Climate Change

"Hurricane Sandy, the monster storm bearing down on the East Coast, strengthened on Monday after hundreds of thousands moved to higher ground, public transport shut down and the stock market suffered its first weather-related closure in 27 years.

About 50 million people from the Mid-Atlantic to Canada were in the path of the nearly 1,000-mile-wide (1,600-km-wide) storm, which forecasters said could be the largest to hit the mainland in U.S. history. It was expected to topple trees, damage buildings, cause power outages and trigger heavy flooding.

"EU talks to agree tactics ahead of an international climate summit in Doha next month ended in disarray on Thursday, after coal-dependent Poland led opposition to more ambitious attempts to curb atmospheric pollution."

"The ozone hole above the Antarctic has hit its maximum extent for the year. Due to warm temperatures, the opening in the protective atmospheric layer was the second smallest it has been for 20 years, scientists said Wednesday."

Although predictions are still iffy, Pepco and other utilities around the District of Columbia and the Atlantic seaboard are bracing for winds and water from Hurricane Sandy. Some experts think the impact of the hurricane itself will be worsened by interaction with a large blocking dome of high pressure.

"The outcome of a prominent climate case has become even more shrouded in mystery after one of the three judges considering the matter died this week."

The hour-long report on the fossil-industry and right-wing climate science denial movement broadcast on PBS Frontline Tuesday night raises a key issue. Did deniers win their fight to stop action on global warming by killing it in Congress and keeping it out of the presidential campaign?

"Penn State University scientist Michael Mann, whose work showed that Earth’s temperatures have risen along with increased fossil fuel use, announced Tuesday he had filed a lawsuit against the conservative National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute for defamation, complaining that they falsely accused him of academic fraud and compared him to convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky."

"Activist Bill McKibben launches a climate road show, drumming up a little rage for an audience in search of a little leadership."

President Obama, GOP contender Mitt Romney, and the U.S. news media moderators pointedly refused to mention climate change once during the series of four presidential debates.

"Federal appeals court judges gave no indication [Friday] that they see any significant legal obstacles to the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act."