Cross-posted from The Environmentalist

Amidst alarms raised about the loss of ice in the polar regions, the extreme droughts across the US, the floods in the UK earlier this year, the increasingly unstable nature of the weather worldwide, a new concern has been raised about the Southern Oceans’ inability to absorb and store CO2:

The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is so loaded with carbon dioxide that it can barely absorb any more, so more of the gas will stay in the atmosphere to warm up the planet, scientists reported on Thursday.

Human activity is the main culprit, said researcher Corinne Le Quere, who called the finding very alarming. The phenomenon wasn’t expected to be apparent for decades, Le Quere said in a telephone interview from the University of East Anglia in Britain. “We thought we would be able to detect these only the second half of this century, say 2050 or so,” she said. But data from 1981 through 2004 show the sink is already full of carbon dioxide.

more below the jump…

In honor of Blog Action Day, this year focused on the environment:

I’m going to throw cold water on the future with news of possible, impending, $100 oil (that’s £48.97, 70.49 EU) on the horizon, if oil companies don’t move soon pull to back on their current policies. 

Is it because of supply and demand?  China and India?  The Kurds and the Turks?  The mess in Iraq?  All of the above?

Well… Yes and no.

What are the oil companies citing as their next reason for raising prices?

“Lower Profits”

(Now, now, try to not to spit on the screen in laughter)

More below the jump.

Uh oh.

A short except as I don’t have permission for a full cross-post – (I’ve put in a request to site editor – if that comes, I’ll update):

Turkey and America’s strategic partnership is at risk because of the tension growing between the Turkish army on the border of Iraq and the ~3,000 outlawed PKK Kurdish fighters said to be using the mountainous region as a base from which to strike inside Turkey:

The Turkish government is seeking parliamentary approval for a possible cross-border military operation to hunt down Kurdish separatists in Iraq.

Here’s a link to the story.

International blog action day — this year it will be for the environment — is set for October 15:

On October 15th – Blog Action Day, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind.  This year, Blog Action Day will be co-ordinating bloggers to tackle the issue of the environment. link

More below the jump…

Climate scientist James Hansen has issued a new draft report on climate change with a warning that we are “dangerously close” to tipping points.

The paper, entitled: Global Warming: East-West Connections, co-written with Mikiko Sato, is important for both its predictions and its validation of the current climate conditions vis-a-vis the climate through both history and from a global perspective.

Some analysis below the jump…

An update to this earlier essay, the UK Judge reviewing AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH in response to a lawsuit brought by a Dover truck driver, as determined that the film will be allowed in schools as long as the teacher do not endorse it.

I can see it now.  ‘Hey, lads, watch this film but don’t ask me what I think of it, as I am only your professor…’

More below the jump.