Global food crisis, UN reform, climate change top new UN General Assembly agenda (People’s Daily) The UN General Assembly opened on Tuesday its 63rd session at the UN Headquarters in New York, with its new president saying that issues of global food crisis, UN reform and climate change are among the key themes of its one-year work. "Various crises of great scale -- economic, financial, environmental, humanitarian and legal -- are converging in the present world food crisis," said Miguel ... [News Source]

States aim to cut gases by making polluters pay. Ten states are about to undertake the nation’s most serious effort yet to tackle climate change, but there are worries that it may fail to reduce pollution. [News Source]

Carbon regulation could hit 1 million U.S. firms: study. The prospect of U.S. regulation of climate-warming carbon dioxide has sparked a pre-emptive outcry from the Chamber of Commerce, which warned of bureaucratic gridlock if proposed limits are put in place. [News Source]

Our polar bears, ourselves. Global warming is on track to make as much as one-quarter of all species on earth extinct by 2040, threatening general ecosystem collapse. To study the natural world is to realize that everything is connected. What we do to the polar bears, we do to ourselves. [News Source]

Could more than 60% of ‘climate envelope’ studies be wrong? Estimates of the impact climate change will have on wildlife may be much less reliable than thought, according to research that is reopening debate over a widely used modelling method endorsed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. [News Source]

Arctic ice could be thinnest ever amid fears climate is ‘low priority.’ As another report reveals the vanishing state of the Arctic ice, scientists have raised fears that the message about the urgent need to act on climate change is not getting through fast enough. [News Source]

Arctic sea ice possibly at its lowest ever level. Arctic sea ice may have reached its lowest volumes ever, as its summer ice coverage looks like replicating last year’s record lows. [News Source]

Polar bears ‘could become extinct’ because of melting ice, scientists claim. Polar bears and other rare species are in danger of dying out, scientists fear, as latest figures show the Artic sea ice is at record lows. [News Source]

Carbon targets too low to ensure a stable, long-term climate, expert warns. Scientists may have to turn back time and clean the atmosphere of all man-made carbon dioxide to prevent the worst impacts of global warming, one of Europe's most senior climate scientists has warned. [News Source]

Lehman Brothers shuts carbon trading desk. Lehman Brothers shut down its carbon emissions trading desk after the bank filed for bankruptcy protection, putting a number of projects - mostly by small companies in developing countries - in jeopardy. [News Source]

Consumers facing unknown in carbon offset jungle. Australians are spending more than $44 million a year to offset the carbon pollution from activities such as flights and road trips. [News Source]