Global warming headlines and climate change news for September 2010
September 30 - Weather affecting grizzly and black
bears
Grizzly and black bears in North America are increasingly coming into
conflict with humans this year as the bears are having trouble finding the
food they need to bulk up before hibernation due to changing weather
patterns impacting on food sources. Read
more.
September 29 - Arnie fires up on climate change laws
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has lashed out at some oil companies,
stating they are attempting to undermine state climate change law to
protect their bottom line and out of "self-serving greed" rather
than job protection as they claim. Read
more.
September 28 - Carbon price committee for Australia
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has set up multi-party climate
change committee that will investigate how the nation should implement a
price on carbon in order to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Read
more
September 27 - Australian anti-coal activists
arrested
41 activists have been arrested after shutting down operations at all
three coal terminals in the Port of Newcastle, Australia, the world's
largest exporter of coal. The action was to highlight Australia's role in
climate change throughout the world, due to the massive volumes of coal
the nation exports. Read
more
September 26 - Global warming to benefit Canada?
It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good and it seems that Canada will feel some negative effects from global warming but also benefits as well.
A scientist and professor of geography and earth sciences at the
University of California believes global warming will make more natural
resources such as oil, gas and water available in the north and Canada
could enjoy new-found status as a superpower. Read
more
September 24 - UK shipping emissions up to 6x
estimates
According to a study from the University of Manchester, carbon emissions
from the UK's shipping sector could be up to 6 times the level previously
estimated; mainly due to previous estimates based on fuel purchased at UK
ports. Read
more
September 23 - Australian carbon tax possible
Australia's new Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, has sparked
controversy after admitting a carbon tax on industry was possible, a
back-flip on the Government's pre-election commitments. Read
more.
September 22 - Canada's forests now a carbon emitter
Usually forests act as a carbon sink, taking more carbon dioxide from the
air than they contribute; but according to a recent study, damage as a
result of global warming, insect infestations and multiple fires have seen
Canada's boreal forests generate more carbon dioxide than they are
sequestering. Read
more
September 21 - Bangkok uninhabitable in seven years?
A Thai scientist has issued a dire warning that the areas around the Gulf of Thailand would be
pummelled by tsunamis and that Bangkok would be inundated with water in less than seven
years. The scientist says the wild weather bringing on such a disaster
would culminate from several events - the planet's axis shifting, the Earth's crust
having been displaced and the effects of climate change attributable to
human activity. Read
more
September 20 - Melting glacier threatens village
A giant pocket of water has formed in the Tete Rousse Glacier in France, creating pressure that could see it burst through the ice and inundate chalets in the valley below. Drilling has been undertaken to relieve the pressure, but new threats have emerged.
Read
more
September 19 - Heat killing corals of the Caribbean
As the Caribbean Sea hits record temperatures corals in the region are suffering from bleaching and beginning to die. Over 60 percent of corals around the U.S. Virgin Islands are reported to have died. Bleaching events are becoming all too common, particularly
given only one large scale bleaching event was ever recorded prior to the
1980's. Read
more.
September 18 - Moscow's heatwave claimed 11,000
lives
The city of Moscow saw nearly 11,000 deaths attributable to the extreme
heat and smog over July and August, representing a 60 per cent rise
in Moscow's usual mortality rate. The city endured temperatures exceeding
40 degrees Celsius over several weeks. Read
more
September 17 - World Banks invests big in coal power
Despite coal fired power generation being widely acknowledged as a major
source of carbon dioxide emissions, the World Bank has spent record
amounts on coal power stations and associated infrastructure in the year
to June. Spending on the fossil fuel by the World Bank is reportedly 40
times more than five years ago for the same period. Read
more
September 16 - BHP boss calls for carbon price
Support for a carbon tax in Australia has come from an unlikely quarter,
the head of Australia's largest mining company. BHP Billiton chief Marius Kloppers
said that a carbon price was inevitable and Australia should lead the way
in order to maintain its competitiveness. Read
more
September 15 - USA: 4th warmest summer on record
According to the latest National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) State of the Climate report, the contiguous United States had its fourth-warmest summer on record, with record warm summers
occurring in ten states. Read
more
September 14 - Climate change threatens logging
A report from Australia's Environmental Protection Authority states
declining rainfall connected to climate change could see logging in some
south west forests of the nation unsustainable. A conservation group has
seized on the report stating logging and clearing should be stopped
immediately in forests at risk. Read
more.
