Climate news archives

Climate news is a selection of international Internet news items related to climate issues and is updated daily. The news items reported here do not necessarily represent the views of CICERO, nor can CICERO be held responsible for the quality of their content.


Climate news from the last 30 days is listed below.

08.02.2012

Cuba on the Road to Clean Energy Development

IPS : More than a decade ago, solar electricity changed the lives of several mountain communities in Cuba. Now this and other renewable power sources are emerging as the best options available to develop sustainable energy across the island.
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Climate Change Will Impact the Poor

East Bay Express : A new study finds that global warming likely will affect poor, urban, and minority residents the most. Plus, going green pays off for companies.
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British greenhouse gases rise for first time since 2003

The Independent : There was a significant increase in UK greenhouse gases in 2010 for the first time in several years, Government figures confirmed yesterday.
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07.02.2012

Rising ocean acidity worst for Caribbean and Pacific

SciDev.Net : Fisheries in the Pacific and the Caribbean may suffer the most - in these regions, man-made acidification has already caused a 30-fold increase in the natural variation in ocean acidity, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change last month (22 January).
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Santorum: I never believed global warming 'hoax'

Politico : Rick Santorum told Colorado Springs supporters Tuesday that Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich would be ineffective challengers to President Barack Obama in the general election because of their views on cap and trade.
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CLIMATE SPECTATOR: Teetering on an Arctic tipping point

Business Spectator : We are seeing the first signs of dangerous climate change in the Arctic. This is our warning that humanity is facing a dire future.
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The Key to Addressing Climate Change - Indigenous Knowledge

National Geographic : Indigenous knowledge holders and scientists are beginning to establish novel collaborative arrangements that are co-creating new knowledge that would not be generated through the efforts of either group alone.
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06.02.2012

Bill Gates backs climate scientists lobbying for large-scale geoengineering

The Ecologist : Wealthy individuals, including Bill Gates, have funded a series of reports into the future use of technologies to geoengineer the climate
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The good news about carbon storage in tropical vegetation

Environmental Research Web : A study published in Nature Climate Change today finds that tropical vegetation contains 21 percent more carbon than previous studies had suggested.
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What drives public opinion on climate change?

Eurekalert : New study says political mobilization by elites and advocacy groups is driving factor in influencing concern about climate change.
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China bars its airlines from paying EU carbon tax

Associated Press : China announced Monday it will prohibit its airlines from paying European Union charges on carbon emissions, ratcheting up a global dispute over the cost of combatting climate change.
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05.02.2012

Maxwell T. Boykoff: When did 'climate change' become 'clean energy'?

The Cap Times : What happened to "climate change" and "global warming"? The Earth is still getting hotter, but those terms have nearly disappeared from political vocabulary. Instead, they have been replaced by less charged and more consumer-friendly expressions for the warming planet.
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04.02.2012

Science behind the big freeze: is climate change bringing the Arctic to Europe?

The Independent : A loss of sea ice could be a cause of the bitter winds that have swept across the UK in the past week, weather experts say.
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03.02.2012

Climate change linked to extinction

The Brown Daily Herald : Long-term global climate shifts are correlated with the successive rise and fall of different evolutionary mammal groupings, according to recent research by a team that includes Professor of Biology Christine Janis.
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02.02.2012

Storm over climate change among weather forecasters

Reuters : You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. But weather forecasters, many of whom see climate change as a natural, cyclical phenomenon, are split over whether they have a responsibility to educate their viewers on the link between human activity and the change in the Earth's climates.
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01.02.2012

GE Sees More Casualties In Wind And Solar

Reuters : General Electric Co. expects increased competition and a reduction in subsidies by cash-strapped governments to lead to more companies exiting the wind and solar power businesses, but the industrial behemoth still sees growing long-term demand.
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Falling solar prices good for climate, bad for firms

Reuters : There is a bright side to the plunge in solar panel prices that has brought down some U.S. and German manufacturers which relied too heavily on subsidies for green energy - solar power costs have fallen faster than anyone thought possible.
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Climate change shrinks forests in 3 Prairie provinces

CBC News : Finding belies assumption that global warming improves growing conditions
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Drought May Cause Shutdown of Texas Rice Production

Climate Central : Although recent rains have put a dent in the Texas drought, a day of reckoning looms for the state’s long-grain rice growers, who pump millions into the economy in Southeast Texas each year and account for about 5 percent of America’s rice production. Come March 1, if there is less than 850,000 acre-feet of water in reservoirs along the Lower Colorado River, water managers will be forced to take the unprecedented step of withholding water from agricultural users, which will mean severe cuts to Texas rice production this year.
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In the Little Ice Age, Lessons for Today

