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GLAND, SWITZERLAND -- (Marketwire) -- 09/02/09 -- The new report, Arctic Climate Feedbacks: Global Implications, outlines dire global consequences of a warming Arctic that are far worse than previous projections. Peer-reviewed by the world's top climate scientists, this report reinforces that there's no time to waste in tackling climate change, because this meltdown will have major implications for people around the world - not just in the Arctic.

From Colorado to Washington state, an unprecedented, years-long epidemic of mountain pine beetle has killed 2.6 million hectares (6.5 million acres) of forest. The insect has struck even more devastatingly to the north, in British Columbia, where clouds of beetles have laid waste to 14 million hectares (35 million acres) - twice the area of Ireland. It is expected to kill 80 percent of the Canadian province's lodgepole pines before it's finished.

Farther north, in the Yukon, the pine beetle isn't endemic - yet. Here it's the spruce bark beetle that has eaten its way through 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of woodland, and even more in neighboring Alaska, in a 15-year-old epidemic unmatched in its longevity and extent.

Climate Change - ADB Programs: Strengthening Mitigation and Adaptation in Asia and the Pacific

Oxfam Australia says that climate change could leave up to 75 million people in the Asia-Pacific region homeless by 2050. The Future is Here: Climate Change says that these island nations are already suffering from drought, food shortages and rising water levels.

"Unless we act dramatically and act fast, science tells us our way of life is in jeopardy," [Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Kerry] said.

A majority of Americans continue believe that climate change is correctly portrayed or even underestimated in the news media, but a record high 41 percent believe risks are exaggerated.

It's a vocal 41 percent, and they draw on a stock set of arguments to attack the credibility of scientists, politicians and environmentalists who claim that humans are spurring dangerous climate change. Like me, you may wonder where these arguments come from and whether they have any validity.

The most common argument, and the one I will focus on in this first of several installments, is that many credible scientists dispute the theory of anthropogenic (or human-caused) climate change asserted by U.N. scientists in the 2007 IPCC report that found that humans were almost certainly causing the climate to change.

A majority of Americans continue believe that climate change is correctly portrayed or even underestimated in the news media, but a record high 41 percent believe risks are exaggerated.

It's a vocal 41 percent, and they draw on a stock set of arguments to attack the credibility of scientists, politicians and environmentalists who claim that humans are spurring dangerous climate change. Like me, you may wonder where these arguments come from and whether they have any validity.

The most common argument, and the one I will focus on in this first of several installments, is that many credible scientists dispute the theory of anthropogenic (or human-caused) climate change asserted by U.N. scientists in the 2007 IPCC report that found that humans were almost certainly causing the climate to change.

San Francisco Chronicle : The Thin Green Line : Cameron Scott

Though simultaneously praising the 2-degree commitment as "clearly a big step forward" in international talks, IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri told reporters here yesterday that G-8 leaders failed to heed warnings that global greenhouse gas emissions levels must peak by 2015. Nations must also start to come up with concrete plans for rapidly slashing emissions afterward, Pachauri said.

"Climate change is the greatest challenge facing this and future generations," he said at a press conference in New York. "Emissions are rising and the clock is ticking."

The new projections, published this month in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, indicate a median probability of surface warming of 5.2 degrees Celsius by 2100, with a 90% probability range of 3.5 to 7.4 degrees. This can be compared to a median projected increase in the 2003 study of just 2.4 degrees.

The coalition members, who are supporting one another's initiatives, include insurance companies like Travelers and Fireman's Fund, the Wharton School, the Nature Conservancy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Calvert Investments and other groups.

The critical role of forests as massive "sinks" for absorbing greenhouse gases is "at risk of being lost entirely" to climate change-induced environmental stresses that threaten to damage and even decimate forests worldwide, according to a new report released April 17. The report will be formally presented at the next session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) taking place 20 April-1 May 2009 at the UN Headquarters in New York City.

Yvo de Boer, the U.N.'s climate chief, called the meeting "very positive and constructive" and said it was "helped tremendously" by the support of Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "There was a recognition around the table that this is a global crisis that cannot be solved without a global response," de Boer said. "There is a universal recognition that the whole world needs to act on this.
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"China, he said, is now the largest investor worldwide in clean energy technology. "I think many people are not aware of that," he said. And according to a report by HSBC Global Research in February, almost 40 percent of the spending in China's economic stimulus package is supposed to go toward renewable energy, electric grid improvements, pollution control efforts, and other clean-energy-related projects.

Opponents of federal limits on greenhouse gases are launching ad campaigns in the districts of moderate Democrats negotiating a bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The radio ads, sponsored by the American Energy Alliance, are running in the districts of nine committee Democrats and one Republican, Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania. The ads contend that the bill would hurt the economy and cost jobs.

The lobbying and advocacy group, which was formed last year, is headed by Thomas J. Pyle, a former energy policy aide to onetime Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas (1985-2006). It is affiliated with the Institute for Energy Research, a public policy center advocating what it terms "freely functioning energy markets."

The new campaign is the latest round in an ad war where labor and environmental groups have also jumped into the fray: MoveOn.org, the Alliance for Climate Protection, the Blue-Green Alliance and others are running ads supporting the bill.