Reuters: As the world’s oceans get warmer, the strongest tropical storms get stronger, climate scientists reported on Wednesday as the remnants of Hurricane Gustav spun out over the central United States. "If the seas continue to warm, we can expect to see stronger storms in the future," James Elsner of Florida State University said. "As far as this year goes, as a season, we did see the oceans warm and I think there’s some reason to believe that that’s the reason we’re seeing the …

Canberra Times: NEW laws to impose taxes to tackle climate change are likely to end up before the High Court, the new Chief Justice, Robert French, predicted yesterday. Justice French, who walks to work and has a hybrid electric car, said there was "a very powerful body of evidence about climate change issues" and he observed a lot of the debate. "It may be that some of those responses will lead to cases that will in one form or another …

Australian: THE head of the Federal Government’s Murray-Darling Basin management agency says the crisis in the nation’s key river system has the "fingerprints all over it" of climate change, further isolating Brendan Nelson. Murray-Darling Basin Commission chief executive Wendy Craik said scientific evidence showed that climate change was playing out in the drought gripping the lower basin. The Opposition Leader, under criticism from the Government over his declaration that the Murray …

Reuters: The incredibly rapid rate at which Canada’s Arctic ice shelves are disappearing is an early indicator of the "very substantial changes" that global warming will impose on all mankind, a top scientist said on Wednesday. Researchers announced late on Tuesday that the five ice shelves along Ellesmere Island in the Far North, which are more than 4,000 years old, had shrunk by 23 percent this summer alone. The largest shelf is disintegrating and one of the smaller shelves, covering …

Reuters: Growth in solar power installations in Italy may not be enough to plug a gap in global demand as Spain prepares to slash subsidies, say Italian industry experts. Solar power firms face a drastic slowdown in the Spanish market next year and some are pinning their hopes on Italy, but Italian officials and manufacturers are cautious over growth prospects. Gerardo Montanino, operations director at GSE, the Italian government department overseeing feed-in tariffs, said he expected …

China Daily: In the latest sign of the accelerating climate change, a huge ice shelf has broken away in Canada’s northern Arctic, and the remaining shelves have shrunk at a "massive and disturbing" rate. The 55-sq-km Markham Ice Shelf, one of just five remaining ice shelves in the Canadian Arctic, split away from Ellesmere Island in early August, Canadian scientists said on Tuesday. Two large chunks totaling 76 sq km have broken off the nearby Serson Ice Shelf, too, reducing it by 60 …

Reuters: The move to more sustainable, earth-friendly clothing, shoes and other consumer goods may be at a "tipping point" of mainstream acceptance, and major companies like Nike Inc and eBay Inc are recognizing their growing importance among global shoppers. Green is now a major marketing tool, with companies from British Petroleum advertising alternative energy to Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s offering more organic goods. Moreover, the green movement is no longer the exclusive domain of the …

Reuters: The European Parliament voted in favour of new rules for hydrogen-powered cars, buses and lorries on Wednesday, seeking rigid standards for approving the controversial new technology when it is rolled out. Cars contribute about 14 percent of the European Union’s CO2 emissions and hydrogen is seen helping the EU meet its ambitious goals of curbing emissions by a fifth by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. But environmentalists warn that the technology is still many years from being …

Reuters: EU lawmakers have delayed a key vote on curbing carbon dioxide emissions from cars, allowing themselves time to make tougher demands on the car industry, they said on Wednesday. They aim to reverse a weakening of the legislation at the hands of the European Parliament’s influential industry committee on Monday, which outraged environmentalists and many politicians. The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, had originally proposed capping carbon dioxide emissions from …

Mongabay: While the mention of Amazon destruction usually conjures up images of vast stretches of felled and burned rainforest trees, cattle ranches, and vast soybean farms, some of the biggest threats to the Amazon rainforest are barely perceptible from above. Selective logging — which opens up the forest canopy and allows winds and sunlight to dry leaf litter on the forest floor — and 6-inch high "surface" fires are turning parts of the Amazon into a tinderbox, putting the world’s largest …