Dust was blooming marvellous for harbour. The thick blanket of red dust that settled on Sydney two weeks ago caused the harbour to bloom, tripling the number of phytoplankton in the upper layers of water and capturing about 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, Sydney scientists have found. [News Source]

Captain Cook’s weather logs help scientists predict climate changes. Ships’ logs from Cook’s Discovery and Resolution, William Bligh’s Bounty and 300 other 18th and 19th-century explorers’ vessels are being transcribed and digitised in a project that will allow climatologists to trace changing weather patterns. [News Source]

Renewables credits are not CO2 offsets: U.S. expert. Renewable Energy Certificates are not carbon offsets and should not be eligible as such under a U.S. climate bill because they do not fund additional renewable energy projects that yield greenhouse gas cuts, an environmental policy expert told Reuters. [News Source]

Poor nations CO2 curbs strengthen hand In U.N. talks. In the game of climate poker, developing nations might feel they have the right cards on the table in U.N. talks after ramping up their own efforts to curb their greenhouse gas output. The question is whether these domestic steps are enough to seal a new global climate deal. [News Source]

Seasonally adjusted. In the most comprehensive effort so far to predict major consequences of climate change, the International Food Policy Research Institute has reached some sobering conclusions. In parts of the developing world, some crop yields in 2050 could be only half of their 2000 levels. [News Source]

African farmers suffer hardship as climate worsens. African farmers said on Monday that floods and droughts expected to worsen with climate change have already brought poor harvests. Hunger and poverty caused by global warming are compelling many rural women workers to turn to prostitution, and many are falling victim to HIV/AIDS. [News Source]

Flooded and thirsty. Colombia is one of the least contaminating countries, but it will be one of the most affected by global warming with serious consequences for its economy. If nothing is done, disaster will be inevitable. [News Source]

Thai villagers in bid to halt disappearing coast. Caused by a combination of expanding fishing industries such as shrimp farms and global warming that has raised sea levels, coastal erosion has wiped out many of the mangrove forests that once offered a natural buffer on the Gulf of Thailand coast. [News Source]

Top zoo officials unite here to save species. Zoos must play a critical role in slowing the worldwide extinction crisis being fanned by climate change, habitat loss and ocean acidification, said several speakers at the Worldwide Association of Zoos and Aquariums conference. [News Source]

Climate change threatens many in Mekong region: WWF. Changing weather patterns and rising seas are already affecting many people in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong Basin, and climate change threatens the livelihoods of millions more, a report released on Monday shows. [News Source]

Report warns of threat to beaches from climate change. Dramatic changes in climate could have an adverse effect on Irish tourism and heritage later this century, with popular beaches rendered inaccessible by rising sea levels, a new report has concluded. [News Source]