Climate Change

The Democratic Party of Japan, which won that nation's elections Sunday, is poised to slash Japan's greenhouse emissions by up to 25 percent, which could have an impact on climate treaty negotiations.

Talking Points Memo has obtained a set of talking points and an example script given to employees of the Bonner PR firm working on the coal-funded campaigh against the climate bill. "The talking points specifically instructed employees to lie to the community organizations they were calling, telling them they were working with seniors/veterans groups and that other seniors/veterans groups had written the letter they would be signing. They were in fact working directly for a coal industry front group, and the letter was written by Bonner and associates."

"Most Americans approve of the way President Obama is handling energy issues and support efforts by him and Democrats in Congress to overhaul energy policy -- including the controversial cap-and-trade approach to limiting greenhouse gas emissions."

"Bouts of extreme muggy heat lasting for days, once rare in California, are becoming more frequent and intense due to ocean patterns altered by climate change, scientists said in a study released on Tuesday."

"Billions of tons of carbon are buried in the frozen Arctic tundra, now heating up because of human-caused climate change. To measure which greenhouse gases are being released and in what quantities, government scientists are flying instrument-laden planes over the tundra from now through November."

"Researchers found that two of the Tetons' biggest glaciers have lost more than 20 percent of their surface area since the late 1960s."

"UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to visit a Norwegian island deep inside the Arctic Circle, near the North Pole, to see firsthand the effects of climate change, his spokeswoman said."

In Brazil's epicenter of deforestation, an environmental group is offering farmers cash to let the forest stand. The question is whether they can make more by clearing the land and farming it.

"Midwestern Democrats, who want duties placed on countries who don't limit greenhouse gas emissions, are at odds with Obama."

"July was the hottest the world's oceans have been in almost 130 years of record-keeping. ... Meteorologists said there's a combination of forces at work this year: A natural El Nino system just getting started on top of worsening man-made global warming, and a dash of random weather variations. The resulting ocean heat is already harming threatened coral reefs. It could also hasten the melting of Arctic sea ice and help hurricanes strengthen."