By Ian Sample
    The Guardian UK

    Friday 04 August 2006

Research drive 'must rival the Apollo moon project.' Royal Society president warns of climate disaster.

    An urgent project on the scale of the Apollo moon landings is needed to boost research into green energy sources and save the planet from environmental disaster, according to Britain's top scientist.

    Writing in the US journal Science today, Sir Martin Rees, president of Britain's most prestigious scientific institute, the Royal Society, expresses dismay at G8 leaders' "worrisome lack of determination" to accelerate development of new energy sources, given the expected 50% rise in the world's energy needs - and carbon dioxide emissions - in the next 25 years.

    He warns that without an international, focused programme to develop alternatives to fossil fuels it will be impossible to keep greenhouse gas emissions low enough to prevent catastrophic climate change.

    By Michael R. Blood
    The Associated Press

    Tuesday 01 August 2006

    Los Angeles - Former President Clinton and mayors of some of the world's largest cities announced an initiative Tuesday to combat climate change and increase energy efficiency in everything from street lights to building materials.

    The partnership joins Clinton and the resources of his presidential foundation with the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group - an alliance of Rome, London, Mexico City, Los Angeles and other cities that have pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

    The aim is to pool technology and resources to slash the pollutants that contribute to global warming while promoting clean-burning fuels and energy conservation.

    By Kenneth R. Weiss
    The Los Angeles Times

    Monday 31 July 2006

Toxic algae that poison the brain have caused strandings and mass die-offs of marine mammals - barometers of the sea's health.

    After the last patient of the day walked out the front of Raytel Medical Imaging clinic, veterinarian Frances Gulland slipped an oversized animal crate through the back door.

    Inside was a California sea lion. The animal was emaciated, disoriented and suffering from seizures.

    A female with silky, caramel-colored fur, wide-set eyes and long whiskers, she was named Neuschwander, after the lifeguard who had found her six weeks earlier, comatose and trembling under a pier at Avila Beach near San Luis Obispo.

    Taken to the Marine Mammal Center near Sausalito, Neuschwander showed signs of recovery at first. Her eyes began to clear and focus. She frolicked in the small pool in her chain-link enclosure and wolfed down mackerel at feedings. Then she relapsed.

    The Associated Press

    Monday 31 July 2006

    Washington - Britain and California are preparing to sidestep the Bush administration and fight global warming together by creating a joint market for greenhouse gases.

    British Prime Minister Tony Blair and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plan to lay the groundwork for a new trans-Atlantic market in carbon dioxide emissions, The Associated Press has learned. Such a move could help California cut carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases scientists blame for warming the planet. President Bush has rejected the idea of ordering such cuts.

    Blair and Schwarzenegger were expected to announce their collaboration Monday afternoon in Los Angeles, according to documents provided by British government officials on condition of anonymity because the announcement was forthcoming.

    The aim is to fix a price on carbon pollution, an unwanted byproduct of burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gasoline. The idea is to set overall caps for carbon and reward businesses that find a profitable way to minimize their carbon emissions, thereby encouraging new, greener technologies.

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    The Associated Press

    Saturday 29 July 2006

    Steele, N.D. - More than 60 percent of the United States now has abnormally dry or drought conditions, stretching from Georgia to Arizona and across the north through the Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist for the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

    An area stretching from south central North Dakota to central South Dakota is the most drought-stricken region in the nation, Svoboda said.

    "It's the epicenter," he said. "It's just like a wasteland in north central South Dakota."

    The Associated Press

    Friday 28 July 2006

    In Fresno, the morgue is full of victims from a California heat wave. A combination of heat and power outages killed a dozen people in Missouri. And in parts of Europe, temperatures are hotter than in 2003 when a heat wave killed 35,000 people.

    Get used to it.

    For the next week, much of the nation should expect more "extreme heat," the National Weather Service predicts.

    In the month of August, most of the United States will see "above normal temperatures," forecasters say.

    For the long-term future, the world will see more and worse killer heat waves because of global warming, scientists say.