NYTimes Green Blog : When you see what happened when global temperatures dropped by just one degree and you look at current predictions of six or seven degree increases for the future, you realize how precarious things are for life as we know it.
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31.01.2012

Insight: Siberian agriculture could benefit from climate change

Environmental Research Web : Some nations, like Russia and northern parts of China, may actually benefit from climate change. We, a team of scientists from the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Aerospace in the US, have based our hypothesis on previous studies that showed that the Siberian taiga (or forest) would shift northwards by the end of this century. These analyses also suggest that at least half of central Siberia would be occupied by steppe and forest-steppe that may become suitable for agriculture as the climate warms.
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Fossil DNA has clues to surviving rapid climate change

New Scientist : Surviving the last ice age was more than just a matter of growing a woolly coat. Rapid global temperature swings had to be matched by equally rapid adaptation. Now a remarkable find from Canada's permafrost could help explain how the trick was done, through a process that might offer organisms a way to cope with the dramatic climate change the world is facing.
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Tropics Store More Carbon

E360 : A new analysis calculates that vegetation in the world’s tropical regions stores about 229 billion tons of carbon, which is about 21 percent more carbon than previously believed.
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UN panel aims for 'a future worth choosing'

BBC : Sustainable development is more important than ever given the multiple crises now enveloping the world.
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30.01.2012

Climate Change Has Helped Bring Down Cultures

Scientific American : Epidemiologist Anthony McMichael of Australian National University surveyed how human societies fared during previous episodes of extreme weather brought on by climate shifts.
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Scientists Challenging Climate Science Appear to Flunk Climate Economics

New York Times : A op-ed article signed by 16 scientists rejecting the need for "drastic action to decarbonize the world’s economy", published Friday by the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, has been widely and thoroughly fact-checked and challenged elsewhere.
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World’s first ‘wall-to-wall’ map could help estimate carbon storage

Daily India : Using a combination of remote sensing and field data, researchers have produced the first-of-its kind wall-to-wall map that can give accurate estimates of carbon storage of forests, shrublands, and savannas in the tropics of Africa, Asia, and South America.
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A way to slow climate change?

The Mark News : The Mark sat down with Drew Shindell, a NASA climate scientist and the lead researcher of a new study that proposes cuts to non-carbon emissions as the key to slowing global warming in the short term.
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Cutting Climate Change is Simple: Just Stop Subsidising Fossil Fuels

Forbes : The simple way to cut climate change is to stop subsidising fossil fuels. According to IEA research, 37 governments spent $409bn on artificially lowering the price of fossil fuels in 2010.
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29.01.2012

California sets landmark rules to cut auto emissions

The Times of India : California approved aggressive new rules on Friday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by requiring automakers to put many more electric and hybrid vehicles on the Golden State's roads by 2025.
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Wheat will age prematurely in a warmer world

New Scientist : Satellite images of northern India have revealed that extreme temperatures are cutting wheat yields.
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27.01.2012

No Need to Panic About Global Warming

Wall Street Journal : There's no compelling scientific argument for drastic action to 'decarbonize' the world's economy.
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How Climate Change, Urbanization Are Changing Disaster Aid

Reuters/Planet Ark : Climate change and rapid urbanization play an ever-greater role in shaping humanitarian crises.
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Will Steger: Make America climate-literate

StarTribune : If the nation is to address climate change, it must begin with a public that is climate-literate. Starting with our educational system is critical.
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26.01.2012

Blame it on the Rain: Scientists Link Climate Change to Fate of Ancient Mesoamerican Civilizations

The Sacramento Bee : International research team uses stalagmites to detect 2,400 years of rainfall for Southern Mexico; climate and cultural change inextricably linked
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First report on UK climate impact

BBC : Climate change this century poses both risks and opportunities, according to the first comprehensive government assessment of its type.
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U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Decline Despite Political Gridlock

Scientific American : Climate change may have received short shrift in President Obama's State of the Union speech but his administration's policies are creating a more climate-friendly U.S.
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25.01.2012

New map for what to plant reflects global warming

Yahoo News/AP : Global warming is hitting not just home, but garden. The color-coded map of planting zones often seen on the back of seed packets is being updated by the government, illustrating a hotter 21st century.
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Climate Science Education: It's Important

Huffington Post : We believe it is important to convey to students the consensus of the world's scientific community, not the dissenting views of a very small minority
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24.01.2012

Weaker sun will not delay global warming: study

Reuters/Yahoo News : A weaker sun over the next 90 years is not likely to significantly delay a rise in global temperature caused by greenhouse gases, a report said Monday.
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Complications of Hacking the Planet

