Pollution from underground coal fires tallied. Right now, thousands of coal fires are burning out of control around the world. The fires are heaving untold amounts of mercury, the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the air. [News Source]

New business group backs climate-change bill. A new group of businesses - including retail giant Gap Inc. and several large utility companies - joined the lobbying fray over climate change on Wednesday, arguing that Congress must pass legislation to limit greenhouse gases as soon as possible. [News Source]

Economists concur on threat of warming. A New York University School of Law survey found near unanimity among 144 top economists that global warming threatens the United States economy and that a cap-and-trade system of carbon regulation will spur energy efficiency and innovation. [News Source]

Carbon trading: How to save a forest. Makira is on the front line of the war being waged to slow global warming. As one of Madagascar's largest forests, it stores millions of tonnes of carbon. But that carbon is being rapidly released to the atmosphere as trees are cut down for agriculture, timber, mining and firewood. [News Source]

Insurance sector can’t cope with climate change: trade group. The general insurance industry may not be able to cope with the increased frequency and severity of floods and typhoons brought about by climate change, the Association of British Insurers said on Wednesday. [News Source]

Climate migration will grow as changes take hold - experts. As the effects of climate change take hold around the world, countries, research institutions and international agencies are debating how to handle what is expected to become a trickle and perhaps eventually a flood of climate migrants. [News Source]

Food security crucial to avoid hunger catastrophe. One in four South African children under five-years-old suffers from moderate or severe malnutrition, and ongoing climate change as a result of global warming is most certainly going to increase this number as food insecurity becomes more pervasive. [News Source]

Del. wetlands at brunt of warming. In Bowers Beach and historic New Castle, state and local officials are planning for what many believe is inevitable: more flooding from rising sea level. [News Source]

Governments see dollars in re-grown forests. As international attention shifts to Copenhagen and the coming United Nations conference on climate change, reforestation is emerging as a critical issue for the environment and as a source for government revenue. [News Source]

Indonesia defends converting peatlands to palm estates. Indonesia will stick to a controversial plan to open peatlands for oil palm estates as it seeks to develop the economy despite protests from green groups that this type of land conversion speeds up climate change. [News Source]

EU is 2nd largest source of peat emissions, finds global peat survey. The study, conducted by Wetlands International and Greifswald University, found that drainage of wetlands for agriculture, forestry and peat extraction causes 1.3 billion tons of global carbon dioxide emissions per year. [News Source]