Marshall Islands' Climate Change Dilemma: If It Vanishes Beneath Rising Sea Levels, Is It Still A Nation?

Marshall Islands' Climate Change Dilemma: If It Vanishes Beneath Rising Sea Levels, Is It Still A Nation?
CHARLES J. HANLEY | 12/ 6/10 02:27 PM | AP Cancun, Mexico — Encroaching seas in the far Pacific are raising the salt level in the wells of the Marshall Islands. Waves threaten to cut one sliver of an island in two. "It's getting worse," says Kaminaga Kaminaga, the tiny nation's Climate Change coordinator. The rising ocean raises questions, too: What happens if the 61,000 Marshallese must abandon their low-lying atolls? Would they still be a nation? With a U.N. seat? With control of their ol...

Climate goal may spell end for some coral reefs
FILE - In this Dec. 2005 file photo provided by the National Park Service shows National Park Service fisheries biologist Jeff Miller examining the Coral Reef in the Buck Island Reef National Monument in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, after bleaching from record hot water followed by disease has killed ancient and delicate Caribbean coral.According to coral experts like Roberto Iglesias the so-far elusive goal of world climate talks at the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, limiting glo...

AGW Today: Marshall Islands Could Disappear Due To Sea Rise
Unshockingly, this breathless report comes from a reporter in.......exotic Cancun, Mexico, rather than from the Marshall IslandsCANCUN, Mexico - Encroaching seas in the far Pacific are raising the salt level in the wells of the Marshall Islands. Waves threaten to cut one sliver of an island in two. "It's getting worse," says Kaminaga Kaminaga, the tiny nation's Climate Change coordinator.Two things to pre-notice: if all the Glaciers and ice are melting, and they are composed primarily of f...

The Marshall Islands Question: Does a Vanished Nation Have Legal Rights?
By Ashby Jones The Marshall Islands are a nation in the South Pacific. As a nation, it has many of the rights and privileges as do others, including a seat in the U.N. general assembly and control of surrounding waters. The only problem: the Marshall Islands are slowly disappearing, a Victim of the rising tides of global Climate Change. As this AP story reads: “Encroaching seas in the far Pacific are raising the salt level in the wells of the Marshall Islands. Waves threaten to cut one sl...

Experts: Glacier melt speeds up, risking lives
CANCUN, Mexico — The lives and livelihoods of people in South Asia are at "high risk" as Global Warming melts Glaciers in the Himalayas, sending floods crashing down from overloaded mountain lakes and depriving farmers of steady water sources, U.N. and other international experts reported. Worldwide, "since the beginning of the 1980s, the rate of ice loss has increased substantially in many regions, concurrent with an increase in global mean air temperatures," the U.N. Environment Program ...

A warning at climate talks: Glacier melt speeding up
CANCUN, Mexico (AP) — The lives and livelihoods of people in South Asia are at "high risk" as Global Warming melts Glaciers in the Himalayas, sending floods crashing down from overloaded mountain lakes and depriving farmers of steady water sources, U.N. and other international experts reported Friday. Worldwide, "since the beginning of the 1980s, the rate of ice loss has increased substantially in many regions, concurrent with an increase in global mean air temperatures," the U.N. Environme...

Cancun Climate Change Quote of the Day
The Guardian is reporting that the Indian environment minister rebuked rich countries here at the U.N. Climate Change conference for failing to keep their promises to deliver $30 billion in climate aid to poor country by 2012. As the Guardian reports: [Minister Jairam Ramesh] said: "The grand bargain at Copenhagen was President Obama telling the four heads of state: do you agree on transparency in return for money which can start flowing to vulnerable countries? The question is: has the money s...

New At Reason: Ronald Bailey Files His First Dispatch from the Cancun Climate Change Conference
The United Nations' Climate Change conference in Cancun is all about the money. Specifically, developing country negotiators are trying to bind rich countries to their promises to dole out tens of billions of dollars in Climate Change aid. Some are arguing that such Climate Change Reparations should total Trillions, not just hundreds of billions. In his first dispatch from the U.N.'s annual Climate Change confab, Reason Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey finds the Activists and negotiators are...