Green blogs/NYTimes : As scientists, with some reluctance, begin to study the idea of 'geoengineering' the planet to slow or halt global warming, they are finding that any such program would quite likely have a complex array of effects, not all of them to humanity’s benefit.
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Low-carbon cement paves a development path (or sidewalk)

The Daily Climate : Carbon emissions from cement are set to grow explosively as developing countries such as India create a 'first-world' infrastructure. Scientists and entrepreneurs are struggling to push alternative technologies out of the lab and onto the street.
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An acid test for policy

BBC : As carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now tops 380 parts per million (ppm), whereas the past few million years have seen oscillations between about 180 and 280ppm, it's hardly a surprise that seawater is now more acid than during this recent period of Earth history.
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Bjorn Lomborg's climate sceptic thinktank to close

The Guardian : Copenhagen Consensus Centre, directed by the high profile opponent of tackling global warming, is to close in July after the Danish government cut its funding
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23.01.2012

Under the radar, but it's coming

Herald Net : Climate change is like a tsunami -- you can't feel it or see it until it's too late.
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Lack of ice cover might be affecting the ecology of Lake Champlain

Burlington Free Press : The lack of complete ice cover might be starting to affect the ecology of Champlain. Global warming might be responsible for the lack of recent lake ice, but it's probably not the whole story.
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Huge pool of Arctic water could cool Europe: study

Reuters : A huge pool of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean is expanding and could lower the temperature of Europe by causing an ocean current to slow down, British scientists said Sunday.
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Emissions link to ocean acid levels

Press Association : Man-made carbon emissions since the industrial revolution have acidified the oceans far beyond natural levels, research suggests.
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Climate scientists back call for sceptic thinktank to reveal backers

The Guardian : Leading experts lend support to Freedom of Information request concerning climate sceptic foundation chaired by Lord Lawson
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20.01.2012

What Next for Agriculture After Durban?

Science : Global agriculture must produce more food to feed a growing population. Yet scientific assessments point to climate change as a growing threat to agricultural yields and food security.
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Climate change education specialist joins NCSE

NCSE : Mark S. McCaffrey has joined NCSE's staff to spearhead its new climate change initiative. A veteran climate change educator, McCaffrey will be in charge of NCSE's efforts to defend and support the teaching of climate change.
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U.S. announces climate change strategy

UPI : The U.S. Interior Department has announced a strategy to help reduce climate change impacts on species, ecosystems and people and economies dependent on them.
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Climate Balancing: Sea-Level Rise vs. Surface Temp. Change Rates

Gantdaily : Designing the approach to control both sea level rise and rates of surface air temperature changes requires a balancing act to accommodate the diverging needs of different locations.
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19.01.2012

Amazon Basin shifting to carbon emitter, study says

Ottawa Citizen : The Amazon Basin, traditionally considered a bulwark against global warming, may be becoming a net contributor of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a result of deforestation, researchers said on Wednesday.
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2011 Was At Least 11th Warmest Year On Record

Climate Central : According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2011 was the 11th-warmest year on record globally, and an unusually extreme year in the United States. Separately, NASA scientists found 2011 was the ninth-warmest year on record, owing to slight differences in data analysis methods between the two agencies.
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Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies 'could provide half of global carbon target'

The Guardian : Eliminating subsidies for coal, gas and oil could save as much as Germany's annual greenhouse gas emissions each year by 2015, according to one of the world's leading energy experts.
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Cost Of 30 Percent EU Carbon Cut Less Than Thought

Reuters/Planet Ark : Raising the European Union's 2020 emission reduction target to 30 percent would be considerably less costly than originally thought and the effort could be shared fairly among EU governments, according to a draft EU document.
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How climate change became a cultural issue

The Register-Guard : The role of carbon dioxide in climate change has joined abortion and gay marriage as a cultural controversy.
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Deforestation, climate change threaten the ecological resilience of the Amazon rainforest

Mongabay.com : The combination of deforestation, forest degradation, and the effects of climate change are weakening the resilience of the Amazon rainforest ecosystem.
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Weighing the Environmental Costs of Economic Recovery

Forbes : The GreenBiz State of Green Business report came out today, and while it includes a few rays of light–a booming renewable energy market kicked off by dropping polysilicon prices, the continued interest of companies and investors in non-financial data, and the astronomical growth in cleantech-related patents filed over the past few years–overall it tells the story of a short-sighted economic recovery.
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18.01.2012

Rainforests need massive finance, but REDD must be well-designed to succeed

Mongabay.com : REDD does not finance first-time logging of primary forests for plantations, but concerns remain, says Greenpeace
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IEA: Nuclear phase-outs threaten surge in coal emissions

Business Green : Any boost to renewable energy sparked by countries abandoning nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster is likely to be overshadowed by a massive increase in coal use that could have devastating consequences for the fight against climate change.
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16.01.2012

