February 2012 global warming headlines and climate change news

February 29 - Natural gas not so climate friendly?
While natural gas may be considered somewhat of a saviour in the climate battle, others believe it will not be of any benefit. While combusting the gas generates fewer emissions; the plants have to be built, drilling must occur and the gas then transported - with the latter two items piling on the emissions. Read more.

February 28 - Climate change could rock the world
In an extreme example of the butterfly effect, shifts in weight distribution from melting ice and rising seas around the world could result in an increase in volcanic and earthquake activity. Read more.

February 26 - Mayan collapse due to climate change?
It's often said that those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them - and maybe the once might Mayan civilization has some lessons for use. Further research into why the Classic Maya civilization collapsed in just two centuries is giving further credence to climate change playing a role - specifically, a lack of rainfall. Read more.

February 25 - Lower clouds slowing temperature rises?
Over the last decade, clouds have lowered in altitude by 30 to 40 meters say researchers from University of Auckland. If they continue to drop, global warming may slow down. Read more.

February 21 - Coal a bigger emissions villain than tar sands
University of Victoria climate modeller Andrew Weaver says emissions from the exploitation of oil sands in Alberta, Canada will unlikely make a major difference in terms of global warming and that the real villain will be coal. Read more.

February 20 - Ice fishing getting the cold shoulder
The USA's unusually warm winter has caused a slowdown in the world of ice fishing. Ice-fishing classes and competitions have been called off in some states and cars and people have been reported falling through the ice at increasing rates. Read more.

February 19 - Global warming "freezing" yellow cedars
Vast numbers of yellow cedar in Southeast Alaska have been dying in the last hundred years and the culprit has finally been identified - a lack of snow cover that acts as an insulating blanket to tiny roots that are not tolerant of freezing conditions. In a sense, global warming is causing the trees to freeze. Read more.

February 18 - ClimateGate victims send letter to Heartland
A group of scientists have written to The Heartland Institute regarding the Institute's current situation in relation to reportedly leaked documents concerning their activities; reminding them Heartland "had no qualms about utilising and distorting emails stolen from scientists". Read more.

February 17 - Heartland Institute incident heats up
A series of documents reportedly exposing the details of where The Heartland Institute, an organization critical of the general scientific consensus on climate change, gets its money as well as the people and projects it is funding have been posted online. The Heartland Institute says some of these documents were illegal obtained and one is fake and is also reportedly gearing up to go after web sites that have posted the information. Read more.

February 15 - Fake glaciers water crops
Rising to the challenge of water resources depleting due to glacial melt, villagers in Stakmo in India re building dams to store ice that will provide them with water through increasingly dry spring months. Read more.

February 14 - Arctic temperatures set new record in 2011
According to data from NASA, average Arctic temperatures last year were 2.28 degrees Celsius (4.1 degrees Fahrenheit) above the averages from 1951-1980. In 2011, the Arctic also experienced the lowest sea ice volume yet recorded. Read more.

February 12 - Climate variation speeds up microbe change
Scientists studying ecosystems in Antarctica have found communities of microbes in the soil undergo rapid changes in response to environmental conditions; which can have a major effect on ecosystems. Read more.

February 11 - The impact of early farmers on climate
Humanity may have been altering climate in some regions thousands of years ago. A French geochemist says early farmers in Central Africa may have had an impact on climate through agricultural and foundry practices. Read more

February 10 - Storm damage costs could quadruple
The cost of damage from tropical cyclones has been predicted to quadruple globally by the end of the century due to increased population and economic activity, along with the influence of climate change. Read more.

February 8 - Ice melt was enough to flood entire USA
Researchers from the University of Colorado have determined the amount of glacial ice melt from 2003 to 2010 was enough to flood the entire USA in a 18 inches of melted ice. Read more.

February 6, 2012 - Global warming has not stopped
Global Warming has not stopped, but cherry-picked data is fooling some into believing it has says Peter Gleick; co-founder and President of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California. Read more.

February 5, 2012 - Texas communities trucking water in
The drought in Texas is now starting to have a marked effect in residential areas. Four communities in Texas now have to bring water in by truck. The well serving Spicewood Beach in Burnet County has run so low, the trucks are making water runs several times a day. Nearby Lake Travis is also practically dry. The County is one of 13 public water systems in Texas that are projected to run out of water in 6 months. Read more.

February 3, 2012 - Island nations seek justice on climate
Island nations that have the most to lose from a warming world are pursuing the idea of possibly taking the issue of climate change before the International Court of Justice, with view to compelling developed nations to rein in greenhouse gas emissions; assuming no international treaty on such is put in place. Read more.

February 2, 2012 - Antarctica's New York sized iceberg 
An iceberg 350 square miles (907 square kilometers) is expected to shear away from Antarctica soon and will be larger than all of New York city. While large icebergs certainly aren't unheard of, this event is causing concern as the crack in the icesheet that will form this has occurred further back from the coastline than usual, indicating changes in ice. Read more

February 1, 2012 - NASA : Sun isn't causing global warming
Greenhouse gases generated by human activity and not changes in solar activity are are what is primarily driving global warming states recent NASA research led by James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). Read more