Mike Hulme writing on SciDev.Net on 3 February 2010 notes that “The claim about the Himalayan glaciers has taken on symbolic significance.”

National survey research done at Yale University and George Mason University discloses that “Public concern about global warming has dropped sharply since the fall of 2008.”

The survey found: Only 50 percent of Americans now say they are “somewhat” or “very worried” about global warming, a 13-point decrease.

A Science Daily article published this week asks: “Would you pay more for certain products to save the planet?

The National Science Foundation has prepared a Special Report on “Predicting Seasonal Weather“

The National Science Foundation has posted on-line a multimedia Special Report about:

The National Academies’ National Research Council has released a report (Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use) that:

This year, World Food Day occurs on October 16. This year’s theme is. “Achieving food security in times of crisis”.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations celebrates World Food Day each year on 16 October, the day on which the Organization was founded in 1945.

The National Academies’ Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC) and its Division of Earth and Life Studies (DELS) through the Committee on the Significance of International Transport of Air Pollutants has released Global Sources of Local Pollution: An Assessment of Long-Range Transport of Key Air Pollutants to and from the United States.

According to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research published online in Aquatic Toxicology, “Intersex in smallmouth and largemouth basses is widespread in numerous river basins throughout the United States. This is the major finding of the most comprehensive and large-scale evaluation of the condition.

On SciDev.Net on 3 September 2009, climate change scientist Mike Hulme says, “Science may be able to prove that climate change is real but it is politics that will decide what we should do about it.” In addition, he notes that:

A research study indicates that Arctic temperatures suddenly increased during the last 50 years of the period from A.D. 1 to the year 2000. Because this warming occurred abruptly during the 20^th century while atmospheric greenhouse gases were accumulating, these findings provide additional evidence that humans are influencing climate.

The Scripps research vessel (R/V) New Horizon left its San Diego homeport on August 2, 2009, for the North Pacific Ocean Gyre. There, scientists explored the “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch.”

The National Academies has prepared a website that offers policy advice, based on science, to guide the nation’s response to climate change.

The Global Humanitarian Forum has released a comprehensive report ( Counting the human cost focus: the anatomy of a silent crisis ) documenting the global impact of climate change on human society today.

August 5, 2009, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Science for Policy Project released its final report on revisiting the “rules” for using science science to inform policy- and decision-making.

The National Science Board’s Committee on Programs and Plans, Task Force on Sustainable Energy, has released for pubic comment its draft report on Sustainable Energy.

The National Academies’ National Research Council recommended strategies for mitigating plastic waste and garbage from ocean vessels:

The recent search for wreckage from the crash of Air France Flight 447 off the coast of Brazil has highlighted a tragedy of a different sort: marine litter that biodegrades slowly and kills sea turtles, birds, fish, and marine mammals.

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The interagency U.S. Global Climate Change Program has released an assessment that warns that

Climate change is already having visible impacts in the United States, and the choices we make now will determine the severity of its impacts in the future, according to a new and authoritative federal study assessing the current and anticipated domestic impacts of climate change.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released the first in a series of video programs called Science Nation, which examine breakthroughs and the possibilities for new discoveries about our planet, our universe and ourselves.

Reporting in MIT News (May 19, 2009), David Chandler notes

“The most comprehensive modeling yet carried out on the likelihood of how much hotter the Earth’s climate will get in this century shows that without rapid and massive action, the problem will be about twice as severe as previously estimated six years ago - and could be even worse than that.”