Bolivia Alleges U.S 'Blackmail' At Climate Change Negotiations
Should the rights over water resources be returned to the S'gor state govt? Cancun, Mexico, 7 DECEMBER, 2010: Bolivia alleged that the United States was using "Blackmail" tactics at Climate Change negotiations to force other countries to accept its position. "We are not sold to anyone. We are not bought. We are not scared," Bolivia's Ambassador to the United Nations Pablo Solon told reporters at a press briefing here. Solon said that the integrity of the negotiations at the current Cancun 16th U...

Political Climate Cant Stop Climate Change Initiatives
       AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council Director Bob Baugh is a member of a global union delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) attending the new round of United Nations Climate Change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. This is the second of a series of blogs on the talks. Read the first blog here. Congress’s failure to pass Climate Change Legislation and the election of a conservative majority in the next House have led many delegates from o

Group brings Cancun delegates to nearby village without electricity
In case you were unaware, the United Nations is holding a climate summit right now in Cancun. They are sunning and making big plans to limit international Economic Growth, because they are convinced that the observed phenomenon of Global Warming will result in a disaster right out of some movie. (Cancun, Mexico) On Wednesday, December 8th, CFACT will bring COP16 delegates and press to tour La Libertad, a Mexican community only minutes from the comforts of the Cancun tourist zone, where the poor ...

Cancun climate talks: Island states plead for survival
Among the delegates from 190 nations wrestling over international climate agreements in Cancun this week, there is nary a hint of the skepticism over Global Warming that has surfaced in the U.S. Congress, where oil, coal and other industrial interests have battled Climate Legislation to a standstill. Floods in Pakistan, fires in Russia, typhoons in Vietnam, drought in Mexico -- every nation seems to have a tale of climate-related woe.  The most vulnerable nations include the small island s...

AGW Today: Marshall Islands Could Disappear Due To Sea Rise
CANCUN, Mexico - Encroaching seas in the far Pacific are raising the salt level in the wells of the Marshall Islands. Waves threaten to cut one sliver of an island in two. “It’s getting worse,” says Kaminaga Kaminaga, the tiny nation’s Climate Change coordinator. Two things to pre-notice: if all the Glaciers and ice are melting, and they are composed primarily of fresh water, wouldn’t that mean the seas are getting less salty? Second, remember that thing about...

Bolivia Alleges U.S "Blackmail" At Climate Change Negotiations
Source: Bernama/Malaysian Digest Bolivia Alleges U.S "Blackmail" At Climate Change Negotiations Cancun, Mexico, 7 DECEMBER, 2010: Bolivia alleged that the United States was using "blackmail" tactics at climate change negotiations to force other countries to accept its position. "We are not sold to anyone. We are not bought. We are not scared," Bolivia's Ambassador to the United Nations Pablo Solon told reporters at a press briefing here. Solon said that the integrity of the negotiations at the ...

Experts: Glacier melt speeds up, risking lives
An Activist from Via Campesina, an international movement of peasants, holds a container filled with incense during the 'Global Forum for Life, Environmental and Social Justice', an alternative event parallel to the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, Monday, Dec. 6, 2010. According to the UN weather agency, 2010 is "almost certain" to rank among the three Hottest years on record, and the 2001-2010 decade is the warmest period since the beginning of weather records in 1850. United N...

Cancun climate talks surmount key stumbling block
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon headed to Cancun to offer a personal push in the Final Four days of the 194-nation conference.CANCUN, Mexico -- Talks in Mexico on a global climate agreement appeared Tuesday to get past a key stumbling block after China showed flexibility on allowing international verification of its efforts. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon headed to the beach resort of Cancun to offer a personal push in the Final Four days of the 194-nation conference, where a positive atm...

