Ozone layer

The industrialized world has severely damaged the ozone layer, which protects all life from the deadly ultraviolet rays of the sun, by pumping tens of millions of tons of ozone destroying substances into the atmosphere
 
The EPA estimates that tightening ozone (smog) and fine particle air (soot) standards would result in 9,000 fewer hospital admissions, 250,000 fewer cases of respiratory problems, 60,000 fewer cases of bronchitis and save tens of thousands of lives each year
 
For every dollar the U.S. spent on pollution protections since 1970, it have gained $45 in health and environmental benefits

Greenhouse effect

Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are rising rapidly, mainly because of human activity. Less than 200 years since we began making major emissions, greenhouse gas concentrations are rising to levels higher than any yet seen while humans have existed on this planet.

Hotter summers blamed as trout numbers fall by two-thirds

Trout and salmon are among the world's most familiar freshwater fishes, but numbers have fallen over recent decades – in some areas, dramatically.

Pollution, habitat loss and over-fishing have all been blamed in the past, but new evidence from Cardiff University shows that climate change could be a major factor, putting both species at risk.

The scientists studied populations of young salmon and trout in the River Wye in Wales, traditionally one of the UK's best angling rivers. Professor Steve Ormerod and colleagues from the Cardiff School of Biosciences found salmon numbers fell by 50% and trout numbers by 67% between 1985 and 2004 - even though the river itself became cleaner.

The Disappearing Bee

In recent years the bee population has been in decline which has developed into a very serious situation. A world with no bees, could you imagine that? Bees have a vital task to do to permit the human race to go on. It has long been suggested that without the bee the human race would probably not last for much more than a decade, on account of the fact that they in no small part, help to pollinate crops of fruit and vegetables not to mention our garden flowers. Some species of bee have such a close connection with specific plants that without them the plants would most likely disappear from our countryside for good. If we are to survive therefore, more must be undertaken to save the humble bee.

Climate change on Google Earth

Agencies across UK Government have joined together to highlight the issues of climate change via Google Earth. They are aiming to reach wider audiences and to evaluate the actions they will all need to take to mitigate and adapt to our changing climate.
Tackling climate change will be one of the most important things this generation does, and everyone needs to get involved. Every day, more and more people are taking individual steps to help reduce carbon emissions and tackle other environmental problems.

Google Earth

Google Earth is an interactive mapping application that allows users to navigate (or "fly") the entire globe, viewing satellite imagery with overlays of roads, buildings, geographic features, and the like.
Now it will also be overlaying climate change projections from the Met Office Hadley Centre and information on the polar icecaps from the British Antarctic Survey.

world's warmest year on record

LONDON: 2010 is likely to be the world's warmest year on record, the British Met Office has predicted.

According to the Met Office, man-made climate change will be a factor and natural weather patterns would contribute less to 2010's temperature than they did in 1998, the current warmest year in the 160-year record.

El Niño effect, the cyclical heating of the Pacific Ocean, is much weaker than it was in 1998, but the Met Office expects the warming effect of greenhouse gas emissions to more than make up the difference, 'The Times' reported.

It predicts that the global average temperature next year to be almost 0.6 C warmer than the 1961 to 1990 average, and forecasts an annual average of 14.58 C.

The Met Office has also said that it expects half the years between 2010 and 2019 to be warmer than 1998. It sounded a note of caution, saying that a record year in 2010 was not a certainty, especially if the current El Niño began to decline earlier than normal or there was a large volcanic eruption.

However, experts are divided on the prediction. Ben Stewart of Greenpeace said: "If 2010 turns out to be the hottest year on record, it might go some way towards exploding the myth, spread by the climate conspiracy theorists that we're experiencing global cooling. In reality the world is getting possibly a lot hotter, and humans are causing it."

But, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, has accused the Met Office of making a "political intervention" in the international negotiations taking place in Copenhagen.

"Suggestions by the Met Office that a warming trend will resume in the next year or two should be treated with reserve in light of the recognised difficulties in making such confident predictions," it said.

Media Ignores Latest "Deniers" Conference

• The Fourth International Conference on Climate Change concluded Tuesday in Chicago. Sponsored by The Heartland Institute, a non-profit, free market think tank, it brought together eminent (and legitimate!) scientists and other distinguished folk for panels and speeches addressing the arcane mysteries of climate.

• Among the dignitaries addressing the thousand or more people who attended was former astronaut, Harrison Schmitt, PhD, a one-term Senator who discussed why the U.S. Constitution makes no provision whatever for the Department of Energy or the Environmental Protection Agency. For three days men who know their science in ways that would fill entire libraries held forth.

And here are some key recent facts Alan points out. Facts that don't interest the MSM

• UK - Coldest winter in a lifetime - Freezing in May - 12 May 10

• Record Cold in Paris - 11 May 10

• Snow in "sunny" Spain - Coldest May since records began - 6 May 10

• Snow In Southern France - 5 May 10

• Again? Yet another Alberta snowstorm! - 5 May 10

The biggest news emerging from the conference is that, in addition to the fact that the Earth is ten years into another perfectly natural cooling cycle, it is also verging on another ice age.