One degree

Herald Sun

The Arctic ice cap keeps melting under the effects of global warming and in August saw its second-largest summer shrinkage since satellite observations began 30 years ago, US scientists said yesterday.

Measurements on August 26 showed a 5.26 million sq km ice cap, just below the 5.32 million sq km observed on September 21, 2005, making it the second-biggest summer Arctic ice-cap melt in history, said the National Snow and Ice Data Centre.

Since the start of August, the Boulder, Colorado, based centre said the Arctic polar cap shrank by 2.06 million sq km.

Melting is so fast and extensive it could shrink the ice cap to below the 4.25 million sq km reached in the summer of 2007, the smallest it had ever been observed by satellites, the centre said.

The Australian
By: David Karoly

La Nina, not an ice age, has cooled the planet, explains David Karoly

The opinion piece by Phil Chapman ("Sorry to ruin the fun, but an ice age cometh'', Opinion, April 22) warns of an approaching ice age but contains a number of factual errors, misleading statements and incorrect conclusions.

Chapman reports global average temperature cooled by 0.7C in 2007 and says: "If the temperature does not soon recover, we will have to conclude that global warming is over.''

The Australian
By: Leigh Dayton, Science writer

Plants, animals, ice and waters worldwide have all been significantly affected by global warming triggered by human activity, says the first research to link the phenomenon to changes in biological and natural systems.

Among the effects are earlier leafing of trees, movements of species to cooler climes, changes to bird migrations, melting glaciers and snow fields and shifts in fresh and marine ecosystems.

The Courier-Mail
By: Tara Ravens

The speed of climate change has been significantly underestimated and thousands of Australian homes are potentially at risk from rising sea levels, a conference has been told.

More than 80 per cent of Australians live in the coastal zone. About 700,000 homes are within 3km of the coast and less than 6m above sea level.

Ports, harbours and airports near the ocean were also vulnerable, keynote speaker Jo Mummery said.

The Advertiser
By: Marlowe Hood

The habitats of wild bird species are shifting in response to global warming, but not fast enough to keep pace with rising temperatures, a new French study has found.

Research also revealed that the delicate balance of wildlife in different ecosystems is changing up to eight times more quickly than was previously suspected, with potentially severe consequences for some bird species.

Source: ABC Unleashed http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/
By: David Karoly
David Karoly is an ARC Federation Fellow and Professor of Meteorology in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne. He was heavily involved in the preparation of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, released in 2007.

Science is about developing an understanding of natural and physical systems and testing that understanding using observations and modelling. Questioning and scepticism are fundamental aspects of science. Scientific theories are accepted understandings that have stood the test of time after extensive critical analysis.

The Australian
By: Dennis Shanahan

AS the Coalition meets in Canberra today to forge a climate change policy that would delay an emissions trading scheme beyond 2010, it will be confronted with evidence that most Australians support the Rudd Government's position.

Brendan Nelson is expected to adopt a policy with his shadow cabinet colleagues that opts to delay an ETS until greenhouse gas giants such as India and China act to cut their emissions.

But the latest Newspoll survey has confirmed widespread public support for an ETS, with 60 per cent of voters backing the adoption of a scheme "regardless of what other countries do''.

The Mercury
By: Sue Neales

Pioneering forest research by the Australian National University has found Tasmania's native forests contain up to six times as much natural carbon than previously thought.

The ANU research team, led by plant ecologist Brendan Mackey believes the new evidence may force a "rethink'' of national and state policies that encourage logging of native forests.

Professor Mackey says the case is now compelling for national and international efforts to prevent global warming to include the losses for carbon storage caused by the degradation and logging of native forests in south-east Australia.

Courier Mail
By: Graham Readfearn

The scientist who coined the term acid rain says the world is close to a climate change tipping point and Australia must show leadership in dealing with the problem.

American scientist Professor Gene Likens, who in the early '60s was among the first to link the increasing acidity in rain with the burning of fossil fuels, said Australia had to act now.

"Does the climate change problem exist? Yes,'' Professor Likens said.
"The scientific consensus is so strong and so universal -- there are just a handful of doubters on this.

The Australian
Source: AP

Edmonton: An area of ice covering about 18sqkm has broken off Canada's largest remaining ice shelf.

Trent University researcher Derek Mueller said yesterday he would not be surprised if more ice broke off during the northern summer from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, a vast frozen plain off the north coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada's far north.

In a development consistent with climate change theories, the enormous icy plain broke free some time last week and began slowly drifting into the Arctic Ocean. The piece had been a part of the shelf for 3000 years.

The Australian
By: Asa Wahlquist

It is not a list you want to top, but the reality is set out in the Garnaut report: Australia is the largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. However, the title is misleading.

Australia does top the emissions table, excluding land-use change and forestry emissions.

But include that measure and the Republic of the Congo is propelled right out in front, followed by Malaysia, Canada and then Australia.

The Cairns Post

Cairns' long-term Great Barrier Reef conservation plan risks being shattered by climate change, dramatically affecting the Far North's tourism and fishing industry, a researcher says.

Up to 95 per cent of reefs recently tested have died, says Dr Josh Cinner, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.

Herald Sun
By: Georgie Pilcher and Mary Bolling

Rooftop gardens, soil footpaths and mandatory parklands are among radical plans to prepare Melbourne for climate change.
And the city's stormwater drains, health system and public transport infrastructure will struggle to cope in a hotter climate, the report says.

Key lobby group the Committee For Melbourne has drafted recommendations to retrofit city buildings and make the public transport system green, to prepare Melbourne for the threat of global warming.

