michael

Al Gore's newest presentation: newest research shows that global warming is even bigger. So is the opportunity for our generation to be known in a future as those who made it. For the better - or the worse.

The United Nation Environment programme calls for immediate action to stop world's glaciers disappearing. Newest results show that the average rate of melting has more than doubled within the last four years.

Newest forecast based on new models predict the arctic sea ice to completely vanish in summers by 2013. In contrast to predictions between 2050 and 2100 from previous forecasts. These new results were based on data up to 2004 - not including the new record lows from 2005 and 2007. So if the models are correct, 2013 might be even a conservative forecast.

If you are looking for a house by the sea, you might take the Flood Maps Web site into account. It shows you how sea level rises affect the coast line - anywhere from 0 to 14 meters.

Take for example Lymington coastline with a 2m rise.

Greenpeace, BUND, WWF and others call for a German wide event to switch of lights for five minutes on Saturday, 8th of December.

I will join and put my alarm on (damn, another electric device ;-) ). The German TV channel  ProSieben will report live. Guess they will need a bit electric energy as well.

The final report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is most alarming. He called a tour of some climate change hot spots as "frightening as a science fiction movie".

What makes the report even more worrying - it is already outdated and the newest scientific data says: "You thought it was bad? No it's worse." And the time to act is now.

Während derzeit heftig über ein Tempolimit auf deutschen Autobahnen für den Klimaschutz diskutiert wird (siehe SPD Parteitag), findet kaum eine Thematisierung des Beitrags der Landwirtschaft zum Klimawandel statt.

Nun macht eine Veröffentlichung des World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) darauf aufmerksam. So sagt Tanja Dräger de Teran, Agrarreferentin beim WWF Deutschland: "Die Agrarindustrie heizt das Klima in etwa der gleichen Größenordnung an wie der Transportsektor".

Lady Young, chief executive of the British Environment Agency proclaimed that the battle to deal with climate change needs to be fought like "World War Three". If such comparisions help to stir actions, they are very much welcome. Especially when understanding that this will not remain just an environmental challenge.

To stay in the picture: who will be the Allies? And will the U.S. give up their isolation policy?

Climate change is like 'World War Three' - Telegraph

See "US 'opposes' G8 climate proposals" (BBC News)

This is just another bit in the ongoing ignorance of common facts on climate change and blocking of actions to address by the US government.

The US government is not the same as the US as a nation. However the current Bush administration was elected by the people and do represent them in the world.