Event: Global warming forum to be held in Casper, WY

Global warming — and whether it is man-made or a natural, recurring phenomenon — is the topic of this year’s Wyoming Forum, to be held in Casper Nov. 20 and 21.

The forum, a Wyoming Heritage Foundation event, is the foundation’s 26th annual meeting. The public forum is attended by business leaders, elected officials, federal, state and local government representatives, educators and the general public.

Speakers include authors Bjorn Lomborg (“Cool It”) and Dennis Avery (“Global Warming: Unstoppable Every 1500 Years”), and Nikki Roy of the PEW Center on Global Climate Change.

According to the release from the foundation, rigorous debate will take place among the speakers.

“There is no question that climate change, or global warming, is a hot topic,” said Mike Caballos, chairman of the Wyoming Business Alliance and Wyoming Heritage Foundation. “Most people have strong feelings about it, with the majority believing it’s related to human activity power plants, automobiles, industrial manufacturing, etc. But what if it isn’t or that the cost to lessen it are beyond reach? That’s a question worth debating”.

The debate and cost of solutions will accelerate rapidly as years progress, the release said, and as the nation’s leading coal-producing state, Wyoming must be prepared to face ongoing challenges with global environment.

“If global warming persists, our state’s tourism industry, mountain forests and glaciers, and agriculture and water supplies would be impacted,” said Wyoming Business Alliance and Wyoming Heritage Foundation President Bill Schilling in the release. “If climate change legislation, regardless of science or projections, is passed — which is a high degree of probability — coal production in Wyoming could decline by as much as 40 percent, costing the state 8000 jobs and $360 million yearly in state and local tax revenues by 2030.”

For more information about the forum, call (307) 577-8000 or email wyba@qwest.net.

U.K.: Global warming causes winter migratory birds to shun UK

 

 

Jessica Aldred  | guardian.co.uk,

Fewer birds will migrate to the UK each year as warmer temperatures caused by climate change will encourage them to spend winters closer to home, a report warned today.

Research from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) has shown a big drop in the numbers of ducks, geese, swans and wading birds migrating to UK wetlands in winter.

The report, published by the WWT, the British Trust for Ornithology and the RSPB, says climate change and milder winters may cause many birds to shorten their migration routes and stay closer to their breeding grounds. This means that many traditional wetland sites in Britain will miss out on the annual spectacle of migratory winter birds.

Many birds arrive in the UK from the colder regions of the Arctic circle such as Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia or Russia. They spend either the winter in the UK or stop for food and rest along migratory routes. The 2006-07 UK waterbirds survey identified 143 sites around the UK that are of international importance for 43 species of waterbirds, either during the winter or migration periods.

Figures showed that the numbers of Bewick’s swan were just half of those recorded last year, the lowest for 30 years.

Numbers of European and Greenland white-fronted geese continued to suffer long-term declines, while the numbers of dunlin — one of the UK’s most abundant waders — was the lowest since 1970.

The numbers of ducks such as wigeon, teal and shoveler all fell, with wigeon suffering a decline of one-fifth, the report showed. Redshank — a type of wader — have declined for the third year running, reaching its lowest level for 20 years.

The UK’s two species of godwit — types of wading bird — showed differing trends. The black-tailed godwit reached its highest level, while the bar-tailed godwit reached its lowest level to date, after a five-year decline.

The report found that some species of waterbirds are increasing, with avocets reaching record numbers.

Read on here.

Australia: Thousands march to stop climate warming

 

AAP

Thousands have taken part in marches around Australia calling for action to stop climate warming.  Nature Conservation Council of NSW spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann said the group was pleased with the number of people who took part in its fourth annual Walk Against Warming.

“The year after Kevin Rudd was elected (prime minister), we were wondering if people would turn out in force,” Ms Faehrmann told AAP after the event in Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD.  “This demonstrates people are still concerned about this issue.

“They get that the government is acting too slow.”  A colourful crowd showed up in Martin Place, despite the grey skies.

Some were dressed as polar bears. Others wore windmills on their backs.  Others carried placards of penguins with messages that read: “Don’t build your home on my home,” and “Some like it hot, penguins not”.

Ms Faehrmann told the Martin Place crowd the government needed to reduce greenhouse pollution “to the levels that science is telling us is necessary for a safe climate, not just to the level the fossil fuels industry can live with”.

Read on here.