Three Democratic governors told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that curbing emissions and developing a national clean energy economy could mean more jobs and economic prosperity.

Citing the successes of their own states in greenhouse gas reduction and job creation, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, Jr., Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine touted the benefits of adopting renewable electricity standards and other energy measures.

Gregoire said the state of Washington has created nearly 50,000 new green jobs in the last two years, twice the target number set for the year 2020. Corzine, who emphasized the need for national leadership in the clean energy revolution, said New Jersey is committed to reducing emissions by 80 percent and building wind farms offshore.

Overall, Ritter, Jr., said, the "lesson...for other states and the nation as a whole, it is that good energy policy and climate policy can energize the economy and help create good-paying private sector jobs."

According to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report, coral reefs in the Caribbean face a considerable risk of bleaching and die-offs partly due to rising water temperatures.

The report says bleaching, a trauma-induced ejection of symbiotic algae often resulting in paler coloring, may exceed the record levels recorded in 2005, when, in the eastern Caribbean, "as much as 90 percent of corals bleached and over half of those died."

The NOAA reported in June that National Climatic Data Center found global ocean temperatures were the highest on record, creating a habitat conducive to bleaching. That study also found that arctic sea ice had receded drastically from the 1979-2000 period.

It is thought that similar conditions may develop in the Gulf of Mexico and Central Pacific.

The earth's leading greenhouse gas emitters are taking substantive steps toward clean energy innovation.

The United States and China announced plans on a joint clean energy research center, a compromise project aimed at developing clean building and vehicle technology and fostering a more convivial air between the two countries.

The project, which will be driven by headquarter facilities in both countries, is a significant part of the effort to lobby China to promote development of solar, wind, biofuels and other clean energy in the private sector, already a burgeoning movement.

One of the initiative's main proponents is U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Secretary Chu, who urged China to set carbon emission targets for the year 2050, also warned that the rising sea levels that will result from global warming would displace more people in China than in any other country. 

In addition to spurring clean energy development within China, U.S. officials pushed for a more open network for international communication: Commerce Secretary Gary Locke appealed to leaders of the new partner nation to avoid forcing trade barriers on clean energy technology: "We need to empower U.S. and Chinese entrepreneurs and innovators to create and collaborate free from artificial trade barriers."

Former Senator John Warner (R-VA) teamed up with the Pew Environment Group last week to announce a new project highlighting the links between national security threats and global warming.

"Leading military and security experts agree that if left unchecked, global warming could increase instability and lead to conflict in already fragile regions of the world," said Warner. "We ignore these facts at the peril of our national security and at great risk to those in uniform who serve this nation."

The project will bring together experts on science and military policy to evaluate joint strategies for preventing global warming and protecting national security interests.

This won't be the first venture to investigate the connection between climate change and national security: The National Intelligence Council, a projection arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, recently reported that global warming could threaten energy resources, damage military facilities, increase food shortages, and strain the economy, all of which would greatly burden national defense. Director Dennis Blair told Congress this year that "global climate change will have important and extensive implications for U.S. national security interests over the next 20 years."

A report issued last week on the effects of global warming on storms and flooding is drawing attention in many at-risk areas.

Among the communities taking special notice of the report are Northeast Ohio, which recently experienced record storms and floods; Eastern North Dakota, which has seen the benefits of smart flood planning methods advocated by Dr. Amanda Staudt, author of the report; New England, which has endured abnormally heavy rain in recent months; Northwest Indiana, which is at an increased risk of flooding due to global warming; and Virginia, which has experienced starkly contrasting dry and wet weather periods in the last year.

“Global warming is partly to blame for these heavy rainfall events,” said Dr. Staudt. “Warmer air simply can hold more moisture, so heavier precipitation is expected in the years to come.”

America’s over-reliance on levees and other strategies for taming rivers; communities that are on the frontlines; and what must be done to confront the realities of global warming.The report focuses on how global warming has caused more heavy rainfall events;

The United States is seeing more heavy storms and major floods, and it seems global warming is partly to blame.

The National Wildlife Federation is set to release “Increased Flooding Risk: Global Warming’s Wake-Up Call for Riverfront Communities,” a report detailing how global warming is causing more heavy rainfall events even as America’s over-reliance on levees and other old strategies for taming rivers sidesteps flooding issues. The report offers a new course of action for confronting the realities of global warming and shielding flood-prone communities from the consequences of unnaturally heavy rainfall.

Perspectives will be provided regarding the latest scientific research on global warming and flooding, the national flood insurance program, and recommendations for how to cope with projected changes and how to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.

According to a major anti-poverty organization, unchecked global warming will exacerbate a crisis already being called "the defining human tragedy of this century": hunger.

Oxfam International says that global warming will bring crop failure, erratic storms, droughts, and a shift in growing seasons, thus increasing the pressure on millions of already-suffering people worldwide to produce the food they need to survive.

The report, "What Happened to the Seasons?" comes as leaders of the G8 nations prepare to meet in Italy this week to discuss food scarcity, climate change, and other issues.

Oxfam surveyed farmers around the world and found that changing growing seasons are already affecting the planned planting and harvesting of subsistence crops. For example, nations that depend on rice, the world's most common food, are among the hardest hit, as yields of the staple crop are predicted to decline by 10 percent for every 1 degree C rise in temperature in some poor countries.

New Yorkers now need only crane their necks for a reminder of the need for new energy practices in America.

Deutsche Bank recently unveiled a seven-story 'carbon clock' in Manhattan to keep a ton-by-ton tally of the amount of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere.

The counter, devised by MIT scientists, reflects the growing need for emission reform: the spinning numbers show that carbon is being added to the atmosphere at a rate of about 800 tons per second.

With lawmakers moving forward on a bold new piece of climate legislation in the House, a green job boom seems to be on the horizon.

A report released last week finds that investing in a clean energy economy should help alleviate a soaring unemployment rate and improve job prospects across a wide range of sectors and experience levels.

The Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (PERI) report focuses on job creation and the investment opportunities that stand to emerge in a clean energy economy.

The report concluded that blue collar workers would be among the biggest beneficiaries of a nationwide clean energy boost. Workers with "relatively low educational credentials" stand to gain the most. An estimated 870,000 of the predicted 1.7 million (net increase) jobs arising from the move to a clean energy economy will be accessible to workers with high school degrees or less.

In addition to generating new opportunities for blue collar workers, a clean energy economy is projected to bring about a drop in the overall unemployment rate and a raise in per capita earnings for current low-income workers.

The total bounty of a clean energy economy is projected to include a 300 percent improvement in job opportunities over those found in fossil fuel fields and a significant reduction in day-to-day living costs for members of low-income households.

More than 100 conservation leaders from around the country met in New Orleans last week to push for the restoration of iconic U.S. waters such as the Chesapeake Bay, Coastal Louisiana, Florida Everglades, Great Lakes, Gulf of Maine, Long Island Sound, Puget Sound, and others.

“Restoring American’s great waters will benefit the country’s economy and environment—and will be vital in addressing the impacts of global warming,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, the host of the summit.