Climate Change Could Snarl Travel Plans in Future

(NEWSER) - The Florida Keys are in serious danger from rising ocean levels—and woefully unprepared to deal with the challenge, the Miami Herald reports. “South Florida is on the front line against sea-level rise in the United States, and the Florida Keys are ground zero,” a scientist said. In the best-case scenario, the Keys will lose $11 billion in real estate by 2100. More»

Country grapples with drought, wildfires, and heat

(NEWSER) - Pummeled by drought, wildfires, and heat, Australia may be offering the world a preview of what’s to come as the planet warms, experts say. “Australia is the harbinger of change,” says a paleontologist. Many say climate change has already taken a human toll in the 173 killed by wildfires and 200 who died in a heat wave—to say nothing of a string of suicides among struggling farmers. The Los Angeles Times reports from a continent in transition. More»

Three reports say rising seas endanger continental US

(NEWSER) - Coastal states are now twice as likely to experience a so-called once-in-a-century flood by 2030, thanks to a global warming-fueled rise in sea levels, according to a trio of reports released today. Census data shows 5 million people are in the danger zone, particularly in cities, where many people live below the four-foot mark. South Florida in particular has 106 such municipalities and is basically "indefensible," because it's built on "bedrock that's like Swiss cheese," Ben Strauss, author of one report, tells Reuters . More»

Texas also set its own record for hottest July

(AP) - Sweltering may have reached a new record last month, as Oklahoma racked up the country's highest monthly average temperature ever. That's the highest average temperature, for any month, for any state, associate Oklahoma state climatologist Gary McManus said. According to automated weather recording instruments, the state's average for July was 89.1 degrees. That tops an average of 88.1 set in July 1954, McManus said. More»

Lawmakers snorkeled, visited South Pole

(NEWSER) - Snorkeling, scuba diving, and penguin-watching were on the agenda when 10 members of Congress went on an 11-day trip to study climate change in early 2008, a Wall Street Journal investigation finds. Lawmakers from both parties, along with six spouses, visited New Zealand, Antarctica, and Australia's Great Barrier Reef on the trip, which, to some, sounds suspiciously like a jaunt to tourist hot spots. More»