Cancun Climate Summit: Can Rainforests Be Saved With Cash Injections?
Protecting the world's Rainforests is a central issue at this month's Climate Change Conference in Cancun. Huge sums are to be offered to countries that protect their forests. However, experts fear that these rewards could be misused, and that they could actually promote Deforestation. If you want to save the world, there's no point starting in Paradise. At least that's what Environmental Protection groups said when it was announced that the world climate summit would be held on the tropical s...

WRI Climate Solution Proposal at Cancun Gets Approval From Nicolas Stern
One problem besetting climate negotiations, both at Copenhagen and at Cancun, is a lack of trust. This is because there has been no consistent metric by which to measure progress globally. Each nation provides their own monitoring and reporting. The solution, just launched this week at the Cancun climate talks by the World Resources Institute (WRI), is an independent network that will track countries’ progress toward cutting emissions and providing climate finance, by convening independent...

Impending Crisis: Earth to Run Out of Food by 2050?
Is the earth running out of food? That's what scientists warned if the world leaders don't act now and negotiate Food Security policies at this week's Climate Change talks in Cancun, reports the New Zealand Herald. In a new book, The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It, Professor Julian Cribb argues a catastrophic global food shortage will hit by mid-century. His predictions paint a glum picture of the perfect storm that could threaten the lives of hundreds of m...

Don't Teach College Economics Students Global Warming Denial
Think slowing Climate Change will cost a lot of money? Think again. As most Economists will tell you, the costs of not acting to slow Climate Change are far scarier. Unfortunately, you might not realize that if you are a college economics major. In fact, you might not even believe that Climate Change is happening at all. At least that's true if you are studying from one of five popular college economics textbooks that recently received a "Not Recommended " grade in The Sightline Institute's revi...

Ah, snow!
There’s no Global Warming here in Upstate New York. It’s been snowing for days, and the weatherman says it won’t stop until Thursday. Behold our back deck: Yes, that’s an umbrella sticking up out of the table. Winter snuck up on us and the umbrella is now frozen into the base, so we can’t put it away until things thaw out a little bit. And those branches you see are part of a lilac that’s beautiful in the spring. One thing I can say - they sure are goo...

Video: How to explain Milankovitch cycles to an anti-science Congressman in 30 seconds
This is an excerpt from Skeptical Science by John Cook about the inimitable Professor Richard Alley, who was grilled last month by Dana “Dinosaur flatulence” Rohrabacher (R-CA).  Alley was asked to explain in 15 seconds why climate has changed in the past and how we know humans are causing it now when they didn’t back then. I’ve long been a fan of Richard Alley. Not just because of his rendition of Geoman, possibly the nerdiest song in the history of science [reposted below].

Experts: Glacier melt speeds up, risking lives
CANCUN, Mexico (AP) - United Nations and other international experts say the lives and livelihoods of people in South Asia are at "high risk" as Global Warming melts Glaciers in the Himalayas. The glacier melt is sending floods crashing down from overloaded mountain lakes and depriving farmers of steady sources of water. The U.N. Environment Program says that worldwide, "since the beginning of the 1980s, the rate of ice loss has increased substantially in many regions, concurrent with an increa...

Climate summit in Cancun intent on progress
Cancun, MEXICO - The U.N.-sponsored climate talks, which began here a week ago, entered a new phase Monday, as delegates and high-ranking ministers from nearly 200 countries settled into vast, sunless meeting rooms, intent on restoring the credibility of a process aimed at slowing Global Warming. While last year's climate talks in Copenhagen produced little despite attracting more than 100 heads of state, some experts suggested this wonkish two-week meeting in a resort better known for colleg...

Global Warming Stopped...15 Years Ago
How inconvenient: A year ago tomorrow, just before the opening of the UN Copenhagen world climate summit, the British Meteorological Office issued a confident prediction. The mean world temperature for 2010, it announced, 'is expected to be 14.58C, the warmest on record' - a deeply worrying 0.58C above the 19611990 average. World temperatures, it went on, were locked inexorably into an everrising trend: 'Our experimental decadal forecast confirms previous indications that about half the years ...