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Last year tied with 2005 as the warmest year on record for global surface temperature, US government scientists said in a report on Wednesday that offered the latest data on climate change.

The Earth in 2010 experienced temperatures higher than the 20th century average for the 34th year in a row, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

Overall, 2010 and 2005 were 1.12 degrees Fahrenheit (0.62 Celsius) above the 20th century average when taking a combination of land and water surface temperatures across the world, it said.

Those two years were also the highest in temperature since record-keeping began in 1880.

Last year was the wettest on record, NOAA said citing Global Historical Climatology Network which made the calculation based on global average precipitation, even though regional patterns varied widely.

When it came to hurricanes and storms, the Pacific Ocean saw the fewest number of hurricanes and named storms, three and seven respectively, since the 1960s.

But the Atlantic Ocean told a different story, with 12 hurricanes and 19 named storms, which include tropical storms and depressions, marking the second highest number of hurricanes on record and third highest for storms.

greennumbers climate change global surface temperature

This is Part 1 of a multi-part post on the SEC’s recent ruling on climate change. This post provides a brief summary of the ruling itself. One or more subsequent posts will drill down into the possible effects on data centers.

sec climate change data center

Has anyone been as badly maligned as Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?
In December, the Sunday Telegraph carried a long and prominent feature written by Christopher Booker and Richard North, titled: Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri.
The subtitle alleged that Pachauri has been “making a fortune from his links with ‘carbon trading’ companies”. The article maintained that the money made by Pachauri while working for other organisations “must run into millions of dollars”.
It described his outside interests as “highly lucrative commercial jobs”. It proposed that these payments caused a “conflict of interest” with his IPCC role. It also complained that we don’t know “how much we all pay him” as chairman of the IPCC.
The story (which has subsequently been removed from the Sunday Telegraph’s website) immediately travelled around the world. It was reproduced on hundreds of blogs. The allegations it contained were widely aired in the media and generally believed. For a while, no discussion of climate change or the IPCC appeared complete without reference to Pachauri’s “dodgy” business dealings and alleged conflicts of interest.
There was just one problem: the story was untrue.

rajendra Pachauri ipcc climate change conflict of interest sunday telegraph

The increasing desertification of the planet due to climate change is a serious threat to future humans,  so technology that can create water in deserts is arguably one of the more critical technologies that we need to master.

Wacky ideas that purport to solve serious climate issues are a dime a dozen, but ones that have actually proven themselves – by actually working in the real world – are welcome news.


At two years into successful operation on the largely arid Arabian peninsula, the “fog catcher” is such a concept.

desertification climate change fog catcher oman mitsubishi sea breezes

Russians are not used to heat waves. When the high temperatures that have overwhelmed Russia over the past six weeks first arrived in June, some 1,200 Russians drowned at the country's beaches. "The majority of those who drowned were drunk," the Emergencies Ministry concluded in mid-July, citing the Russian habit of taking vodka to cool off by the sea. But while overconsumption of vodka is a familiar scourge in Russia, extreme heat is not, and as the worst heat wave on record spawns wildfires that are destroying entire villages, Russian officials have made what for them is a startling admission: global warming is very real.

russia heat wave climate change

The warming temperatures of the ocean are problematic for many species, but especially worrisome is the impact hotter water has on cornerstone species upon which many other marine animals rely. Usually we hear about changes in ocean temperature impacting coral reefs, but now scientists are finding that across the globe, phytoplankton -- the food for zooplankton which is food for many other ocean species -- is in decline, and that will have massive impacts for not just the marine food chain but ocean systems on the whole.

plankton phytoplankton greennumbers climate change global warming ocean acidification

In the US Northwest states, 53 percent of our CO2 emissions from fossil fuels stem from transportation uses including commute traffic, freight, and planes. Our transportation sector produces more than three times as much climate pollution as electricity production does.

