More than 100 take Polar Plunge to help curb global warming | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

More than a 100 bathers made a mad dash into the 44-degree Atlantic Ocean at East End Beach today to benefit the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s work to curb global warming

Putting Extreme Weather Into Perspective « NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

According to Heidi Cullen, “2011 is further proof that a new era of extreme weather is dawning — and it’s about to get much, much worse “. But is there any truth in such claims?

We need to put this year’s weather into some sort of proper perspective. A few months ago, I put together a record of extreme weather events in 1971. Nothing special about that year, it just happened to be 40 years ago. So how does 2011 compare?

The World’s Slowest Learners « NoFrakkingConsensus

• ...UN bureaucrats (and their close friends in the environmental movement) have spent the past 14 years pretending – against all evidence – that a Kyoto-style treaty was somehow achievable. Thousands of them have flown off to exotic locales at regular intervals to hold climate summit after climate summit. Again and again they’ve pretended for the TV cameras that reaching such an agreement was a realistic expectation.

• What, exactly, have these people been smoking?

• Or, to use a phrase from my undergraduate days in women’s studies – Which part of ‘no’ did they not understand?

The 12 Most Hopeful Trends to Build On in 2012 by Sarah van Gelder — YES! Magazine

...there is a global initiative underway to recognize the rights of Mother Nature. Climate talks in Durban, South African, arrived at a conclusion that, while far short of what is needed, at least keeps the process alive.

Despite corporate-funded climate change deniers, most people know climate change is real and dangerous; expect to see many more protests, legislation, and new businesses focused on reducing carbon emissions in 2012.