Global warming headlines and climate change news for September 2011

September 30 - China's per capita carbon emissions climb
China overtook the US in terms of overall carbon emissions in 2007, but it's per capital emissions were far lower. That will change by 2017 according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, when the average Chinese citizen's carbon footprint will surpass those of U.S citizens. Read more.

September 29 - Global emissions skyrocketed in 2010
After a 1 percent decline in 2009 due to the fallout from the global financial crisis, carbon dioxide  emissions increased by more than 5 percent globally in 2010, an unprecedented jump in the last two decades. Emissions rose in most major economies, led by China, USA, India and EU-27 respectively. In total, an estimated 33.0 billion tonnes of carbon emissions were generated in 2010. Read more.

September 28 - Climate change worsens Pakistan monsoon
Southern parts of Pakistan received 270 percent above-normal monsoon rains last month and this month, 1,170 percent more. 350 lives have been lost, 1.3 million homes damaged and 8 million people affected. Read more.

September 27 - World's first zero-carbon data center
The world's first zero-carbon data center is to be constructed in Iceland and the 500 square meter facility will be run entirely on geothermal and hydro-electric power. The site's capacity will be expanded as demand grows, but infrastructure to cope with a hundred megawatts of demand is already in place. Read more.

September 26 - Scientists urged to stand up on climate
Australia's chief scientist, Professor Ian Chubb, has urged the nation's scientific community to "stand up and be counted" in order to raise public awareness in the climate change debate and to defend the fact climate change is occurring from attacks by people with various agendas. Read more.

September 25 - A melting Mt. Everest
While the upper reaches of Mt. Everest may never melt, the lower regions can and are, unsettling locals who have seen changes occur at an ever-quickening pace. Read more.

September 23 - Climate change research remains secret
The Central Intelligence Agency's analysis of geopolitical ramifications of the effects of climate change remains under wraps according to a scholar who request details of the research under the Freedom of Information Act request, a request that was denied. Read more

September 22 - Climate change benefits AU wind industry
They say it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. New data from Australia's CSIRO shows an increase in atmospheric wind speeds in the country over the past 20 years. Read more

September 21 - Tutu pressures Obama on oil sands pipeline
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama have both written to U.S. President Barack Obama to urge him not to allow a massive pipeline bringing tar sands extracted oil from Canada to the United States to go ahead. The Nobel Laureates reminded Obama of his presidential nomination speech when he spoke of a pledge to create a clean energy economy and that it was a "critical moment to make good on that pledge". Read more. 

September 20 - Clearing rainforests reduces local rainfall
The conversion of West African rainforests into cropland has been found to reduce rainforest in adjacent forest areas - and by a large amount. Neighboring forest areas see up to 50 percent rainfall decrease due to increased temperatures over cropland areas that prevent the formation of clouds. Read more.

September 19 - Climate change favors fungi
Mushrooms and toadstools are becoming more commonplace in the UK as warmer weather has increased the number of plants on which they can grow. One species previously only found associated with one type of tree can now be found on 20. Read more.

September 18 - India resists binding climate agreement
A focus should be on extending the Kyoto Protocol as a first step on achieving a global climate agreement rather than attempting to make India's voluntary actions on climate change legally binding says the country's Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan. Read more

September 15 - Giant balloons to tackle climate change?
A 20m long helium balloon with a 1km long hose attached to it will ascend from Sculthorpe in northern Norfolk in October as part of an experiment in geoengineering. Water will be pumped through the hose and spray out the top, and observations recorded of how the equipment fares in various weather conditions. It's the lead up to perhaps deploying a more ambitious system. It's believed 10 or 20 giant balloons at an altitude of  20 kilometres could release enough particles into the atmosphere to reduce the temperatures globally by approximately 2 degrees. Read more.

September 13 - Arctic ice lowest on record
North Pole ice has melted away to the lowest level since satellite observations began nearly 40 years ago and its believed the Arctic is now likely covering the least amount of area for 8,000 years. Measurements of floating ice on September 8 showed 4.24 million square kilometres coverage, less than the previous low of 4.27 million square kilometres on September 17, 2007. Read more

September 11 - UN chief challenges climate skeptics
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged climate change skeptics to visit nations being impacted, stating they would see "alarming" changes affecting those regions. Read more

September 10 - Natural gas use won't slow climate change
While burning natural gas generates less in the way of carbon dioxide emissions than coal, it will do little to slow down the pace of climate change. Aside from issues relating to particulates, extracting natural gas release methane, an especially potent greenhouse gas with many times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Read more.

September 9 - Key fish species to vanish in warming seas
Over 50% of a group of fish that play a critical role in the marine food web might die through oxygen depletion in seas where temperatures have been raised due to global warming. Read more.

September 7 - Giant crabs to invade Antarctica
King crabs, usually confined to waters with a temperature of at least 1.4C, have been found on the edge of Antarctica. The voracious crabs are estimated to number 1.5 million in the Palmer Deep and scientists believe they may invade shallower waters in the region over the coming decades. Read more.

September 6 - Pacific Islands faces food security risk
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has sounded an alarm regarding the economic and social instability occurring in the Pacific Islands region soon if nothing is done to combat climate change. Crops are already being destroyed in low lying atolls by encroaching seas. Read more

September 2 - The end for California's chinook salmon?
Warming streams in California could mean the end of spring-run Chinook salmon in the state by the end of the century. While there are options for managing water resources in order to protect the salmon, these would disrupt hydroelectric power generation. Read more.

September 2 - Another huge ice island about to be born
An area of ice twice the size of Manhattan Island is about to calve from the Petermann Glacier in Greenland. The same glacier calved an ice island 4 times the size of Manhattan Island a few years ago. One of the scientists who has been studying the glacier says that he has been "completely unprepared for the gob-smacking scale of the break-up". Read more.

September 1 - Houston has 30 100 degree days in August
Houston, Texas has endured estimated average temperature of 90.4 degrees during August, obliterating the previous record holder in over a century of weather data. A Houston geoscientist says the odds of an August that warm in Houston were 1-in-10,000. Read more.

September 1 - Australian eucalyptus to fuel airplanes
A consortium is using eucalypt trees to develop a commercial biofuel for the Australian aviation industry. A thermochemical decomposition process will covert mallee eucalypt trees to a fuel that could help slash aviation greenhouse gas emissions. Read more.