AMERICAN BIRDS CONFIRM CLIMATE-CHANGE
The northward and inland movements of American birds, established by the observations of a vast number of citizens over many decades, shows that climate-change is having a serious impact on bird-life, reports
ScienceDaily.

Some species have moved hundreds of kilometres north, and are breeding earlier. Others, constrained by changes to habitat caused by human occupation and use, cannot move.

BOTH POLES WARMING FASTER THAN THOUGHT

The poles are warming faster than previously thought, raising global sea-levels and making drastic climate-change far more likely, concludes two years of wide-ranging research in a UN-backed programme called International Polar Year, which involved 10,000 scientists. See the full report in NewsDaily.

TROPICAL FORESTS ABSORB A FIFTH OF CO2

A long, careful study reported in
ScienceDaily shows that tropical forests are soaking up about a fifth of the 32 billion tonnes of CO2 that being pumped into the atmosphere every year. The oceans absorb another huge portion, leaving about 15 billion tonnes floating about.

IPCC SCIENTIST SAYS GOH TO BE FAR WORSE

A ScienceDaily report says that 'Without decisive action, global warming in the 21st century is likely to accelerate at a much faster pace and cause more environmental damage than predicted [in the fourth IPCC report], according to a leading member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

'The IPCC scientist Chris Field of Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution for Science points to recent studies showing that, in a business-as-usual world, higher temperatures could ignite tropical forests and melt the Arctic tundra, releasing billions of tons of greenhouse gas that could raise global temperatures even more--a vicious cycle that could spiral out of control by the end of the century.'

He says humans have released 350 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution, and that there is 1000 billion tons locked up in the tundra.

SEA 21 METRES HIGHER 400,000 YEARS AGO

Proof that the oceans were 21 metres higher 400,000 years ago has been found in Bermuda, a worrying discovery because of the conditions that the earth is now heading for. Full report in ScienceDaily.