Guardian: A group of more than 40 leading Southern Baptists has widened the divisions within the powerful American evangelical movement over global warming, denouncing the denomination’s stance as "too timid" and warning that its cautious response to the environment is seen around the world as "uncaring, reckless and ill-informed". A declaration backed by the president of the conservative Southern Baptist Convention, the Reverend Frank Page, argues that the "time for …

Mercury: A WEEK ago, I gave a speech at an official gathering at Prague Castle commemorating the 60th anniversary of the 1948 communist putsch in the former Czechoslovakia. One of the arguments of my speech, quoted in all the leading newspapers in the country the next morning, went as follows: Future dangers will not come from the same source. The ideology will be different. Its essence will nevertheless be identical: the attractive, pathetic, at first sight noble idea that transcends the individual …

New York Times: A rise in sea levels and other changes fueled by global warming threaten roads, rail lines, ports, airports and other important infrastructure, according to new government reports, and policy makers and planners should be acting now to avoid or mitigate their effects. While increased heat and "intense precipitation events" threaten these structures, the greatest and most immediate potential impact is coastal flooding, according to one of the reports, by an expert panel convened by …

Christian Science Monitor: We drive our cars on it, we build skyscrapers with it. But concrete, one of the most common building materials in the world, has an ugly secret: It’s a major source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which contribute to global warming. Roughly 5 to 10 percent of global CO2 emissions are related to the manufacture and transportation of cement, a major ingredient of concrete. With cement production expected to grow exponentially in coming decades, the industry is trying …

Reuters: One billion people can get electricity for the first time for little more than the cost of one month’s war in Iraq, said Rajendra Pachauri, the head of a Nobel peace prize-winning U.N. panel of climate scientists. Pachauri is supporting a campaign "lighting a billion lives", led by India’s Energy and Resources Institute, to furnish people without access to the grid with electric lanterns powered by solar photovoltaic panels. "Millions and millions of people do …

Science Daily: The pending federal decision about whether to protect the polar bear as a threatened species is as much about climate science as it is about climate change. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is currently considering a proposal to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, a proposal largely based on anticipated habitat loss in a warming Arctic. Climate models - mathematical representations of the natural processes affecting climate - …

Bloomberg: World leaders wasted a decade debating whether global warming is happening, and now need to act quickly to limit its effects, a former chairman of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said. The pace of greenhouse-gas emissions risks locking in thousands of years of higher sea levels, as well as damaging marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, melting sea-ice and acidifying the oceans, said Robert Watson, now chief scientific adviser at the U.K. environment …

Press and Journal: The Uk Government came under fire from green groups and a leading climate scientist last night after signalling its support for coal- fired power stations. Business Secretary John Hutton sparked criticism after saying power generation from fossil fuels would continue to play a "key role" despite the planned expansion of nuclear and renewables. "For critics, there’s a belief that coal-fired power stations undermine the UK’s leadership position on climate change. …

International Herald Tribune: A rise in sea levels and other changes fueled by global warming threaten roads, rail lines, ports, airports and other important infrastructure in the United States, according to new U.S. government reports, and policy makers and planners should be acting now to avoid or mitigate their effects. While increased heat and "intense precipitation events" threaten these structures, the greatest and most immediate potential impact is coastal flooding, according to one of the …

MSN: Scientists are warning that a giant glacier in Patagonia could disappear within 60 years. Experts from the Argentine government science agency Conicet said the Viedma Glacier, located in the southern province of Santa Cruz, has retreated by one kilometre since 1930. The Viedma and the nearby Upsala glacier are part of the huge South Patagonian Ice Field, the third largest expanse of continental ice after Greenland and Antarctica. Scientists describe glaciers as the …