PM on hotseat in debate over climate change (AFP via Yahoo! News) Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper came under fire for his record on fighting global warming in a political debate televised Wednesday ahead of elections on October 14. [News Source]

Oil-funded research in Palin’s campaign against protection for polar bear. Sarah Palin drew on the work of at least six scientists known to be sceptical about global warming to back efforts to stop polar bears' protection under the Endangered Species Act. [News Source]

Governor signs laws on sprawl and water supplies but vetoes smog-fighting port cargo fee. CA embarked on a sweeping effort to curb suburban sprawl and pollution that contributes to global warming. But a proposal to curb air pollution near the state's ports was rejected. [News Source]

Small sacrifice can save the planet. Prof. Garnaut says the effort required by Australians to get a global climate agreement that could save the Great Barrier Reef, the Murray-Darling Basin and the wetlands of Kakadu would be far less than the sacrifices of earlier generations. [News Source]

Met Office warns of need for drastic cuts in greenhouse gases from 2010. The world will have to take drastic action within two years to reduce greenhouse gas pollution if it is to avoid the worst effects of climate change, a new study warns. [News Source]

High stakes in Canada’s vast oil-sands fields. Trillions of dollars’ worth of oil are present, but the environmental costs are high, too – and growing. [News Source]

Oil sands safe from U.S. law, advocates say. The legislation in question bans the U.S. government and its agencies from buying alternative fuels that produce more greenhouse gases than conventional fuels. [News Source]

Acidic oceans getting noisy, too. The ocean is becoming a noisier place. As seawater turns more acidic, due to absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) building up in the atmosphere, it allows sound waves to travel farther, according to new research. [News Source]

Green Sahara? New North African climate reconstructions have revealed three 'green Sahara' episodes during which the present-day Sahara Desert was almost completely covered with extensive grasslands, lakes and ponds over the course of the last 120,000 years. [News Source]

Lawsuit seeks to get government to reconsider protection for wolverine. Environmental groups sued the federal government Tuesday to protect wolverines under the Endangered Species Act, saying the Interior Department disregarded scientific conclusions that the species was in jeopardy. [News Source]

Polar bears face damage to hearing from Arctic industrialisation. Increased noise levels in the Arctic caused by increasing industrialisation as the ice melts could damage the hearing of polar bears, scientists fear. [News Source]