It’s Worse Than We Thought: A Philazine Powerpoint Presentation about global warming. Argues that warming scientists has consistently underestimated the effects of climate change. When their best estimates have been  remeasured, the effects of global warming and climate change have turned out to be significantly worse than the original predictions. see

It’s the Population, Stupid. Uncontrolled population growth threatens to undermine efforts to save the planet. Our growing numbers and our unchecked impact on the natural environment move us inexorably toward global calamities of unthinkable severity. The environmental movement needs to stop running scared of this controversial topic. Until population growth is checked, all the other environmental disasters will continue to grow. see , see , see , see

American Attitudes Towards Warming: Detailed analysis of American belief system on global warming and how those attitudes will impact political decisions about warming in the future. Study finds six different attitudes are prevalent. Only 51 percent describe themselves as either “Alarmed” or “Concerned” over warming.  This summarizes a George Mason University study. Click on the PDF link to see the complete study. see , pdf

Rainfall Creeping North: The band of tropical rainfall has been creeping north for the last three hundred years: about the same time the humans’ fires have been increasing the level of carbon in the atmosphere. The intertropical convergence zone has migrated north at an average rate of 1.4 kilometers -- just less than a mile -- a year since 1640. This coincides well with the time-line for increased burning of fossil fuels by humans. see 

Environmentalists Split on Transmission Lines:  A fierce dispute over electricity transmission has split California’s greens. Some environmentalists argue that more power lines must be built to connect cities with potential sources of renewable energy. The Sierra Club opposes one in particular, along with another line that would run east from Los Angeles. The dispute is likely to intensify in the next few months as Washington weighs in. see

Humans are Accelerating Evolution: Plants and animals subject to strong ‘harvest selection’ by fishers, hunters, and plant harvesters have been getting smaller over the last twenty years. Harvested organisms show some of the most abrupt trait changes ever observed in wild populations, providing a new appreciation for how fast phenotypes are capable of changing. The trend might imperil populations, industries, and ecosystems. see

Environmental Journalists Endangered? Mainstream media are cutting back their scientific and environmental reporting. CNN axed their entire science, environment and technology unit at the end of 2008. Senior science journalists at Fortune magazine, The Weather Channel, and the Los Angeles Times have also been eliminated. see

Poll Shows Less Concern about Warming: Americans are less concerned about rising global temperatures than they were a year ago. The latest Pew Research poll shows global warming came in last among 20 voter concerns, trailing issues like addressing moral decline and decreasing lobbyists. Only 30 percent of the voters deemed global warming to be “a top priority,” compared with 35 percent in 2008. see , see

Warming Reshaping Global Food Supplies: Major droughts in two major agricultural countries, China and Argentina, are only the beginning of a change in the way climate is effecting global food production. 2009 looks to be a humanitarian disaster around much of the world. The countries that make up two thirds of the world's agricultural output are experiencing drought conditions: misery, ruined crop, and dying cattle. see

Himalayan Glaciers: Gone by 2035: Most of the world’s freshwater is frozen in glaciers. Himalayan glaciers are receding faster than in any other part of the world. If the present rate continues, a large number of them may disappear by 2035. The Himalayas have the largest concentration of glaciers outside the polar caps. They feed seven of Asia’s great rivers: Ganga, Indus, Barahmaputra, Salween, Mekong. see , see , see

Introduction to Greenhouse Gases: A Philazine Powerpoint Presentation about greenhouse gases. Basic introduction showing which gases are of most importance to the climate change phenomenon and how and why they are accumulating in the atmosphere.  Details which countries and which industries are contributing most to the problems.  see

Localism Not Always Good for Planet:  Environmental groups put local concerns first and the planet second. Wind farms, nuclear power plants and hydroelectric dams provide clean energy and reduce carbon emissions, but these are often opposed. Local environmentalism is often bad environmentalism, because keeping one’s backyard pristine can make the planet worse off. see

