Greenhouse Effect

Scientists studying 60 years in the life of a Monterey Bay tidal zone will report today that whole populations of sea creatures, including snails, crabs, starfish and anemone are migrating northward in reaction to rising ocean temperatures. Although the shifts may have been helped along by a number of factors, including the El Nino effect, the population changes may provide intriguing new evidence of the impact of global warming.

The world community agreed after 11 days of wrangling at the U.N. climate conference in Berlin to make a fresh attempt to tackle the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say could threaten a climate catastrophe in the next century. The key resolution set up a negotiating procedure to try to cut emissions of the gases--chiefly the fossil-fuel product carbon dioxide--in the next century. But the compromise left few satisfied.

John Bryant needed to look no farther than the spruce tree growing in his own frontyard to conclude that the vast evergreen forests of northern Alaska are in trouble. Showing signs of environmental stress that made it more susceptible to deadly insects, his tree grew weaker and weaker before Bryant's eyes. He is a professor of ecology at the University of Alaska and an expert on plant physiology, so he knew there was little he could do to save the tree.

Representatives to a major United Nations conference on global warming on Tuesday began debating the need for new, tougher measures to reduce pollutants linked to the threat of climatic change. But deep divisions on how to proceed have severely reduced prospects for any breakthrough.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and several other electric utilities signed an agreement in Washington Tuesday to make a commitmentto reduce gas emissions that cause global warming. The Climate Challenge Participation Accord is a voluntary effort by the U.S. Department of Energy and the electric utility industry to reduce the harmful emissions.

The ozone hole that develops over the antarctic every year from September to October is lasting longer this year, and may not close until next month, according to researchers from New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. Ozone depletion over the antarctic was first identified and measured in the 1980s. This October, the hole covered about 7.7 million square miles, or twice the size of Europe.

Predicting that the world's average temperature could rise as much as six degrees Fahrenheit in the next century, a panel of scientists advising the United Nations on climate change warned Tuesday of dramatic and possibly devastating changes to the Earth's environment.

Two Southern California water providers have joined with six other agencies nationwide to form an alliance to promote the study of climate change and how water providers can adapt to it. The coalition includes the Metropolitan Water District, which imports water and sells it to water agencies serving 18 million people throughout Southern California. Members also include water providers for Denver, New York City, Portland, Ore., San Diego County, San Francisco, Seattle and southern Nevada.

Hundreds of drivers here will serve as guinea pigs in a test that's part sociology experiment, part environmental advocacy and part Driver's Ed 101. It poses the question: When motorists see how their own aggressive driving burns gasoline, will they stop the tailgating, hard braking and speeding that increases their fuel consumption and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions? Sponsored by EnCana Corp.

Fighting global warming is the feel-good cause of the moment. But in California, the self-congratulation that followed the 2006 passage of the nation's first comprehensive law to curb emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases is fast turning to acrimony. A ferocious behind-the-scenes brawl over how to regulate electricity plants, the biggest source of carbon dioxide after motor vehicles, has pitted Southern California's public power generators against its for-profit utilities. Why?