great Lakes. The report said that in the past 36 winters, three of the four smallest ice covers on Lakes Huron, Michigan, Erie and Superior occurred from 1998 to 2008.

Less ice leads to increased heat input from sunlight, higher winds around the water and more evaporation, contributing to lower water levels.

The report involved more than 100 scientists and engineers and a budget estimated at $4-million.

Source:
The Globe and Mail, "Climate change blamed for Great Lakes decline", accessed December 16, 2009

Mammals May Be Nearly Half Way Toward Mass Extinction

If the planet is headed for another mass extinction like the previous five, each of which wiped out more than 75 percent of all species on the planet, then North American mammals are one-fifth to one-half the way there, according to a University of California, Berkeley, and Pennsylvania State University analysis.

Many scientists warn that the perfect storm of global warming and environmental degradation -- both the result of human activity is leading to a sixth mass extinction equal to the "Big Five" that have occurred over the past 450 million years, the last of which killed off the dinosaurs 68 million years ago.

Yet estimates of how dire the current loss of species is have been hampered by the inability to compare species diversity today with the past.

By combining data from three catalogs of mammal diversity in the United States between 30 million years ago and 500 years ago, UC Berkeley and Penn State researchers show that the bulk of mammal extinctions occurred within a few thousand years after the arrival of humans, with losses dropping after that. Although modern humans emerged from Africa into Europe and Asia by about 40,000 years ago, they didn't reach North American until about 13,000 years ago, and most mammal extinctions occurred in the subsequent 1-2,000 years.

"The optimistic part of the study is that we haven't come all that far on extinction in the past 10,000 years," said co-author Anthony Barnosky, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology. "We have this pulse when humans had their first effect about 13,000 years ago, but diversity has remained pretty steady for about 10,000 years."

He expects to see a similar pattern in Europe after the invasion of Homo sapiens some 40,000 years ago.

In the last 100 or so years, however, "we are seeing a lot of geographic range reductions that are of a greater magnitude than we would expect, and we are seeing loss of subspecies and even a few species. So it looks like we are going into another one of these extinction events."

"I'm optimistic that, because we haven't lost those species yet, if we redouble our conservation efforts we can stem the tide of extinctions and have those species around in the future," he added.

The study's 30 million-year timeline allowed the researchers to compare species diversity over a period of dramatic change in the landscape. The Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada ranges formed in the West, while there were dramatic swings in climate that may have been larger than and as fast as the Earth is seeing today, said co-author and UC Berkeley research associate Marc A. Carrasco. Yet these changes did not have a great effect on mammal diversity, compared to what happened when the last glacial period ended, the ice retreated in North America, and humans crossed from Asia into America.

"The only difference is that 13,000 years ago humans appear on the scene," Carrasco said. "The bottom line is, mammals in general were able to deal with these changes in the past. Only when humans arrive do the numbers fall off a cliff."

The analysis by Barnosky, Carrasco and Russell W. Graham, professor of geosciences at Penn State in University Park, Pa., appears online the week of December 13 in the open-access journal PLoS One.

Their analysis combined two databases compiled over the past 15 years ago by Graham and one database created by a UC Berkeley team led by Barnosky and Carrasco in the past few years. Graham's databases are FAUNMAP I, which lists all mammal fossils and their geographic ranges in the United States between 40,000 and 500 years ago, and FAUNMAP II, a compilation of mammalian fossils dating from 40,000 to 5 million years ago. The UC Berkeley database is MIOMAP, which includes all fossil occurrences in the U.S. between 5 and 30 million years ago, which covers the Miocene and part of the Oligocene periods. The databases include all terrestrial mammals from shrews to mammoths, except bats.

If similar databases were analyzed for other terrestrial species, such as reptiles or birds, scientists could look for similar patterns, the researchers say. However, few plant or animal groups produce the abundant fossil record of mammals, Carrasco said.

If a similar analysis of European mammal extinctions were performed, Barnosky said, he expects that it would show a similar pulse of extinction following the arrival of humans, followed by a leveling off until the present day. He ascribes that initial pulse of extinction to a synergistic effect of burgeoning humanity and natural global warming after the Ice Age.