China orders 7 pilot cities and provinces to set caps on emissions

China Economic Review : China has ordered five cities and two provinces to set caps on greenhouse gas emissions in preparation for the launch of local carbon markets, Reuters reported, citing a notice issued by the state planning agency on Friday.
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Economies must grow for the climate change fight

The Guardian : The "climate problem" suffers from a more powerful and enduring force: economic stagnation.
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13.01.2012

Global warming set to bring colder, snowier winters

Environmental Research Web : The world is getting warmer, which should mean warmer winters - right? Wrong - a new study shows that global warming produces colder winters and heavier dumps of snow for large swathes of the northern hemisphere.
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New cores from glacier in the eastern European Alps may yield new climate clues

Environmental Research Web : Researchers are beginning their analysis of what are probably the first successful ice cores drilled to bedrock from a glacier in the eastern European Alps.
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Black, white, but not green all over

The Star : Newspaper coverage of climate change - measured by how often the phrases "climate change" or "global warming" appear in stories - has waned in recent years.
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12.01.2012

To slow climate change, cut down on soot, ozone

National Public Radio : Politically, climate change is off this year's campaign agenda. Jobs, the economy and social issues are front and center. But scientists are working as hard as ever to figure out how much the Earth is warming and what to do about it. Some now say it's time for a new strategy, one that gets faster results.
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Climate change: India''s informal economy "neglected"

MSN News : Experts from the University of Oxford and Indian researchers are looking into the impact of climate change policies on India''s informal economy, and to diagnose ways of reducing CO2 emissions and improving jobs.
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Drought-stricken Tanzania reels under extreme rainfall

AlertNet : The number of days of rain received annually by Dar es Salaam has been declining, but rainfall is becoming heavier when it does occur.
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Seals, birds, and alpine plants suffer under climate change

Mongabay.com : The number of species identified by scientists as vulnerable to climate change continues to rise along with Earth's temperature. Recent studies have found that a warmer world is leading to the premature deaths of harp seal pups (Pagophilus groenlandicus) in the Arctic, a decline of some duck species in Canada, shrinking alpine meadows in Europe, and indirect pressure on songbirds and plants at higher altitudes in the U.S.
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TERI studying climate change impact on state

The Times of India : The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has undertaken a study of the impact of climate change on the state in order to identify critical areas of concern and to come up with solutions to mitigate the loss.
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EPA: Power plants main global warming culprits

Boston.com : The most detailed data yet on emissions of heat-trapping gases show that U.S. power plants are responsible for the bulk of the pollution blamed for global warming.
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Elections no threat to global climate deal: U.N.

Reuters : Leadership changes this year among some of the world's heaviest polluting countries should not undermine progress towards setting up a new global legally binding climate deal by 2015, the United Nations' climate chief said on Wednesday.
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11.01.2012

Texas leads U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions

Chron.com : Texas, as the nation's light switch and gas pump, releases far more greenhouse gases into the air than any other state, according to federal data released Wednesday.
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10.01.2012

Climate rows intensify as US election year kicks off

Business Green : Romney, Santorum and Gingrich all tout anti-environmental credentials ahead of crucial New Hampshire primary
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Iceless lake concerns scientists

Sandusky Register : It's January, and the area went through a cold snap last week. But people who look out across the lake are still waiting for the usual winter coat of ice to show up. Scientists say the lack of ice could be related to global warming.
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09.01.2012

Canada Pipeline Hearings Near

Wall Street Journal : The first of more than a year's worth of public hearings over a proposed pipeline designed to ship crude from Canada's landlocked oil-sands to the Pacific begins Tuesday, threatening to fan a debate in Canada over the country's growing status as a global energy powerhouse.
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As Amazon deforestation falls, food production rises

Mongabay.com : New study associates sharp decline in Amazon deforestation with increase in food production.
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Oil sands pipeline battle turns ugly

The Guardian : In an open letter defending a controversial project, Canada's natural resources minister accuses a pipeline's opponents of colluding with 'radicals' and 'jet-setting celebrities'
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Texas Drought Threatens Endangered Whooping Cranes

Yahoo News : According to the Associated Press, the devastating drought in Texas this past year is threatening the survival of an endangered species. Only about 300 whooping cranes remain in the wild and use Texas as their wintering grounds. But the drought has made food and water scarce and so far scientists have discovered at least one crane that has died, eliciting alarm since it abnormal to see dead birds this early in the season.
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Last updated: 09.02.12

Sources

  • Yahoo! News - Climate news from the international press agencies Reuters, Associated Press (AP) and Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Planet Ark - Environmental news from Reuters

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