Warming Can Not be Stopped:  The rich can’t stop the world’s 5 billion poor from burning the couple of trillion tons of cheap carbon that they have within easy reach. They can’t make a dent in global emissions—because emissions from the developing world are growing too fast and because 80 percent of humanity desperately needs cheap energy. Dire prediction about the future of climate change and why it is inevitable. see

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Could Last 1000s of Years: Book review of David Archer’s The Long Thaw: How Humans Are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth's Climate, University of Princeton press, 2008. A leading climatologist says continued carbon emssions may eventually cancel the next ice age and raise the oceans by 50 meters, creating a warming patten that will loasts thousands (100,000) years. see

Preview of Coming Climate: A warm period 3 million years ago, when forests dotted the Arctic region and sea levels were 80 feet (24 meters) higher, is providing clues about how heat-trapping greenhouse gases can boost global temperatures. Atmospheric concentrations of CO2, the main man-made greenhouse gas, were about 400 parts for every million parts of air in the mid-Pliocene. CO2 levels rose to 383.1 parts per million in 2007. see

Environmental Adversary: A must-read profile of  leading science denier, Roger Bate. Clear explanation of the strategies used by one key leader of the anti-warming and anti-environmental camp. To understand the strategy is to understand why environmental arguments are so prone to being co-opted by corporate and moneyed interests.” The political future of the green movement likely lies in countering Bate’s style of argument.” see

5 New Nuclear Power Plants: are coming on line in the next twelve months. One in Tennessee, one in Japan, one in Finland, one if France, and one in South Korea. South Koreas’s long term plan is for10 new reactors by 2030 with the plants producing 40% of domestic electric supply. Nuclear power is making a comback. see

40 Percent of Fish Catch Wasted: The health of our oceans cannot be restored and fisheries sustainably managed if fishing vessels go to sea, chase their“target” catch, and — with their fishing gear unselective — catch millions of tons of other marine life, commonly known as bycatch. The catch of so called “non-target” fish and marine creatures often occurs with no oversight or management. see

Organic Farming: Organic farming offers Africa the best chance of breaking the cycle of poverty and malnutrition it has been locked in for decades, according to a major study from the United Nations to be presented today.  The practices is delivering sharp increases in yields, improvements in the soil and a boost in the income of Africa's small farmers. see

Warming Effects: In the U.S., the latest study shows the likely effects of climate change. This is a region by region account how climate has changed and will continue to change. By century’s end, the state of Illinois will have a climate similar to the gulf coast of Texas. see

Green Google: Google’s Cleantech Movement aims to “eliminate all utility fossil fuel dependence and 50 percent of automobile fossil fuel dependence by 2030.” Google has already invested $45M in wind, solar, and geothermal energy, with tidal and wave power as next in line. Company spokesmen say this is “all part of not being evil.” Energy efficiency will likely lead to more savings. see

CO₂ Levels Already Too High: “We have reached CO2 levels that compromise the stability of the polar ice sheets. How fast ice sheets and sea level will respond are still poorly understood, but given the potential size of the disaster, I think it’s best not to learn this lesson firsthand.” To maintain a planet similar to that on which civilization developed, an optimum CO2 level would be less than 350 ppm — a dramatic change from most previous studies. see

Recycling in Trouble: Months after its high, the recycling market has tanked in lockstep with the global economic meltdown. As consumer demand for autos, appliances and new homes dropped, so did the steel and pulp mills' demand for scrap, paper and other recyclables. Cardboard that sold for about $135 a ton in September is now going for $35 a ton. Plastic bottles have fallen from 25 cents to 2 cents a pound. see

How Many Trees Per Person? In 2005, there were 400,246,300,201 (more or less) trees on earth. Evergreen State College professor Nalini Nadkarni looked up the world's human population as of Dec. 31 and found that on that day, we numbered 6,456,789,877. Punching the figures into her calculator, she figured that the world supports 61 trees per person. see , hear

Jared Diamond Video: Why do societies fail? With lessons from the Norse of Iron Age Greenland, deforested Easter Island and present-day Montana, Jared Diamond talks about the signs that collapse is near, and how -- if we see it in time -- we can prevent it. Diamond is the best-selling author of Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.  see