"Now here we are again, astronomically increasing the number of humans on the face of the globe, plus unusual climate change," he said. "That seems to be a recipe for extinction that we saw in past and we are seeing again."

The team hopes to extend its analysis to mammals in other areas of the globe, and use the database to monitor the pace of mammal extinctions.

"One strength of the analysis is that it provides a baseline for judging not only the past, but the future," Carrasco said.

"There is a bit of urgency here, Barnosky said. "By demonstrating that we have already lost 15 to 42 percent of mammalian diversity, the question is, Do we really want to lose any more. I think the answer to that is pretty obvious."

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation programs in geosciences and environmental biology.

Source: Science Daily, "Mammals May Be Nearly Half Way Toward Mass Extinction", accessed December 17, 2009

IUCN names Species on climate change hit list

The Arctic Fox, Leatherback Turtle and Koala are among the species destined to be hardest hit by climate change, according to a new IUCN review.

The report, Species and Climate Change, focuses on 10 species, including the Beluga Whale, Clownfish, Emperor Penguin, Quiver Tree, Ringed Seal, salmon and staghorn corals, which all highlight the way climate change is adversely affecting marine, terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

“Humans are not the only ones whose fate is at stake here in Copenhagen – some of our favourite species are also taking the fall for our CO2 emissions,” says report co-author Wendy Foden. “This report should act as a wake-up call to governments to make real commitments to cut CO2 emissions if we are to avoid a drastically changed natural world. We simply don’t have the time for drawn-out political wrangling. We need strong commitments and we need them now.”

Polar species are being affected by loss of ice due to global warming, according to the report. The Ringed Seal is being forced further north as the sea ice it relies on for pup-rearing retreats. The Emperor Penguin, highly adapted to unforgiving Antarctic conditions, faces a similar problem. Regional sea ice, which it needs for mating, chick-rearing and moulting, is declining. Reduced ice cover also means less krill, affecting food availability for the Emperor Penguin and many other Antarctic species.

The Arctic tundra on which the Arctic Fox depends is disappearing as warming temperatures allow new plant species to flourish. As the habitat changes from tundra to forest, the Red Fox, which preys on the Arctic Fox and competes with it for food, is able to move further north, reducing the Arctic Fox’s territory.

The Arctic’s Beluga Whale is likely to be affected by global warming both directly, through loss of sea ice and subsequent difficulty finding prey, and indirectly, through human activity as melting sea ice opens up previously inaccessible areas. Ship strikes, pollution and gas and oil exploration all put this highly sociable mammal at risk.

“Ordinary people are not powerless to stop these tragic losses,” says Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission. “They can cut down on their own CO2 emissions and voice their support for strong action by their Governments to change the dire climate prognosis we are currently facing.”

The impacts of climate change are not confined to polar regions. In more tropical areas, staghorn corals, which include some 160 species, are severely affected by rising ocean temperatures, which causes coral bleaching. Ocean acidification, the result of too much CO2 in the oceans, weakens the corals’ skeletons.

Clownfish, of “Finding Nemo” fame, are also victims of ocean acidification. Acidic water disrupts their sense of smell, impairing their ability to find their specific host anemone, which they rely on for protection.

Salmon, worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the commercial fishing industry, are threatened by increases in water temperature, which reduces water’s oxygen levels, increases their susceptibility to disease and disrupts their breeding efforts.

Australia’s iconic Koala faces malnutrition and ultimate starvation as the nutritional quality of Eucalyptus leaves declines as CO2 levels increase.

The Leatherback Turtle, another iconic species, is being affected by rising sea levels and increased storm activity due to climate change which destroys its nesting habitats. Temperature increases may lead to a reduction in the proportion of males relative to females.

An increase in CO2 levels does not just affect animals however; it also impacts on the world’s plants. The Quiver Tree (right), found in the Namib Desert region of southern Africa, is losing populations in the equator-ward parts of their distribution range due to drought stress. They highlight the problems that all plants and slow-moving species face in keeping up with rapidly accelerating changing climate.