The Australian
By: Leigh Dayton, Science writer

Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney will blister in temperatures of more than 50C by 2050, according to the first hard look at the impact of climate change on extreme weather.

The forecast is part of a long-term prediction that temperatures on the hottest day of the year will rise dramatically in parts of southern Australia, including the southern Murray-Darling Basin, much of coastal NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

But the study did not find evidence that other parts of Australia would be so severely affected.

The Australian
By: Matthew Warren, Environment writer

The Debate
A Leading US economist has backed the simplicity of a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse emissions rather than the more complicated emissions trading scheme proposed by the Rudd Government yesterday.

The director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, Jeffrey Sachs, said it was unrealistic to expect one global carbon scheme. The reality was more likely to be a number of different schemes, resulting in a range of measures to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The Advertiser

Delaying the introduction of an emissions trading scheme would cost Australia billions of dollars, Treasurer Wayne Swan has said.

The Federal Government plans to start emissions trading in 2010 but the Opposition has called for a two-year delay amid warnings the scheme could cause severe economic pain.

Mr Swan rejected the call in a speech in Sydney last night.
"Delaying the introduction . . . as proposed by the Federal Opposition, would also have billions of dollars worth of adverse consequences for Australia,'' he said last night.

Mr Swan said climate change was the most significant economic challenge of our times.

The Courier-Mail
By: Malcolm Farr, David Fogarty

The G8 Summit

The world's biggest polluters have agreed on the need for "deep cuts'' in greenhouse gas emissions.
But the historic meeting in Japan yesterday -- which was addressed by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd -- failed again to set specific targets because of ongoing differences between developed and emerging economies.

The Courier-Mail
By: Michael Madigan, Adam Gartrell, Susanna Dunkerley.
Additional reporting: AAP

About 1000 of the nation's biggest polluters will be required to buy permits under the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme.

The Government on Wednesday will release a Green Paper on an ETS, which is likely to include a proposed model.
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, pictured, yesterday said the Government estimated about 1000 Australian businesses would be required to take part in the scheme.

The Australian
By: Peter Alford and Matthew Franklin

THE G8 group of industrialised nations has set a goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 under a pact that for the first time ties the US to a global target. The deal represents George W.Bush's first acceptance of a specifically targeted emissions reduction regime, the US having stood aloof from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Herald Sun
By: Gerard McManus

Australians will pay more for petrol, power, houses and food under a blueprint for a carbon emissions scheme unveiled yesterday.
Describing climate change as a diabolical policy problem for the Federal Government, review author Prof Ross Garnaut said Australia's way of life was under threat unless painful action was taken quickly.
Drawcard tourist destinations such as the Great Barrier Reef and Kakadu would be lost, and the nation's food bowl -- the Murray-Darling Basin -- was at risk of drying up by 2100, he said.

The Mercury
By: Malcolm Farr

Fighting "insidious'' climate change would batter the budgets of low-income families, the Government's emission's control expert, Ross Garnaut, conceded yesterday.

An emissions trading scheme, which made carbon-polluting products such as petrol and electricity more expensive, would add to household bills and be regressive.

But Professor Garnaut, an economist, said the cost to families would be much greater if there was no attempt to mitigate climate change.

Herald Sun
By: Olga Galacho and Alice Coster

Business and industry give Ross Garnaut's draft proposals a cautious tick but say there are many issues still to be resolved. Olga Galacho and Alice Coster speak to the key players.

BUSINESS
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Anderson
Business supports key aspects in the draft review, such as the broad coverage of greenhouse gases and industries including transport, a soft start before international agreements have been finalised, and prioritising global and sectoral agreements.

The Weekend Australian
Page 10

"A domestic emissions trading scheme must contain measures to ensure the competitiveness of trade-exposed energy-intensive businesses"
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Anderson

"Professor Garnaut's report adds urgency for Australia's journey away from the fatal shores of our high carbon economy"
Climate Institute chief executive John Connor

"Doing nothing is not an option. Urgent action is needed to avert the impending disaster of climate change. Everyone will be affected and all of us must pull our weight. We need to protect vulnerable families and trade-exposed industries but we also need to recognise that green jobs and climate-friendly industries provide Australia with economic opportunities"
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow

"Australia must ... know precisely the price that will be paid before Mr Rudd formally commits us to the new international agreement on climate change in 2012"
Brendan Nelson

"Professor Garnaut has again failed to appreciate the financial position of the generators, some of which will be facing severe operating losses and will therefore be put into a financially perilous state. We think essential energy industries should receive either cash or free permits"
National Generators Forum executive director John Boshier

"Our economy is strong, so the responsible thing to do is act now while it is affordable. Any delay will result in irreversible damage to the environment and future economy"
World Wildlife Fund chief executive Greg Bourne

Herald Sun
By: Olga Galacho, with AGENCIES

Senator warms to climate change report

In the strongest hint yet that carbon guru Ross Garnaut may be on the money when he calls for strong measures to reduce emissions, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong yesterday appeared to soften her assessment of his advice.
Following the release of his Climate Change Review on Friday, Senator Wong yesterday said he had made an "extraordinarily important contribution'' to government thinking.

The Australian
By: Dennis Shanahan, Political editor

GLOBAL FIGHT
Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong will lobby China at this week's G8 summit in Japan to take further action to combat greenhouse gas emissions as they push for Australia's own emissions trading scheme by 2010.

In Tokayo, on the northern island of Hokkaido, the Prime Minister and the Climate Change Minister will also be lobbying the world's leading economies on international fuel prices.