Flooding in London, July 2007 (via Flickr's Andwar)

As polluter allies in Congress continue efforts to blindfold the Environmental Protection Agency from the realities of global warming, two new studies are confirming that changes in our climate are leading to stronger storms:

Human emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases helped trigger the increase in extreme rain events seen in North America over the second half of the 20th century, a group of climate scientists reported Wednesday in the journal Nature.

In a second Nature paper, another group reported that human greenhouse gas emissions likely contributed to the horrendous floods that inundated England and Wales in the fall of 2000. Those scientists ran sophisticated climate simulations across a network of tens of thousands of home computers that volunteers loaded with climate-modeling software. [...]

The study found that observed increase in deluges “cannot be explained by natural internal fluctuations of the climate system alone,” said [Environment Canada climate researcher Francis] Zwiers. In other words, only the addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere explains why the United States and Canada have experienced a dramatic increase in heavy downpours.

We’ve seen a series of extreme flooding events over the last year in places like Pakistan, Brazil and Australia. Climate scientists say global warming is loading the dice, making it more likely that ordinary storms will turn severe – and that severe storms will turn into disasters. Even the current unrest in the Middle East is being tied in part to climate-related spikes in food prices.

We can’t put off action on climate pollution any longer. Please take a moment right now to ask your member of the U.S. House of Representatives to take a stand against polluters.

To learn more about the connection between global warming and extreme weather, go to NWF.org/ExtremeWeather.

The new area will be converted farmland and will serve as habitat for other species as well.  It is an interesting example of how land protection and restoration work will need to become smarter and more flexible as climate change causes ecological shifts in existing habitat areas. 

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The Independent reports:

“BirdLife International is launching a global attempt … to try to confirm the existence of the critically endangered birds which, in some cases, have not been seen for more than 180 years. The list of birds which could have become extinct includes the slender-billed curlew, one of the last verified sightings of which was in the UK a decade ago. Other species being targeted by the international coalition of bird conservation groups include birds found in remote forests or islands, in parts of the US and Europe and in the Himalayas.”   See full article.

The solution was to fit him with a wetsuit and send him out.  His pals don’t seem to mind his unusual attire which is tastefully black in keeping with penguin dress code etiquette. 

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Kat Baker for PerssonnelToday.com reports:

“As part of the ‘Low Carbon Industrial Strategy’, climate and energy secretary Ed Miliband [UK] said 200,000 new green-collar jobs would be created by 2015, and a further 300,000 by 2020. The strategy sets out a series of government interventions to help create jobs by supporting industries critical to tackling climate change – including offshore wind and marine power. The government aims to cut emissions by 34% by 2020 – with employers forced to cut their 2008 carbon emissions by 13%.”

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