“Several of the species highlighted in the report are already listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, due to other threats such as habitat destruction or over harvesting,” says Jean-Christophe Vié, Deputy Head of IUCN’s Species Program. “Others are not currently threatened on the IUCN Red List, but will be very soon as the effects of climate change materialise. For a large portion of biodiversity, climate change is an additional and major threat.”

To read the full report, please click here.

Source:
IUCN, "Species on climate change hit list named", accessed December 16, 2009

Obama reaches climate deal with emerging powers

President Obama took a risk by heading to Copenhagen Thursday to take part in the final stage of the U.N. Climate Conference with no firm assurance of an agreement - but the trip is worth the effort, according to Fareed Zakaria, CNN foreign affairs analyst.

The conference has been hampered by tension between developed nations including the United States, and nations such as China and India, whose developing economies are reliant on carbon-intensive energy.

"It's important to get the Indians and the Chinese to take this seriously and agree on common goals," Zakaria said. "There's no better way to impress on them the seriousness of the issue than for Obama to go to the conference.

President Barack Obama forged a climate deal with emerging economic powers on Friday, breaking a deadlock at U.N.-led talks, but said the world still had "much further to go" in the fight against global warming.

All sides conceded the agreement, which fell far short of United Nations ambitions for the December 7-18 talks, was imperfect but said it was a starting point for a coordinated international effort to avert the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

"This progress did not come easily and we know this progress alone is not enough ... We've come a long way but we have much further to go," Obama said after talks with China's Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South Africa's President Jacob Zuma which led to the breakthrough.

The agreement still had to win formal approval from a full meeting of all 193 nations at the talks. "If this makes it through the meeting in a couple of hours' time then I see it as a modest success," said Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat. "We could have achieved more."

Negotiators had struggled all day to find a compromise acceptable to all which could avert the threat of dangerous climate change, including floods, droughts, rising sea levels and species extinctions.

Tensions between China and the United States, the world's two biggest emitters, had been particularly acute after Obama -- in a message directed at the Chinese -- said any deal to cut emissions would be "empty words on a page" unless it was transparent and accountable.

Obama said that under Friday's agreement, each country would set out "concrete commitments" which would then be subject to "international consultation and analysis."

A U.S. official said it committed nations to carbon emissions cuts to curb global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

"We're going to have to build on the momentum we've established here in Copenhagen to ensure that international action to significantly reduce emissions is sustained and sufficient over time," Obama said.

TEXT 'NOT PERFECT'

Speaking shortly after Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the deal was backed by all nations at the talks, and had succeeded in binding major carbon emitting countries to curbing their pollution.

Under the accord, he said all states including China would have to submit their written plans for curbs in carbon dioxide emissions by January 2010. And he said that all countries had signed up for a plan to provide developing nations with $100 billion a year in aid by 2020.

"The text we have is not perfect.. If we had no deal, that would mean that two countries as important as India and China would be liberated from any type of contract....the United States, which is not in Kyoto would be free of any type of contract," he told reporters.

"That's why a contract is absolutely vital"

The European Union, which appeared to have been sidelined in Obama's final negotiations, said the agreement "falls far below our expectation."

A copy of the text included $100 billion in climate aid annually by 2020 for poor countries to combat climate change, and targets to limit warming and halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Brazil supported the accord, but its climate change ambassador Sergio Serra sounded a despondent note. "It's very disappointing I would say, but it is not a failure...if we agree to meet again and deal with the issues that are still pending."

Anti-poverty groups were more scathing. Tim Jones, climate officer for the World Development movement said the agreement was "a shameful and monumental failure that has condemned millions of people around the world to untold suffering."

The European Union had pressed for a strong deal to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius and which included tough carbon curbs from other industrialized nations such as the United States.

Scientists say a 2 degrees limit is the minimum to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change including several meters sea level rise, species extinctions and crop failures.

"Given where we started and the expectations for this conference, anything less than a legally binding and agreed outcome falls far short of the mark," said John Ashe, chair the Kyoto talks under the United Nations.

