Benchmark glaciers’ shrinking at faster rate, study finds. Climate change is shrinking three of the nation's most studied glaciers at an accelerated rate, and government scientists say that finding bolsters global concerns about rising sea levels and the availability of fresh drinking water. [News Source]

Sceptic switches tack. Bjorn Lomborg, an influential figure among climate change sceptics, has thrown his weight behind a drive to forge a global deal to halt rising world temperatures at a summit in Copenhagen this year. [News Source]

U.S. carbon market: many projects, many clouds. Potential projects in the emerging carbon market are sprouting like wheat after a good rain across the United States in anticipation of "cap and trade" provisions in a climate bill that has narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives but could see significant revision in the Senate. [News Source]

Crist may be revising environmental stands. Under mounting criticism from fellow Republicans, Governor Crist looks ready to cancel his climate-change summit and he's backing away from advocating a so-called cap-and-trade energy policy. [News Source]

Permafrost could be climate’s ticking time bomb. Permafrost, or frozen ground, covers approximately 20 to 25 percent of the land-surface area in the northern hemisphere, and is estimated to contain up to 1,600 gigatons of carbon, primarily in the form of organic matter. [News Source]

Housing rebound may stall on climate law, GE, U.S. builders say. Legislation requiring new U.S. homes to be more energy-efficient threatens to smother a rebound in the housing market, homebuilders say. [News Source]

10 Senate democrats warn Obama about climate bill. Ten Senate Democrats from states dependent on coal and manufacturing sent a letter to President Obama saying they would not support any climate change bill that did not protect American industries from competition from countries without similar restraints on climate-altering gases. [News Source]

‘Citizen army’ carries coal’s climate message to hinterlands. Coal's biggest lobbying group is launching a $1 million campaign to win support from Senate Democrats, an effort that employs the same public relations firm ensnared by a scandal over forged letters to Congress. [News Source]

More wildfire, more bad air. An expected rise in wildfire in coming decades is bad news for western lungs. Scientists are predicting that some forms of air pollution could increase significantly across the West as more of the region's wildlands burn as a result of rising temperatures. [News Source]

Climate change threatens region. Climate change poses an existential threat to the Pacific Island countries and may further aggravate conflicts over increasingly scarce resources, a high-level panel warned yesterday at the Pacific Island Forum in Cairns, Australia. [News Source]

Warming triggers ‘alarming’ retreat of Himalayan glaciers. The glaciers of the Himalayas store more ice than anywhere on Earth except for the polar regions and Alaska, and the steady flow of water from their melting icepacks fills seven of the mightiest rivers of Asia. [News Source]