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News - September 5, 2008 A Deep Thaw: How Much Will Vanishing Glaciers Raise Sea Levels? Some say high, some say low, some say fast, some say slow By David Biello GLACIAL SPEED: Greenland may get much of the scientific attention but it is smaller glaciers such as the Columbia Glacier in Alaska pictured here that are already contributing to sea level rise--and will continue to do so in future. Greenland, the world's largest island, holds enough ice to raise global sea levels by 23 feet (seven meters). Add the ice sheets of Antarctica and the oceans would deepen more...

Researchers have found alarming evidence that the frozen Arctic floor has started to thaw and release long-stored methane gas. The results could be a catastrophic warming of the earth, since methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. But can the methane also be used as fuel? AP It's always been a disturbing what-if scenario for climate researchers: Gas hydrates -- hard clumps of ice and methane, conserved by freezing temperatures and high pressure -- could grow unstable and release massive amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Since methane is a potent greenhouse gas, the result would...

Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies. At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in...

Things are quiet and peaceful in small-town Jericho, Kansas, but when a baffling explosion occurs in the distance, Jericho's residents are plunged into social, psychological and physical chaos. No one knows what to think, and fear of the unknown takes over the town, especially because its isolation cuts it off from outside help. When nearly everything they know seems gone, will the residents of JERICHO band together to face their unfamiliar and mysterious new world?

WASHINGTON - A large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and could hit the Earth in late February or March, government officials said Saturday. The satellite, which no longer can be controlled, could contain hazardous materials, and it is unknown where on the planet it might come down, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified as secret. "Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, when asked about the situation after it was disclosed by other officials. "Numerous satellites over the years have come...

I live in So. California. About 10 minutes ago, my house, for lack of a better word-jumped. I think it was an earthquake. It started with a loud noise, then a jolt. If I was asleep, I don't think I would have felt it. Are there any So. Cal FReeper's awake who felt the quake?

Never mind higher temperatures, climate change has a few nastier surprises in store. Bill McGuire says we can also expect more earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and tsunamis. Unlike most apparently intractable problems, which have a tendency to go away when examined closely and analytically, the climate change predicament just seems to get bigger and scarier the more we learn about it. Now we discover that not only are the oceans and the atmosphere conspiring against us, bringing baking temperatures, more powerful storms, floods and ever-climbing sea levels, but the crust beneath our feet seems likely to join in too.

TROMSOE, Norway, June 8, 2007 (AFP) - Climate change is expected to have disastrous consequences for Earth but some areas will profit, notably wealthy nations in the northern parts of Europe, Russia and the US, scientists say. On Thursday the leaders of the Group of Eight club of wealthy nations agreed to pursue substantial cuts to greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming and said they would seriously consider halving emissions by 2050. But they will remain the main beneficiaries of climate change, with the agriculture, shipping, and oil, gas and mining sectors among those that are expected to prosper...

After Sept. 11, 2001, you may recall that many members of the press were going around asking plaintively, "Why do they hate us?" Some journalists seemed to imply that if we could just be a little nicer, a little more "tolerant," the jihadists would opt for a group hug instead of terrorism. I'm pretty sure those pundits and reporters would not have expected-or liked-the answer that Mark Steyn gives in his excellent new book, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It. As Steyn sees it, one major reason the Islamo-fascists hate us is not that our...

I was sitting at my kitchen table, enjoying a cup of coffee with my grandfather, when he suddenly said. "You know, there was a time when I believed that I would die long before the fall of civilization, but I am starting to think I may yet live to see it happen." We had been discussing geopolitics and the global war when he made that comment. What he said struck a very deep chord in me that has yet to loosen it's grip. The silence that followed spoke volumes to me and made me realize just how dangerous things actually...