Source:
Reuters, "Obama reaches climate deal with emerging powers", accessed December 18, 2009
Cable Network News, "Obama announces climate change deal with China, other nations", accessed December 18, 2009

Obama speaks at Copenbagen - Act Boldly

President Obama spoke in Copenhagen on Friday to push for an agreement with world leaders on climate change.

The meeting at the United Nations Climate Change Conference included nearly 20 other heads of state and government leaders.

The following is a transcript of Obama's prepared remarks:

Good morning. It's an honor for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come together here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people. You would not be here unless you -- like me -- were convinced that this danger is real. This is not fiction, this is science. Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies and our planet. That much we know.

So the question before us is no longer the nature of the challenge -- the question is our capacity to meet it. For while the reality of climate change is not in doubt, our ability to take collective action hangs in the balance.

I believe that we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of this common threat. And that is why I have come here today.

As the world's largest economy and the world's second-largest emitter, America bears our share of responsibility in addressing climate change, and we intend to meet that responsibility. That is why we have renewed our leadership within international climate negotiations, and worked with other nations to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. And that is why we have taken bold action at home -- by making historic investments in renewable energy; by putting our people to work increasing efficiency in our homes and buildings; and by pursuing comprehensive legislation to transform to a clean-energy economy.

These actions are ambitious, and we are taking them not simply to meet our global responsibilities. We are convinced that changing the way that we produce and use energy is essential to America's economic future -- that it will create millions of new jobs, power new industry, keep us competitive and spark new innovation. And we are convinced that changing the way we use energy is essential to America's national security, because it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and help us deal with some of the dangers posed by climate change.

So America is going to continue on this course of action no matter what happens in Copenhagen. But we will all be stronger and safer and more secure if we act together. That is why it is in our mutual interest to achieve a global accord in which we agree to take certain steps, and to hold each other accountable for our commitments.

After months of talk, and two weeks of negotiations, I believe that the pieces of that accord are now clear.

First, all major economies must put forward decisive national actions that will reduce their emissions and begin to turn the corner on climate change. I'm pleased that many of us have already done so, and I'm confident that America will fulfill the commitments that we have made: cutting our emissions in the range of 17 percent by 2020, and by more than 80 percent by 2050 in line with final legislation.

Second, we must have a mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments, and to exchange this information in a transparent manner. These measures need not be intrusive or infringe upon sovereignty. They must, however, ensure that an accord is credible and that we are living up to our obligations. For without such accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page.

Third, we must have financing that helps developing countries adapt, particularly the least-developed and most vulnerable to climate change. America will be a part of fast-start funding that will ramp up to $10 billion in 2012. And, yesterday, Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton made it clear that we will engage in a global effort to mobilize $100 billion in financing by 2020, if -- and only if -- it is part of the broader accord that I have just described.

Mitigation. Transparency. And financing. It is a clear formula -- one that embraces the principle of common but differentiated responses and respective capabilities. And it adds up to a significant accord -- one that takes us farther than we have ever gone before as an international community.

The question is whether we will move forward together, or split apart. This is not a perfect agreement, and no country would get everything that it wants. There are those developing countries that want aid with no strings attached, and who think that the most advanced nations should pay a higher price. And there are those advanced nations who think that developing countries cannot absorb this assistance, or that the world's fastest-growing emitters should bear a greater share of the burden.

We know the fault lines because we've been imprisoned by them for years. But here is the bottom line: We can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward, and continue to refine it and build upon its foundation. We can do that, and everyone who is in this room will be a part of an historic endeavor -- one that makes life better for our children and grandchildren.

Or we can again choose delay, falling back into the same divisions that have stood in the way of action for years. And we will be back having the same stale arguments month after month, year after year -- all while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible.

There is no time to waste. America has made our choice. We have charted our course, we have made our commitments, and we will do what we say. Now, I believe that it's time for the nations and people of the world to come together behind a common purpose.

We must choose action over inaction; the future over the past -- with courage and faith, let us meet our responsibility to our people and to the future of our planet. Thank you.

Source:
Cable Network News, "Obama transcript at Copenhagen: Act boldly", accessed December 18, 2009

Alaska's northern coast eroding quickly

Parts of Alaska's northern coastline are eroding at rates of 35 to 40 feet a year, with great chunks of the tundra cleaving off the mainland and falling into the Beaufort Sea, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado.

