Greenland ice cap disappearing at rate of 300 Lake Windermeres a year. The Greenland ice cap is melting at triple the rate of just a decade ago—shedding the equivalent of nearly 300 Lake Windermeres a year and threatening millions of homes with flooding, claim British scientists. [News Source]

Brazil to offer carbon cut of at least 36 percent at UN climate meet. Brazil said Friday it would offer a "voluntary" cut of at least 36 percent in greenhouse gas emissions at the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen next month. [News Source]

Could this lump power the planet? Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Lab are betting $3.5 billion in taxpayer money on a tiny pellet that could produce an endless supply of safe, clean energy. What they're talking about is controlled nuclear fusion—fusing nuclei rather than splitting a nucleus. [News Source]

For Ethiopia’s farmers, climate change compounds food crisis. Experts say east Africa is facing one of its worst droughts in decades with over over 23 million people facing starvation, with climate change further compounding the dire picture. [News Source]

Global warming threatens to rob Italy of pasta. Scientists will this week warn that Italy may be forced to import the basic ingredients for pasta, its national food, because climate change will make it impossible to grow durum wheat. [News Source]

Desperate climate times call for oddball measures. As global warming concerns grow, scientists are taking seriously some of the seemingly crazy proposals of geo-engineering. One suggestion: Launch a million tiny mirrors into space. Every minute. [News Source]

Bad tidings in climate report. Almost 12,000 Tasmanian homes are at risk of flooding from rising sea levels before the turn of the century. The Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coast report mapped the effects of a 1.1m sea-level rise and frequent severe weather events including tidal and storm surges. [News Source]

Hawaii’s famed white sandy beaches are shrinking. What's happening to portions of the beach in Kailua is being repeated around the Hawaiian Islands. Geologists say more than 70 percent of Kauai's beaches are eroding and warn the problem is only likely to get significantly worse in coming decades as global warming causes sea levels to rise more rapidly. [News Source]

Climate change bill’s murky battleground: Assumptions and statistics. Democrats push ahead without the GOP's support. Now it is "hurry up and wait." [News Source]

Threat of climate change should be treated like war say engineers. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers said it would be almost impossible for the UK to meet ambitious climate change targets to cut greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by 2050 without drastic action. [News Source]

Scientists ‘poking into’ reasons for slower wind speeds; climate change eyed. A new study from Iowa State University found that surface wind speeds, especially in the Midwest and the Northeast, have decreased by an average of 0.5 percent to 1 percent each year since 1973. [News Source]