Plants ‘more important than ever’ to reduce impact of global warming (New Kerala) London, Jan 1 : Plants have never been as important to the environment as right now, as they are vital to reduce the impact of global warming. [News Source]

Keep open mind on global warming (Berkshire Eagle) There are a number of points I would like to make about Clarence Fanto's column about the urgency for strong climate change policies in Sunday's Eagle. [News Source]

President Bush may be giving Obama breathing room to fight global warming. Recent moves by lame-duck officials, though frustrating to environmentalists, offer the president-elect time and political cover to deliberately craft rules on emissions, energy lobbyists say. [News Source]

How underground ‘hot rocks’ could power America’s future. Geothermal heat could meet 10 percent of America’s energy needs by mid-century, according to the US Department of Energy. What’s more, it would not generate the climate-warming carbon emissions associated with fossil fuels. [News Source]

Climate change action plan to be revealed in 2009. Climate change is having immediate and long-lasting impacts on the amounts of alpine ice and snow. Around Lake Tahoe, the shorter economic season due to less snowfall for the skiers could be a major factor leading to a decline in recent ski revenues. [News Source]

Oak tree deaths herald new pest threat to traditional plants, Kew curator warns. Traditional British plants from the oak tree to the garden cabbage are under threat because of the effects of climate change, the curator of Kew Gardens has warned. [News Source]

German insurance giant cites role of climate change in record payouts. This week one of the biggest insurance companies renewed a campaign warning that natural catastrophes — apparently driven by climate change — are increasing in frequency, and called for an international plan to halve emissions by 2050. [News Source]

Global warming theory could boost groundfishing. Brian Rothschild has a theory about the effect of variations in global temperatures on fish stocks, that if proven, could rescue the New Bedford groundfishery in the way his scallop studies have helped the scallop industry. [News Source]

Mountain melt. A new study examines the future snowpack at two well-known Rocky Mountain ski resorts under various climate-change scenarios. The long-term prognosis is not good, especially for Park City, Utah. [News Source]

2009 to be one of warmest ever. The average global temperature for 2009 is expected to be more than 0.4C above the long term average, making next year warmer than this year and the hottest since 2005, the Met Office and University of East Anglia researchers said. [News Source]

Plants ‘more important than ever.’ Plants have never been as important to the environment, the director of Kew Gardens has said, adding that plants are vital to reduce the impact of climate change and "vast numbers of humans" need them for medicine and food. [News Source]