Global

The Copenhagen Diagnosis

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Authors of the landmark 2009 climate report "The Copenhagen Diagnosis" estimate that by 2020 industrial nations must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by around 40% below 1990 levels to secure a decent chance of avoiding dangerous human interference with the climate system.

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Powering the Earth

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By Matt Barringer, CNN Design Ever wondered how much carbon the world emits from the power it uses? The colored circles show each region's population and their electricity consumption and carbon emissions. Use the slider at the top to see annual emissions generated from 1980 to 2007. Click on the name of the regions at the top for a closer view of the relevant figures.

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Soot Pollution Melting Glaciers

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Soot Pollution Melting GlaciersThese glaciers are a sign of what is going into your lungs. If we replaced all the world's coal electric power plants with nukes we'd breathe cleaner air and the glaciers wouldn't lose so much ice. WASHINGTON – Black soot deposited on Tibetan glaciers has contributed significantly to the retreat of the world's largest non- polar ice masses, according to new research by scientists from NASA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Soot absorbs incoming solar radiation and can speed glacial melting when deposited on snow in sufficient quantities.

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Climate Change Speeds Up Since 1997 Kyoto Accord

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As the world has talked for a dozen years about what to do next, new ship passages opened through the Arctic's once-frozen summer sea ice. In Greenland and Antarctica, ice sheets have lost trillions of tons. Mountain glaciers in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa are shrinking faster than before. By SETH BORENSTEIN, The Associated Press

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Mankind Using Earth's Resources At Alarming Rate

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WASHINGTON — Humanity would need five Earths to produce the resources needed if everyone lived as profligately as Americans, according to a report issued Tuesday. As it is, humanity each year uses resources equivalent to nearly one-and-a-half Earths to meet its needs, said the report by Global Footprint Network, an international think tank. "We are demanding nature's services -- using resources and creating CO2 emissions -- at a rate...

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UN Chief: Hunger Kills 17,000 Kids Daily

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Rome, Italy (CNN) -- Somewhere in the world, a child dies of hunger every five seconds -- even though the planet has more than enough food for all. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon laid out this sobering statistic as he kicked off a three-day summit on world food security Monday in Rome. "Today, more than 1 billion people are hungry," he told the assembled leaders. Six million children die of hunger every year -- 17,000 every day, he said.

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