CLIMATE CRISIS
Exxon Contributes $86,000 To ALEC, Which Then Helps Promote Weak Fracking Regulations
By Jessica Goad As the New York Times reported last month, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a right-wing corporate front group , has been behind various efforts to enact watered down state regulations for the natural gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The Times noted that ALEC’s model legislation being shopped to state legislators was sponsored by Exxon Mobil.Don't Have Flash? Watch this video on your iPad or iPhone here While temperatures soared for many this summer, this video takes the longer historical view.
Watch 131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds
Changing the future ... The Continuity Forum has been working for a number of years looking at how the expertise and experience gained by Risk and Business Continuity professionals can help change our future. Climate Change is a very real threat that needs united action by the public and private sector if the risks it brings are to be effectively countered.
Developing Business Continuity and Risk Management capability to meet Climate Risk
Brown Argus (Aricia agestis) butterfly roosting on grass. Photograph: Bob Gibbons/Alamy A modest but resilient British butterfly has bucked the trend of worried predictions about the species' health, with scientists reporting it appears to have benefited rather than lost out from climate change .
British butterfly defies doom prediction to thrive in changing climate | Environment
By Oliver Milman, The Guardian An Australian university has embarked upon an ambitious project — hailed as the first of its kind in the world — to simulate how the environment would cope with runaway climate change.
Australian Project Simulates Runaway Climate Change
When the ice breaks apart, it will produce an iceberg more than 340 square miles (880 square kilometers), said Studinger, who is part of the US space agency's IceBridge project.
Graphic: An iceberg the size of New York
The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide has jumped by a record amount, according to the US department of energy, a sign of how feeble the world's efforts are at slowing man-made global warming.
Greenhouse Gases Rise by Record Amount
Businesses Invest Early to Comply with California’s Carbon Market
California Air Resources Board drives pollution reduction projects
Polar Bear Probe Careens in New Directions
WASHINGTON - October 26 - A controversial investigation by the Interior Department Office of Inspector General (IG) into a 2006 peer-reviewed journal article on drowned polar bears has veered off into new directions which appear to solidify rather than impeach the article, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Among the revelations by the IG was that it has received oral reports of more drowned polar bears in open Arctic waters than had been officially reported.Worst Flooding in Decades Swamps Thailand - Alan Taylor - In Focus
Heavy monsoon rains have been drenching Southeast Asia since mid-July, causing mudslides and widespread flooding along the Mekong River.State Farm Insurance has paid $5 billion to its customers for weather-related catastrophes -- damage to cars, homes and other property so far this year -- the largest U.S. insurer of homes and cars said Sunday. That payout has been increased by wildfires, tropical storms and hurricanes during the summer, which came after last spring's spate of tornadoes and hail storms. The company did not provide a comparable figure for the year-ago period.
State Farm Pays $5 Billion in Weather Claims
Not the way climate scientists see it.