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Climate change Crunch time for the climate by Avaaz Team - posted 25 November 2012 12:18 Tweet Youth speaks to power about the climate crisis (Liam Moriarty) You didn't have to go far to find extreme weather this year. North America experienced both brutal drought and a record-setting storm. Extreme weather in Africa, southeast Asia and Europe also caused widespread damage and cost many lives. In fact, as New York state governor Andrew Cuomo noted, extreme weather seems to be the "new normal".With delegates from around the world converging on Doha, Qatar, this week for the 18th UN conference on climate change (COP18), the need for real progress on global warming has never been more urgent. And while there are many obstacles to progress on this crucial problem, there are hopeful signs as well.

Extreme Weather Hits the Poor First – and Hardest

Chu Resigns, Writes Of Our ‘Moral Responsibility’ For Action Amid Growing Evidence We’re Making Weather More Extreme

Climate Justice Advocates Slam Doha's Emerging 'Sham of a Deal' 'Sluggish' climate talks missing essential ingredient—Urgency—as COP18 climate summit in Doha nears end - Jon Queally, staff writer With terms like "sluggish" "tough-going" and "extremely sour" used to describe the tone and progress of the UN climate talks in Doha on Friday, the hope for an agreement that could actually meet the ever-escalating challenges of global warming caused by human pollution was seemingly at an all-time low. On what was scheduled to be the conference's final day, campaigners say the climate agreement being generated in Doha is "an empty shell" and "an insult to our futures." Climate campaigners and civil society groups are convinced that the commitments being exchanged among the international delegates are not nearly enough, exposing the ongoing futility of trying to get rich nations to take responsibility for their outsized carbon footprints or increase their meager financial commitments to developing nations.

Bill McKibben on Hurricane Sandy and Climate Change: "If There Was Ever a Wake-up Call, This Is It"

For example, rising sea levels in the Northeast, which are increasing three to four times faster than global rates, according to federal statistics, will bring more flooding and damaging storm surges that ride atop high seas. Warmer air can hold more water vapor, meaning storms could drop more precipitation. New England has seen more erratic precipitation in recent years with extreme rain and snowfall events increasing by 85 percent since 1948, according to a climate report issued last week by US Representative Ed Markey, called “The New New England.”