Climate Change News You Might Have Missed

With new research and studies about climate change coming out almost daily, it can be easy to miss some of the important recent developments in our understanding of global warming. Here are a few of the latest news stories to emerge regarding how climate change could impact our lives and our planet:

Several of Australia's native species could be wiped out by continued rising temperatures and drought, according to a new report from WWF-Australia and Macquarie University. The study warns that climate change threatens the continent's marine turtles, hare wallabies and black cockatoos, among other species. On the other hand, a warmer, drier climate could help increase the population of the already pesty cane toad, which is poisonous to some creatures and could reduce the native habitat of others.

Researchers from New Zealand and Scotland recently found a new way to measure how much carbon dioxide is locked in the planet's soil. The discovery paves the way for better models predicting how much of the greenhouse gas might be released from soils in future, accelerating climate change.

Earlier this month, a report from the Irish American Climate Project describes how climate change could turn Ireland from a lush, green country to a browner landscape pelted by heavy rains. Increased drought could also end Ireland's commercial potato production and hurt salmon and sea trout fisheries, the study said.

Hotter, drier weather in Africa and the Middle East could lead to a growing number of "eco-immigrants" trying to enter Europe illegally, according to a recent report from officials with the European Union.

Business consulting group Ernst & Young has identified climate change as the "greatest strategic threat" facing the insurance industry. Global warming not only drives more extreme weather events, but changes past climate patterns, making it harder to calculate insurance risks, the ground said.

In an interview this past week, British climate scientist James Lovelock said he believes it's already too late for people to put a stop to climate change. He said the stage is already set for the tipping point at which the Earth suddenly switches to a new, hotter mode.

Climate changes poses a greater threat to human health than to the world's economies, according to research published in the British Medical Journal. The article's authors say the health threat caused by heatwaves, floods, changing disease patterns and reduced food production will hit the world's poor hardest.

Warmer, earlier springs in the Rocky Mountains could hurt the region's flowering plants, according to a study from the University of Maryland. Researcher David Inouye found that earlier snowmelts and warmer temperatures are causing native plants to bloom earlier; because the Rockies still see late frosts, though, those flowers are often damaged before they can produce seeds for the next generation of plants.

Global warming is causing the Earth's oceans to change in harmful and unpredictable ways, according to a panel of scientists addressing last month's annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The panel pointed to changing circulation patterns, increased ocean acidity and conditions making it harder for coral reefs and other marine species to survive.

New insights into the behavior of Greenland's vast ice sheet suggest global sea levels could rise twice as much as current models predict, according to researchers at the University of Buffalo.