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Climate Change: A planet in flux : Nature : Nature Publishing Group

Climate Change: A planet in flux : Nature : Nature Publishing Group

Feb. 29, 2012
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How is life on Earth reacting to climate change?Article toolsPrintEmailDownload PDFDownload citationOrder reprintsRights and permissionsShare/bookmarkConnoteaCite U LikeFacebookTwitterDeliciousDiggHuman activities have added billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide to Earth's atmosphere, causing global temperatures to rise. We are beginning to see how warmer temperatures are altering climates all over the planet and to understand the effects they are having on animals, agriculture and people. What will Earth look like in the year 2100? How will climate change have altered the planet's biology?
A changing worldFly over the high Arctic in summer and you will see a landscape speckled with shallow ponds, some ringed by mossy wetlands. Frozen for most of the year, these ponds melt for a few months and become biodiversity hotspots teeming with plants, animals and microorganisms. The Arctic's isolation and extreme environment have made it difficult to gather observational data on the region's ecological changes, and existing records are sparse and incomplete. Fortunately, the ponds and lakes in this region can help scientists build a picture of the high Arctic's environmental conditions going back thousands of years.
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Part II of the chat with Dr. Robert Ballard; says both sides of global warming are right - The Big Mac Blog

Part II of the chat with Dr. Robert Ballard; says both sides of global warming are right - The Big Mac Blog

Part I of a chat with Dr. Robert Ballard, who's no longer "on a boat!" - The Big Mac Blog

Part I of a chat with Dr. Robert Ballard, who's no longer "on a boat!" - The Big Mac Blog

Climategate Backfires on Climate Science Denial Industry by Richard Komorowski – March 1, 2012 |

Climategate Backfires on Climate Science Denial Industry by Richard Komorowski – March 1, 2012

CFN – Climategate is back in the news again, but not in the way the climate science denial industry would like. It appears that one of the denial industry’s main companies, the Heartland Institute, has had some embarrassing email and document leaks, and is in heavy damage control mode.
When Climategate first broke the news in November, 2009, the Toronto Sun was one of many media voices to echo the allegations of wrong-doing by genuine scientists who were engaged in climate research. Lorrie Goldstein, one of the Sun’s wannabe Ezra Levants, wrote that he’d “been poring over one of many leaked computer files from the ‘climategate’ scandal.” He then goes on, quoting isolated fragments, all designed to promote the myth that man is not causing climate change.

The main “scandal” about Climategate, however, was not the leaked documents and emails, but the hacking of a University of East Anglia server. The truth is that none of these documents were leaked, they were *stolen.* Goldstein, with his allegation that the documents were “leaked” is just adding to the Climategate lie. The documents and emails, which have been massively edited for public consumption, received massive publicity thanks to the fossil fuel industry and Libertarian “think tanks.”

Joseph Bast, President of the Heartland Institute, an extreme-right Libertarian think tank, PR and Lobbying organisation, had this to say about the theft:

“Last week, someone (probably a whistle-blower at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, England) released e-mails and other documents written by Phil Jones, Michael Mann and other leading scientists who edit and control the content of the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“The e-mails appear to show a conspiracy to falsify data and suppress academic debate in order to exaggerate the possible threat of man-made global warming.

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