Canada invisible on the world stage

On Tuesday, Harper skipped most of the UN Summit on Climate Change to have lunch with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He left Environment Minister Jim Prentice to defend Canada's policy of doing whatever the U.S. does. (Harper did go to the leaders' dinner that evening.)

Researcher Cites Role of Ancient Farming in Climate Change - washingtonpost.com

...a professor emeritus at the University of Virginia has suggested that people began altering the climate thousands of years ago, as primitive farmers burned forests and built methane-bubbling rice paddies. The practices produced enough greenhouse gases, he says, to warm the world by a degree or more.

Other scientists, however, have said the idea is deeply flawed and might be used to dampen modern alarms over climate change.

[Saving the world from trace amounts of carbon dioxide]: Bill Clinton basks in role of world savior - Yahoo! News

Among its accomplishments, the CGI says, are commitments to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 60 million tons, treat 34 million people for tropical diseases, give 10 million children better education, and provide safe drinking water to three million people in Asia.
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Clinton said he had only one complaint about his family's high-flying lifestyle: not getting to see enough of his "favorite member of the Obama administration."

[At an average temperature of -58F, how long does it take to melt an ice sheet 3 kilometers thick?]

Scientists are now trying to design ever more high tech experiments -- with satellite radars, lasers, robot submarines, or even deep drilling through perhaps 3 kilometers of ice -- to plug huge gaps in understanding the risks.
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And recent studies indicate a slight warming trend in Antarctica, teased out from computer studies of temperature records. Still, most of Antarctica is not going to thaw -- the average year-round temperature is -50 Celsius (-58.00F).