Miscellany

Some relevant (and interesting) links via Climate Progress:

UN: Floods, heatwaves send signal about global warming - Mail and Guardian Online

"Heavy rainfalls in Pakistan, India and northern England and heatwaves in Greece, Italy and Romania are indications of what might happen more frequently and more severely across the globe as a consequence of global warming," said Salvano Briceno, director of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

"We cannot wait to be taken by surprise; we know what is going to happen and we can prepare for it," he added.

No direct attribution of these events to climate change, but stating that this is consistent with what is expected to happen...How long do these things have to happen before we decide it is due to climate change?

Climate changes are making poison ivy more potent - Wall Street Journal Online

The latest research, led by Dr. Ziska, studied poison ivy plants in Maryland under different levels of carbon-dioxide exposure. One group of plants was exposed to about 300 parts per million of carbon dioxide -- about the same level found in the atmosphere in the 1950s. Another group was exposed to 400 parts per million of CO2 -- about the same level in the atmosphere today.

After about eight months, leaf size, stem length and weight and oil content of the plants raised at current carbon-dioxide levels were, on average, 50% to 75% higher than the plants under the 1950s conditions, according to the study, expected to be published this year in the journal Weed Science. Not only did the higher CO2 level double the growth rate, but it made for hardier plants that recovered more quickly from the ravages of grazing animals.

Oh joy! What a swell way to alter the ecosystem!