Friday, April 09, 2010

Arctic Ice Expanding, Not Retreating
At last December’s UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, former Vice President Al Gore shrilly proclaimed that “The entire polar ice cap ... could be completely ice free within the next five to seven years.” As implausible as Gore’s claim already was at the time, recent developments in the arctic have only served to make the fear of an ice-free polar zone all the more absurd.
Ice missions to measure climate change takes off - Telegraph
The film The Day After Tomorrow imagined that the melting of the polar ice caps would cause a second ice age by reversing the gulf stream.

[Duncan Wingham, a climate physicist at University College London] said that scenario was "silly" but the satellite will give scientists a better idea of how fast Polar ice is melting, which can affect weather systems around the world, including in the UK.
Climate change deal could take another year - Telegraph
Yvo de Boer, head of the UN body in charge of negotiations, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), doubted a legally binding deal would be reached in 2010. He expected the best outcome from Mexico would be if countries agree the basic architecture "so that a year later, you can decide or not decide to turn that into a treaty". The 2011 meeting is in South Africa.
...
The meeting may also throw up more information on who will replace Mr de Boer when he leaves the post later this year. Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, will choose the best person for the post - that could be upgraded to Under Secretary General of the UN in order to give it more status and power.
BBC - Richard Black's Earth Watch: Bonn voyage for Copenhagen bus
..some perceive a mud-splattered Rolls-Royce that can still be restored to its proper glories, others see only a broken down rustbucket that they'll pull on one last journey to the knackers yard.

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