A recent study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the National Snow and Ice Data Center found that in periods of rapid sea ice retreat, Arctic land temperatures can increase at a rate triple the average warming rate estimated in global climate models.

The study’s lead author, David Lawrence of NCAR, is quoted as saying that this study "…suggests that, if sea-ice continues to contract rapidly over the next several years, Arctic land warming and permafrost thaw are likely to accelerate."

Arctic permafrost and soils contain at least 30 percent of the carbon stored in soils worldwide. The acceleration of thawing of Arctic permafrost has the potential to significantly increase the emissions of greenhouse gases released when permafrost thaws.

This is a dangerous feedback loop we can’t afford to let happen.

Today former Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore laid out an ambitious call to action to transform the way we generate and use electricity. 

He challenged America to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within ten years.

As energy prices climb to the top of the nation’s attention, a battle is waging between those who want to protect the status quo and those who are calling for a mobilization to rapidly move to a cleaner energy future that tackles the climate crisis, reduces dependency on fossil fuels, creates jobs, and gives Americans real energy choices.

We must now embrace this challenge and together we will change history. Watch the speech at http://www.wecansolveit.org

Peter Darbee, CEO of Pacific Gas and Electric, has given a great online interview.

Peter highlights that the utilities like PG&E that have reversed the paradigm of how they reach their authorized rates and aggressively targeted efficiency measures have been able to keep their per capita energy use flat for 30 years while costing consumers nothing. This is in contrast to per capital energy use that has risen across the United States by 50% and in Europe by 20%.

Since energy efficiency measures cost utilities one half of the cost of new coal fired power plants, this kind of creative thinking is a golden opportunity for businesses and a great way for families to reduce their energy use and keep their utility bills down.

Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Nobel-Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said Friday that "only seven years remained for stabilising emissions of global-warming gases at a level widely considered safe."

He warned that to keep temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F), which is the goal of the European Union, we need to keep greenhouse gas concentrations at current levels.

However, Pachauri also warmed that this goal may need to be revisited because "evidence was mounting that climate change was accelerating faster than thought. Heatwaves and floods were increasing, and higher temperatures were having a far-reaching effect on glaciers and snowfall."

Pachauri’s warning is hard to miss. In the central United States, the last few decades have brought more heavy summer rainfall events and increased likelihood of devastating floods. While no single storm or flood can be directly attributed to global warming, changing climate conditions are at least partly responsible for past trends. Yet our media gives very little attention to global warming’s role in our changing weather.

Somehow we need to break into the TV world to connect the dots.

When he first appeared before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Dr. James E. Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, brought alarming findings from a three-dimensional climate model to warn the committee and the world that the Earth was overheating and that we were all responsible.

Well, that was 20 years ago.

We now know so much more about the consequences of climate change as it unfolds all over the planet. With more than 10,000 peer-reviewed studies published about it, global warming is a highly documented, rapidly unfolding crisis that will affect everyone and alter the very nature of tomorrow. Yet despite two decades of accumulating increasingly alarming science, our government has failed to enact a single law to do anything to curb this crisis. There is plenty of blame to go around.

I believe President Bush will be remembered most by future generations for his stubborn refusal to address the climate crisis in the face of overwhelming science. Congress too, shares blame as it continues to be influenced by special interests from the oil and coal industries, and all of their associated fossil fuel vendors, that put corporate and financial interests ahead of public health and safety.

For the third time in recent years, key Senate leaders from both sides of the political aisle attempted, and actually came much closer, to moving forward on climate legislation in June. In addition to the 48 who voted to move the Boxer-Lieberman-Warner bill forward, another half-dozen lawmakers, including the hospitalized Senator Kennedy and the presidential candidates, expressed their support for the "cloture" vote to push the measure on to the amendment process.

In all, 54 senators spoke up for the need to debate solutions to global warming, far surpassing the 38 votes in 2005 and 43 votes in 2003. Supporters also included ten Senate converts who had opposed cap-and-trade legislation in prior votes. (Your emails, letters and phone calls do make a difference; keep them coming.)

Conflicted by their ties to affected industries and facing a surge of public pressure for action, nine senators failed to show up for perhaps the most important vote in their legislative careers. Leadership is about courage, integrity and duty. Those senators failed the test. (To find out how your senators voted, visit www.nwf.org/climateaction)

While talking about high gasoline prices, the senators who voted against continued debate on the Climate Security Act actually voted against investing in a clean energy future. They thwarted important actions to energize our struggling economy with new, clean sources of domestic energy. They voted against safeguarding our families from the tyranny of big oil and Middle East dictators, and they voted against protecting and restoring America's natural and wildlife resources.

Despite the disappointing vote, the outcome offers hope for our plans for passing strong global warming legislation next year when we have a new White House and a changed Congress. We now know which senators are paying attention to science and listening to the public, and which ones are instead listening to the oil companies.

In a recent speech titled "Is There Still Time to Avoid ‘Dangerous Anthropogenic Interference’ with Global Climate?" Dr. Hansen commented on the long history of legislative and administrative inaction: "There is little merit in casting blame for inaction, unless it helps point toward a solution. It seems to me that special interests have been a roadblock wielding undue influence over policymakers." Hansen, now armed with a new study, warns, "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed…CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 to at most 350 ppm."

Climate change is threatening our national security, our economy and our vital natural resources. How could any senator in good conscience vote against advancing debate on global warming legislation? If we don’t tackle climate change soon, it will tackle us. It’s that simple.

I have a note taped to my computer monitor with these simple words: "Keep your destination in view." It reminds me daily that climate stabilization must be our common destination. I am optimistic about next year. All the extra effort from so many of you has been deeply inspiring and gives me confidence that we are building momentum for a legislative victory. Working together as never before, we will win this soon. When we do, the future of wildlife will look a bit more promising. Thank you for caring and acting for our children’s children.

The North Pole could be ice-free for the first time in human history this summer.

Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado say that because the North Pole’s thicker, multi-year ice has been replaced by huge swaths of thinner, seasonal ice, the North Pole could completely melt for a brief time this September. Read more.

Ice reflects 90% of the sunlight that hits it, while darker sea water absorbs 80% of the sun’s energy. The melting of the North Pole will interfere with the planet’s natural ability to cool itself and will potentially increase risks to polar bear populations and other wildlife that depend on summer sea ice. Go to www.nwf.org/climateaction to learn what you can do.