"As one that gets pretty excited about centimeter-a-year rates, this was pretty eye-popping," said Robert Anderson, a professor of geological sciences at CU and co-author of the study.

The land studied by Anderson and his colleagues in northern Alaska -- halfway between Point Barrow and Prudhoe Bay -- is made up largely of fine silt cemented together with ice. Warming Arctic temperatures have begun to melt the ice and weaken the soil bonds.

The warmer weather has also shortened the time that the shorelines are locked in Arctic sea ice. That exposes the coast to the relatively warmer water and crashing waves for more days, both of which intensify the erosion.

"Since the summer Arctic sea ice cover continues to decline and the Arctic air and sea temperatures continue to rise, we really don't see any prospect for this process ending," Anderson said.

Anderson -- who collaborated on the study with several scientists including Cameron Wobus of Stratus Consulting and Irina Overeem of CU's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research -- presented the research findings Monday at a news conference addressing the impact of climate change on the Arctic.

Three other scientists, including Jennifer Kay of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, also presented research at the briefing during the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco.

Kay discussed how climate models, some of which are now 30 years old, may be underestimating future Arctic warming.

"It really begs the question, 'Do we understand Arctic warming?'" she said.

Some climate models, for example, have shown that more clouds will form in the Arctic as sea ice begins to disappear. Such clouds over the Arctic would then shield the ocean from some of the sun's radiation, slowing Arctic warming.

But when Kay compared actual cloud cover over the Arctic in recent years with cloud cover predicted by the models, she found that there were far fewer clouds in real life.

"This unrealistic mid-summer cloud cover over newly warming water serves to dampen sea-ice loss in the model," she said.

This research and studies from others who are finding similar inconsistencies from the models to the real situation in the Arctic can be used to fine-tune the models, Kay said.

Source:
Daily Camera, "Alaska's northern coast eroding quickly", accessed December 15, 2009

English winegrowers set to prosper from warmer climate

As world leaders gather in Copenhagen to debate the catastrophic effects of climate change there are some places in the world, such as the English vineyards, which stand to benefit from warmer temperatures.

Over the years, some winemakers say, a rise in temperature has redrawn the international wine map.

The warmer climate has aided English winegrowers as they experiment with planting grape varieties found in some of France's best wine regions.

And many have met with some success. Chris White, general manager at Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, Surrey told CNN: "Twenty years ago with what we were growing here -- pinot noir -- people were a little bit sniffy, thinking that we wont be able to grow a full bodied red. We are now and we are producing sparkling wines which are competing and beating in any blind competitions."

White's 265-acre wine estate in Surrey in the southeast of England has been producing both white and red wines for moe than 20 years, and he says that the quality keeps getting better and better with the warmer temperatures.

"Because of the improving weather conditions we are getting better consistency in terms of quality and yield, year on year," White said.

White also says that producing full-bodied reds are easier now whereas previously it had been a bit of a struggle.

Climate plays a crucial role in balancing the sugar and acidity levels found in grapes necessary for the distinctive flavors of all wines.

Whatever the color of wine produced, wine drinkers and growers have every reason to say "cheers."

A record 3 million bottles of wine was produced last year, and the English Wine Producers Association predicts that the number will nearly double by 2015.

But not all winemakers credit climate change with the quality improvements.

Owen Clive from the Chapel Down Winery in Kent told CNN: "Both culture and wine making technique have improved immensely in the last 10 to 15 years. And so now we are making much better wines from better grapes. But how much climate change has influenced that is difficult to say. It's anecdotal really."

Climate experts have said that global warming will shift growing patterns from crops. So who knows what's ahead for England and other parts of the globe. But some see a fruity forecast for the English wine industry.

Richard Selley, author of "The Winelands of Britain" sees a sparkling future.

"For English winemakers the immediate future is very bright. It's very good for the next 30 or 40 years," Selley said.

Perhaps one day the finest wines may well be bottled in the south of England.

Source:
Cable News Network, "English winegrowers set to prosper from warmer climate", accessed December 15, 2009