Climate Change

AMSTERDAM - Chronic hunger may be "the defining human tragedy of this century," as climate change causes growing seasons to shift, crops to fail, and storms and droughts to ravage fields, an advocacy group said.

WASHINGTON - Determined to change the way the world views the United States, Barack Obama is onto his next foreign mission: rebuilding relations with Russia, proving to global leaders that America is serious about climate change, and outlining his vision for Africa, his father's birthplace.

MADRID (AFP) - Climate change, which could transform the Iberian peninsula into a semi-desert, is forcing winemakers in Spain to consider moving their vines to higher ground to escape the blistering heat.

Within hours of House passage June 26 of sweeping energy legislation, the party fund-raising letters were already going out.

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. If it were up to Jessica Hellmann, insects such as butterflies and beetles would wield just as much conservation clout as traditional conservation icons, such as polar bears, tigers and dolphins.

GENEVA (AFP) - The environmental group WWF on Friday urged the Group of Eight industrialised nations to show global leadership by making a commitment to keep climate change in check at their summit next week.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, hospitalized in Los Angeles for a fainting spell days after spearheading House passage of a landmark climate change bill, will be back at work on Capitol Hill next week, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

PARIS (AFP) - Climate change has caused a flock of wild sheep on a remote northern Scottish island to become smaller, according to an unusual investigation published on Thursday.

WASHINGTON - Like the wool sweater that emerges from the dryer a size too small, global warming seems to be shrinking sheep.

STOCKHOLM - The chances of concluding a new global climate change pact remain dim unless China, India and Brazil make significant cuts in carbon dioxide emissions as well a senior Swedish climate change official said Thursday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia on Thursday pledged 52 million dollars (42 million US) to improve water quality on the Great Barrier Reef, which is coming under increasing threat from toxic chemicals and climate change.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, buoyed by a domestic victory on climate policy, faces his first foreign test on the issue next week at a forum that could boost the chances of reaching a U.N. global warming pact this year.

July 2 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate may pass legislation to slow climate change and then fail to approve a global treaty that commits nations to do so, Senator John Kerry said.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the powerful California Democrat at the center of the legislative fights over sweeping health care and global warming legislation, has been admitted to a Los Angeles hospital for tests, his staff said Wednesday.

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Sweden kicked off its six-month European Union presidency Wednesday amid fears the bloc's unresolved institutional woes may overshadow its priorities of tackling climate change and the economic crisis.

The fate of global warming legislation in the Senate may hang on the votes of 19 Democrats who have varying reasons for worrying about its political implications:

TOKYO (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for Japanese companies to help fight global warming through green investment and ambitious emission cut targets, a business lobby said.

Senate Democratic leaders are preparing for what is expected to be a tough fight over climate change legislation, even tougher than it was in the House.