When we're looking at how to reduce our climate-changing emissions, we must look at how to reduce emissions in this sector.

co2 emissions transportation pollution climate change electricity production

Study suspects sharp reduction in snake numbers in a variety of habitats in five countries is caused by habitat loss and prey

The widespread disappearance of snakes will be one impact of climate change that some people may find it hard to regret. But as vital predators in sensitive habitats such as rice fields, their decline will have wider ecological consequence, say scientists.

snake snakes decline climate change

Large companies in the UK will spend more than $5.3bn on climate change and sustainability initiatives in 2010, according to a new report.

The findings by independent research firm Verdantix covers 457 UK companies and found that the UK climate change and sustainability market will grow by 14 per cent a year to reach $8.4bn in 2013.

climate change verdantix sustainability sustainability initiatives greennumbers

The philosophy at BT, the world-leading telecommunications company, is that being a responsible company makes good business sense. As experts in the competitive world of digital communication, BT understands the need to adapt to survive; part of that means making the best use of limited natural resources.

bt climate change responsible company sustainability

Tiny Kivalina, Alaska, does not have a hotel, a restaurant or a movie theater. But it has a very big lawsuit that might affect the way the nation deals with climate change.

Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo village of 400 perched on a barrier island north of the Arctic Circle, is accusing two dozen fuel and utility companies of helping to cause the climate change that it says is accelerating the island’s erosion.

environmental litigation inuit alaska alaskan village climate change climate litigation

A survey of risk managers on how climate change risk is perceived and dealt with by their businesses, released this morning, reveals the political and regulatory environments are top concerns among risk managers, survey sponsor Zurich Financial Services Group announced today. The survey, analyzed and reported by the Boston-based investor and environmental sustainability network Ceres and administered jointly with the Professional Risk Managers International Association (PRMIA), sheds light on how 200 risk managers view climate change and its potential impact on their industries

climate change risk managers ceres

Plane-free skies over Europe during Iceland's volcanic eruption may yield rare clues about how flights stoke climate change, adding to evidence from a closure of U.S. airspace after September 11, 2001, experts say

sept 11 volcano plane ban aviation climate change

More than 100 senior European business leaders met in Amsterdam today to outline their efforts to address the environmental and economic risks of climate change and to call on industry to take action.  The event’s sponsor, Diversey, Inc., also released its 2009 Global Responsibility Report, detailing the company’s achievements in sustainable business practices and corporate responsibility.

diversey Global Responsibility Report csr climate change

The latest version of Greenpeace’s Cool IT Leaderboard (1) reveals how some global IT companies are leading the industry by proving the potential of IT solutions to address climate change and reshape energy use, while others seem unable to decide if IT climate solutions are a significant business opportunity or a simple marketing strategy

Greenpeace Cool IT Leaderboard climate change it google cisco sap

Plane-free skies over Europe during Iceland's volcanic eruption may yield rare clues about how flights stoke climate change, adding to evidence from a closure of U.S. airspace after September 11, 2001, experts say

airplane aviation iceland ashtag greennumbers climate change jet fuel

For the first time, a causal link has been established between climate change and the timing of a natural event – the emergence of the common brown butterfly.

Although there have been strong correlations between global warming and changes in the timing of events such as animal migration and flowering, it has been hard to show a cause-and-effect link. This is what Michael Kearney and Natalie Briscoe of the University of Melbourne, Australia, have now done.

cause and effect global warming climate change butterfly butterfly emergence

We don't have to believe that our house will burn down to take out insurance. So why delay taking action to reduce emissions?

climate change risk insurance

Is climate change still so hotly debated that ads explicitly warning of what will happen in a warming world should be censored? Britain's Advertising Standards Association thinks so. After receiving 939 complaints about the British government's "Act on CO2" campaign of four print ads and a TV spot, the ASA issued this muddled response...

Advertising Standards Association climate change Act on CO2 ads

More extremely hot days, fewer cold ones wetter in the north and drier in the south: this is not a forecast for Australia’s climate but a snapshot of our climate now.

australia climate change csiro