Climate change is biggest global threat, say Britons
Asked to name the most serious threat to the planet, 48% of all respondents to the Ipsos MORI poll came up with global warming or climate change, compared with 20% who said terrorism. And it would appear that public opinion has shifted significantly over the last two years: 12% more people pointed to global warming when asked to choose the most serious global threat facing the world in 2006 compared to 2004. "Two years ago, concern about terrorism was well ahead of global warming," said Ipsos MORI's head of environmental John Leaman, who led the research.

Ice caps are melting even in winter, global warming evidence mounts
The vast expanses of ice floating in the Arctic Sea are shrinking in winter as well as summer, most likely a result of global warming, NASA scientists said today. "This is the strongest evidence yet of global warming in the Arctic,'' said Josefino Comiso, a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. If the ice caps continue to melt, Comiso said, it could have very profound effects on the polar bear and other marine mammals living in the Arctic.

EU ambassador presses need for dialogue on global warming
The European Union's ambassador on Thursday called for greater dialogue between the EU and the United Sates on global warming, saying greater advocacy is needed to promote conservation. "We need to get together more than we're doing now," Ambassador John Burton told Atlanta business leaders. "It's not an adversarial issue, it's an advocacy issue." Burton, a former Irish prime minister, was in town to remind executives of the importance of close ties with the EU. He said the alliance of 25 nations has helped create 138,000 jobs in Georgia alone, and each of the state's 159 counties have benefited from close ties.

In California, action on global warming
The legislative bargain struck in California last week on global climate change is a landmark in several respects. With the Bush administration sitting on its hands, state governments are emerging as the principal actors in reducing U.S. dependence on the fossil fuels responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. Californias plan, a compromise between Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislators, is by far the most ambitious state initiative yet. Whats more, California accounts for such a large percentage of the American economy that its regulatory actions will have large impact elsewhere. Most important, the more that states take action on their own - and thereby create a patchwork of rules - the more pressure will build on the federal government to create a national policy for mandatory greenhouse gas reductions.

NASA researchers find evidence of global warming in the arctic
A senior research scientist at the US space agency NASA says they've found the strongest evidence yet of global warming in the Arctic. New research shows that the sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk by 14 per cent over the last two years. NASA scientists used satellite imagery to do the work. It showed a rapid melting of the perennial Arctic sea ice - that's the kind that stays frozen all year round. The overall reduction is 720,000 square kilometres - an area not much smaller than the State of New South Wales.