Chile faces climate change challenge
Chile has enjoyed one of the most dynamic economies in Latin America in recent years, largely based on a booming export sector.
But new studies by Chilean scientists suggest climate change could pose huge challenges for the country.
The scientists say their models show projected temperature increases of at least 1C to 1.5C and a drop in rainfall of at least 10 to 15% in the next 40 years....

2010 species pledge set to fail: conservationists

The world's paramount authority on species loss has warned that pledges to roll back the threat to biodiversity by 2010 were running into the sand...

Sea Ice Lowest in 800 Years

A reconstruction of sea ice reveals the lowest levels in 800 years; according to new research published in the journal Climate Dynamics.

Researchers modeledsea ice levles between Greenland and Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean north of Europe, from the 13th century to present using data from a natural climate "archive" and from historic human records.
"We have combined information about the climate found in ice cores from an ice cap on Svalbard and from the annual growth rings of trees in Finland and this gave us a curve of the past climate," Aslak Grinsted said in a press release. Grinsted is a geophysicist with the Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. "We see that the sea ice is shrinking to a level which has not been seen in more than 800 years."

A person here is late in posting about the shrinking sheep

Focus on Focus Earth: The Beginning of Eco-Terrorism (Video)

Since the birth of the environmental movement in the 1960s, activists have branched off to follow a variety of paths, each with its preferred methods of action. In recent years, the focus has largely been on personal actions, things each individual can do to help the planet, and and encourage political regulation. Some environmentalists, however, have taken a different, more aggressive, approach that involves direct confrontation with polluters, developers, and anyone else believed to be harming the environment.

Eco-terrorism, as it has become known in the mainstream, has its roots in the first days of the environmental movement. As early as the 1970s, a band of animal activists in the United Kingdom formed a group they called the Animal Liberation Front, or ALF. The group, which to this day remains a leaderless band of covert cells, established a network they compared to the Underground Railroad in which freed animals could be taken to safe houses, shelters, and find veterinary care.

Obama, G8 Leaders Agree On Climate Target

L'AQULA, Italy — Britain and the United States may see room for more stimulus. Germany is worried that it has done too much already.
The leaders of the Group of Eight nations _ united in their desire to work together to combat the worst economic crisis since the Depression, but still divided on how much longer they need to keep the stimulus going _ will discuss on Wednesday ways to coordinate their exit strategies once their economies are stable enough.
But the data is still grim _ from rising unemployment to slowing growth _ and most economists think the crisis has yet to reach its nadir.
The leaders of the G-8 _ Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States _ will discuss at what point to begin the shift from the current emphasis on fiscal stimulus, but they also are likely to remain cautious in their assessment of recovery so far when they issue a statement later Wednesday....