Jason Mark via Earth Island Journal – “Methane is 21 times more heat-trapping that carbon dioxide.” If you’re a frequent reader of environmental websites, no doubt you’ve seen some version of that sentence many times. The “twenty-times” figure is the most common way of explaining how methane (or CH4, or uncombusted natural gas) reacts in the atmosphere.

A collection of studies and recent events.

A place to post news bits from all around the world, related to Global Warming.

Visitors are invited to share their links in the comments.

Climate Crock of the Week, Peter Sinclair about recent record breaking and catastrophic weather extremes and Rex Tillerson who claims that we can adapt to it.

An appreciation of the psychological impacts of global climate change entails recognizing the complexity and multiple meanings associated with climate change; situating impacts within other social, technological, and ecological transitions; and recognizing mediators and moderators of impacts. This article describes three classes of psychological impacts: direct (e.g., acute or traumatic effects of extreme weather events and a changed environment); indirect (e.g., threats to emotional well-being based on observation of impacts and concern or uncertainty about future risks); and psychosocial (e.g., chronic social and community effects of heat, drought, migrations, and climate-related conflicts, and postdisaster adjustment).

Jennifer Francis, Rutgers University, 25 January 2012.

The "Arctic Paradox" was coined during recent winters when speculations arose that the dramatic changes in the Arctic may be linked to severe snowstorms and cold temperatures in mid-latitudes, particularly along the U.S. east coast and in Europe. Recent studies have illuminated these linkages. Evidence is presented for a physical mechanism connecting Arctic Amplification -- the enhanced warming in high northern latitudes relative to the northern hemisphere -- with the frequency and intensity of several types of extreme weather events in mid-latitudes, such as droughts, floods, heat waves, and cold spells.

JR: Last year, scientists explained that the Greenland Ice Sheet “could undergo a self-amplifying cycle of melting and warming“ that is “difficult to halt.” A new study finds we may be close to a “tipping point.” Climate Central has the story. By Andrew Freedman

The Greenland ice sheet is poised for another record melt this year, and is approaching a "tipping point" into a new and more dangerous melt regime in which the summer melt area covers the entire land mass, according to new findings from polar researchers.

The ice sheet is the focus of scientific research because its fate has huge implications for global sea levels, which are already rising as ice sheets melt and the ocean warms, exposing coastal locations to greater damage from storm surge-related flooding.

Joe Romm writes: For newcomers, this is intended as an introduction to Climate Progress.

Regular readers will find links to some of our best content on climate and clean energy, continually updated (and always accessible by clicking on the “Newcomers, start here” link atop the right hand bar). Please post in the comments any suggestions you have for what you would like to see on this page.

Damaian Carrington from the Guardian:
More cases of an exotic virus that has caused deformed and stillborn lambs across England are "inevitable", with the disease potentially spreading across the entire UK, scientists said on Thursday. They blamed climate change for bringing the virus to the country and said other new viruses could follow. Since the Schmallenberg virus was first detected in England in January it has been confirmed on 83 farms from Norfolk to Cornwall, and has left thousands of lambs dead. Across Europe, 1,129 sheep, cattle and goat farms have been confirmed as infected. Germany, where the illness was first detected in August 2011 in the small town that gives the virus its name, has been worst affected. There are also hundreds of infected farms in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

by Julie-Ann Partridge: Economic growth and development has been inexorably linked with the use of fossil fuels and changes in land use. As a result of worldwide industrial development, carbon dioxide levels have increased dramatically in the past century. Unfortunately, financial gain at the expense of the environment is a well-documented occurrence that is certain to continue in the future.

A host of research studies have explored the relationship between per capita income and carbon dioxide emissions. Though it is commonly thought that the most populous countries are those that emit the most CO2, research has shown that population is not a key determinant of overall environmental impact.

Joe Romm from Climate Progress writes: Between about 55.5 and 52 million years ago, Earth experienced a series of sudden and extreme global warming events (hyperthermals) superimposed on a long-term warming trend.

The first and largest of these events, the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), is characterized by a massive input of carbon, ocean acidification and an increase in global temperature of about 5 °C [9°F] within a few thousand years.