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"Climate scientists say Colombia's glaciers could disappear within 15 years. Wet highland areas that provide much of the country's fresh water are getting warmer and drier. And each year, flooding becomes more severe. The coastal area of Tumaco has become an example of how environmental and security pressures are undermining previously stable communities."

"Just as climate talks hit their lowest point, Hillary Clinton descended on Copenhagen like a deus ex machina, putting on the table $100 billion in climate aid for developing nations per year through 2020, provided that a deal can be reached with China over making its climate change efforts more transparent. "

"In an interview, Bill Gates tells CNET's Ina Fried that the poor need a carbon-neutral energy source even more than the rich, as they are feeling the brunt of high energy prices and the effects of climate change."

"If climate-change researchers sound alarmist, it's only because they're alarmed."

"Rich nations must contribute more to a climate change fund and help fight deforestation, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at a conference Thursday on saving the world's forests - a key defense against global warming."

"Warmer global temperatures aren't just wiping out the habitat of polar bears and penguins. They're also affecting many species closer to home -- including some right in your back yard. In this year's State of the Birds report, issued earlier this month, researchers from the National Audubon Society, U.S. Department of Interior, Cornell Lab or Ornithology, and others studied how climate change is affecting the habitats, ranges, and populations of birds across North America. OnEarth takes a look at eight vulnerable bird species from across the continent."

"Despite anger from developing countries over the leaked document, the negotiations are still on track for success."

"Today, the State Council announced that China will commit to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP, or carbon intensity, by 40 to 45 percent of 2005 levels by 2020. It was also announced separately by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Premier Wen Jiabao (also the chair of the State Council, and pictured right, showing what President Hu meant by a "notable margin"…at least in my imagination) will attend the Copenhagen climate conference that begins in less than two weeks."

"Confidential UN analysis shows that if the current offers on the table at the Copenhagen climate summit are agreed, global temperatures will rise on average by 3C."

As the world weighs how to deal with warming, the idea of human manipulation of climate systems is gaining attention.  Yet beyond the environmental and technical questions looms a more practical issue: How could governments really commit to supervising geoengineering schemes for centuries?

New research shows that the 2010 Amazon drought may have been even more devastating to the region's rainforests than the unusual 2005 drought, which was previously billed as a one-in-100 year event.

Cool Green Science: The Conservation Blog of The Nature Conservancy - A blog on conservation, from migratory birds to coral reefs, from rainforests to climate change to personal green technology.

Experts warn that Scotland's targets on cutting emissions will be hard to achieve without a wider international agreement.

Darwin would be heart broken----The Galapagos archipelago has already been transformed by global climate changes and human activity, a report has concluded.

This is messed up, "A series of events, including the 1982 El Nino, overfishing and the appearance of urchins that destroy coral, has altered the islands' marine ecosystems. At least 45 Galapagos species have now disappeared or are facing extinction. "

"Our ecological footprint - what we take out of the planet - is now 1.3 times the biological capacity of the Earth. In the words of Professor Bob Watson, Defra's chief scientific adviser and former chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we are in danger of approaching "a point of no return". So the action we take in the... See More next couple of decades will determine whether the stable environment on which human civilization has depended since the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago will continue. "

"This analysis is interesting because it highlights our lopsided thinking about climate change. The media tends to focus a lot on solutions like hybrid cars and CFLs, but transportation and energy use are relatively small parts of the problem. The stuff we consume accounts for nearly half of the greenhouse gases in an area like Portland. And of that, it's the extraction of raw materials and the manufacturing processes for consumer goods that are the biggest culprits. (Food and long-distance freight are second and third.)"

"One in six mangrove species faces extinction as coastal ecosystems are being destroyed or damaged by development, aquaculture, logging, and climate change, according to a new study. On the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Central America, as many as 40 percent of mangrove species are threatened, the report said."

"We know, for example, that Portland has actually reduced its aggregate carbon emissions since 1990 despite growing 18 percent in population, largely due to land-use and transportation strategies that stress infill locations, walkable neighborhoods, and transit-oriented development."

Now that the conspiracy theorists have blown off steam, it's time for a more sober analysis of those e-mails and what they mean. I can't go through all of th...