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    Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai Urges Individual Action to Protect Environment
    By Todd Dvorak
    The Associated Press

    Monday 13 March 2006

    Decorah, Iowa - Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai says people worried about the environment should rely less on government and more on themselves to protect the planet's limited resources.

    Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist who won the Nobel prize in 2004, said people who recycle and plant trees have a bigger influence on the planet's health than elected leaders.

    Even nations with the best intentions fail to meet expectations, she said, citing the Kyoto international treaty as a prime example. The treaty, which the United States has refused to join because of its potentially negative impact on the US economy, is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally.

    "There are many countries that have put their signature on the dotted line of Kyoto" but aren't meeting its goals, Maathai told about 1,500 people attending the 18th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum on Friday at Luther College.

    "The planet does not belong to those in power. We ought to embrace the Kyoto protocol in our own little way. It's the little things that we can do that are important," she said.

    Maathai, 66, was honored by the Nobel committee for her work in Kenya and other African nations to improve the environment, women's rights, social justice and political activism.

    Nearly three decades ago, she began mobilizing Kenyan women to plant trees as a way of conserving the environment, improving the quality of life and empowering women.

    The project, credited with planting more than 30 million trees, has evolved into a broad-based, grass roots organization called The Green Belt Movement and has given rise to similar movements across Africa.

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    Climate Change 'Irreversible' as Arctic Sea Ice Fails to Re-Form
    By Steve Connor
    The Independent UK

    Tuesday 14 March 2006

    Sea ice in the Arctic has failed to re-form for the second consecutive winter, raising fears that global warming may have tipped the polar regions in to irreversible climate change far sooner than predicted.

    Satellite measurements of the area of the Arctic covered by sea ice show that for every month this winter, the ice failed to return even to its long-term average rate of decline. It is the second consecutive winter that the sea ice has not managed to re-form enough to compensate for the unprecedented melting seen during the past few summers.

    Scientists are now convinced that Arctic sea ice is showing signs of both a winter and a summer decline that could indicate a major acceleration in its long-term rate of disappearance. The greatest fear is that an environmental "positive feedback" has kicked in, where global warming melts ice which in itself causes the seas to warm still further as more sunlight is absorbed by a dark ocean rather than being reflected by white ice.

    Mark Serreze, a sea ice specialist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, said: "In September 2005, the Arctic sea ice cover was at its lowest extent since satellite monitoring began in 1979, and probably the lowest in the past 100 years. While we can't be certain, it looks like 2006 will be more of the same," Dr. Serreze said.

    "Unless conditions turn colder, we may be headed for another year of big sea ice losses, rivaling or perhaps even exceeding what we saw in September 2005. We are of course monitoring the situation closely ... Coupled with recent findings from NASA that the Greenland ice sheet may be near a tipping point, it's pretty clear that the Arctic is starting to respond to global warming," he added.

    Although sea levels are not affected by melting sea ice - which floats on the ocean - the Arctic ice cover is thought to be a key moderator of the northern hemisphere's climate. It helps to stabilise the massive land glaciers and ice sheets of Greenland which have the capacity to raise sea levels dramatically.

    Dr. Serreze said that some parts of the northern hemisphere experienced very low temperatures this winter, but the Arctic was much warmer than normal. "Even in January, when there were actually record low temperatures in Alaska and parts of Russia, it was still very warm over the Arctic Ocean," he said.

    "The sea ice cover waxes and wanes with the seasons. It partly melts in spring and summer, then grows back in autumn and winter. It has not recovered well this past winter - ice extent for every month since September 2005 has been far below average. And it's been so warm in the Arctic that the ice that has grown this winter is probably rather thin," he explained.

    Professor Peter Wadhams, of Cambridge University, who was the first Briton to monitor Arctic sea ice from nuclear submarines, said: "One of the big changes this winter is that a large area of the Barents Sea has remained ice-free for the first time. This is part of Europe's 'back yard'. Climate models did predict a retreat of sea ice in the Barents Sea but not for a few decades yet, so it is a sign that the changes that were predicted are indeed happening, but much faster than predicted."