TV aids climate victims

Tuvalu is a tiny Polynesian island nation, It’s in the Pacific Ocean about midway between Hawaii and Australia.

Its only 10 square miles, in fact the fourth smallest country on earth. But it resides on nine extremely low-lying coral atolls. Tuvalu is in all just 5 meters above sea level.

It is virtually a foregone conclusion that this tiny island will be uninhabitable within the next 50 years. Hurricane winds - rain - high seas are becoming increasingly frequent in Tuvalu. There is a lot of hardship as a result.

Recently the European Union provided them with funds totalling €700,000 (US$892,000) to supply households with additional rainwater storage helping the community to become more self sufficient to help them with their plight.

Another source of income is from royalties form the sale of their country code domain name which ends in tv or dot tv.

Initial windfall income paid for paving the streets of Funafuti - the capital - and installing street lighting. It’s also allowed residents of the impoverished nation other improvements such as access themselves to the Internet and to be able to buy televisions and satellite dishes or travel abroad.

So if you are thinking of setting up a website and you are in need of a domain name. And with posting video footage on sites like You Tube what better than to register a dot tv site. Its a bit on the expensive side. But not only is it apparently the hottest ending in the online media world but it will also help a place on earth that is one of the most vulnerable to the affects of global warming.

Native Americans are climate experts

A group of native Americans the Dene nation in Canada and representatives of other indigenous peoples have been lobbying national delegations to ask them to recognize them as an "expert group" that can participate in the talks like other nongovernment organisations on climate change.

They claim to bring traditional knowledge to the debate that other people don't have. Nearly 40 years ago tribal elders noticed changes in the annual migrations of animals. The weather, which they could then forecast three weeks in advance from animal behavior and the appearance of the sunsets, is now apparently unpredictable.

Scientists have long warned that the Arctic conditions herald climate change. The region is warming faster than more temperate zones, and the seas are ice-free for longer periods so who best to comment than those living there?

Asia's spat with the UN!

A UN report which said that enormous brown clouds of pollution over Asia – over India in particular - were killing hundreds of thousands of people has started a bit of a spat. Kapil Sibal, India’s Science and Technoogy Minister was deeply offended and dismissed it as propaganda. While the UN report suggested that the cloud was due to the burning of fossil fuels by countries - traffic, factory emissions and indoor cooking - Mr Sibal hit back with his answer.

'The atmosphere knows no territorial boundaries. So the source of the haze might be the increasing levels of pollution because of the great contribution of the western world," he said.

There are two different opinions here.Greenhouse gas emissions are 1.2 tonnes per capita in India compared with 23 tonnes in the US and 10 tonnes in European countries. But while per capita emissions are low in India, its huge population puts it among the world's top five greenhouse gas emitters. India, like China, says that having to meet binding emission cuts now will prevent it from bringing its people out of poverty as rich countries have already done on the back of industrial growth fuelled by coal, oil and gas.

Per capita income in India, which has over a 1.1 billion population, hovers at just above 700 dollars.

And so the debate continues.

Louise Burfitt-Dons Global Warming Alliance

Australia fears climate change effects!

Australia is to join with Indonesia in fighting climate change. Up to 120 million people could be affected in the Asia-Pacific region by climate change effects. The consequences for Indonesia could mean conflicts over water, food riots and the collapse of state institutions. Then where will they go? So one implication for Australia could be the arrival of masses of environmental refugees overwhelming border controls.

Australia itself has a lot to loose. The effect on Australia could me more intense bushfires, rising temperatures, increasing drought and the koala bears, already listed as vulnerable could be set to die in greater numbers.

US Takes on Europe!

Competition is afoot and I guess that's good news for global warming activists. America - currently seen as the worlds second biggest producer of carbon dioxide - is setting out to trump Europe as a model green nation.

At a bipartisan conference on climate recently – which was sponsored by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - President Elect Barack Obama repeated his campaign pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.

He also plans to invest $15 billion a year—despite the economic melt-down on energy-saving technologies.

So popular is Obama now with environmentalists they’ve forgiven him his planned armour-plated car, which gets less than 10 miles to the gallon.

This is the blog for the Global Warming Hotspot