This morning I woke to one newspaper article reporting that our NSW State Government is getting ready to appeal against the recent landmark ruling that it must consider the greenhouse impacts of burning coal to make electricity.

And, another article about a New Zealand-led scientific drilling team in Antarctica that has recently recovered three million years of climate history. Their conclusion — the Ross Ice Shelf, a raft of ice the size of France, may collapse as quickly as Larsen B did in 2002, triggering a dramatic rise in sea level.

The Larsen Ice Shelf which is on the Antarctic Peninsula had been stable for 10 thousand years or so but in 2002 proved that when these things decide to go, they go extremely quickly. A total of about 3,250 km2 of shelf area disappeared in a 35-day period. The Larsen Ice Shelf is now about 40 percent of the size of its previous stable minimum. You can view the speed and the extent of the Larsen B break up at the British Antarctic Survey. Link

The scientific consensus is clear: global warming is real, it’s happening now and it is the result of our use of oil and other fossil fuels. There is a lot you and I can do. Learn more here!

The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty on climate change, assigning mandatory targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to signatory nations. It has been signed and ratified by upward of 160 countries.

The USA and Australia continue to be the only countries that refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.