Port city pushes back against Washington’s tightening flood insurance definitions. More accurate federal flood insurance maps for the city's harbor would shift the city's stretch of piers into a new classification that could experience higher waves and more damage. That would end the city's ambitious pier-top development plans and threaten the fishing fleet, officials worry. [News Source]

Increase in sea levels due to global warming could lead to ‘ghost states’. Global warming could create "ghost states" with governments in exile ruling over scattered citizens and land that has been abandoned to rising seas, an expert said yesterday. [News Source]

America’s national parks face challenges. In many ways, Acadia typifies the state of US national parks today. It possesses extraordinary scenic beauty that remains largely intact. But less visible forces are at work that could undermine its future. [News Source]

Once upon a time, Democrats and Republicans worked together on the Senate EPW panel. Ideological differences among the Public Works Committee's Democrats and Republicans create a political dynamic that raises big questions about the fate of climate change legislation that Boxer and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) plan to unveil tomorrow. [News Source]

Rift at U.S. Chamber of Commerce over climate change. The fight over climate change has spread to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where prominent members of the American big-business lobby -- including Nike, Johnson & Johnson and Exelon -- are publicly disputing the group's stance on global warming legislation. [News Source]

Carbon swap plan draws mixed reviews. The California Air Resources Board adopted a program pushed through late last week that will allow polluters to buy carbon offsets from logging companies, which environmentalists say will be rewarded for “business-as-usual” clearcutting practices. [News Source]

World’s religions plead for action on climate change. Adherents of the world's major religions urged political leaders, businessmen and individuals Wednesday to renounce short-term gains and greed, telling a UN climate conference in Bangkok that reversing global warming is a moral duty. [News Source]

Two metre sea level rise unstoppable. A rise of at least two metres in the world's sea levels is now almost unstoppable, experts told a climate conference at Oxford University on Tuesday. [News Source]

Climate change will hit developing world harvests hardest. Developing countries could see large drops in crop yields by 2050 if climate change is left unchecked, according to a US report, potentially leaving as many as 25 million more children malnourished compared to a world without global warming. [News Source]

Climate sizzle could come soon. The planet could warm by 4 °C as early as 2060 if greenhouse-gas emissions are not curbed quickly and dramatically, according to a UK government-backed study. [News Source]

Typhoon shows need to act on climate. The Philippines urged rich nations at U.N. climate talks on Wednesday to toughen emissions cuts, saying the typhoon that hit the country this week was a taste of future effects of climate change on poor nations. [News Source]