September 13 - Australia's new climate minister and
coal
Australia's new Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, says Australia's
coal industry has a future even among his key objectives of renewable
energy, energy efficiency and setting a carbon price for Australia. Read
more
September 12 - Climate change: Britons must adapt
Britain's Secretary of State for the Environment in a speech this week
will admit that the inevitable severe weather conditions connected with
climate change will be unavoidable and a "survival-of-the- fittest
scenario". Britain's climate minister will also call on business to
step up its efforts against climate change. Read
more
September 11 - Canada doesn't need tar sands
A report from Greenpeace that Canada can generate thousands of green jobs, while providing over 90 per cent of the country’s electricity and heating
requirements from renewable energy sources by 2050. Read
more
September 10 - Arctic melt third highest on record
As the annual summer melt begins to slow down, Arctic sea ice is nearing the third-lowest point ever recorded and ships are navigating areas once blocked by ice.
Read
more
September 9 - Mount Ararat's glaciers shrinking
Thought to be the site of the remains of Noah's Ark, Mount Ararat in
Turkey's glaciers are rapidly receding. A geologist has found glaciers on
the mountain have shrunk by 30 percent in surface area over the last three
decades. Read
more
September 8 - World's forest carbon overestimated
A study has found apparently similar forests hold vastly different amounts
of carbon and as a result, estimates of the world's carbon locked up in
forests may be grossly overestimated. Read
more.
September 7 - Climate change impacting bees
Climate change may be hampering bees from pollination by interfering with their life
cycles according to a study. With so many crops dependent on bee
pollination, it's an issue that cannot be underestimated in it's potential
to impact on food security. Read
more
September 6 - Dryer Africa means less birds in UK
Migratory birds have been in steep decline in their numbers in the UK due to dry weather in Africa. Researchers believe that years of poor rainfall in sub-Saharan Africa have reduce vital food supplies that the birds rely on to build up vital energy supplies in order to make the lengthy trip.
Read
more
September 5 - Cash for clunkers a carbon reduction
failure
A study of the USA's cash for clunkers program found the scheme encouraged
the purchase of an additional 360,000 cars last year, but the additional purchases under the program were
at the expense of future sales, with the effect almost completely reversed by as early
as only seven months after the program ended. Read
more
September 4 - Australian energy firms call for
carbon price
An open letter from Australia's Clean Energy Council, the nation's peak
body representing a number of energy suppliers, has called for a price on
carbon as soon as possible and says it recognises an emissions trading
scheme as being the most efficient way to reduce carbon emissions. Read
more
September 3 - Trees save lives in heatwaves
A national tree symposium at University of Adelaide in Australia have been told that trees somewhat mitigate the heat-island effect in urban areas and to help trees flourish, rainwater from gutters should be diverted directly to the trees' root zones.
A device to do is being tested in the Adelaide area. Read
more
September 3 - Antarctic krill, humans and climate
change
Krill is a tiny crustacean, but its numbers make it the largest protein
sources on Earth. Once ignored by humans, krill is now being harvested at
an alarming rate and researchers fear Antarctic krill are also being
negatively affected by climate change. Read
more
September 2 - Climate change to increase illegal
migration
Border control is a polarizing topic in the USA and is set to become and
even bigger issue. With climate change in Latin America to increase drought, flooding and desertification
in the area, something else predicted to increase is illegal migration
into North America. Read
more
September 2 - World can't afford climate
change disasters
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change,
says world the cannot afford escalating disasters
of the kind recently witnessed in Pakistan and Russia. Ms. Figueres says
only governments can prepare citizens for climate change and progress
through UN negotiations needed to continue,
with bigger and bolder steps needing to be made. Read
more
September 2 - Climate change hits Namibia fish
stocks
"Warm events" that have occurred since 1995 have increased along Namibia's coastline in recent years, reducing important commercial species such as hake to around a fifth of their peak. The phenomenon is occurring even with conservative fishery management strategies in place.
Read
more
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