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The irony continues as those who shun action on climate change are suffering the most from climate change.

Along with the United States, Australia has suffered a major drought this year, “the worst for 1000 years.” Australia and the U.S. are the only two industrialized countries that have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Australia already has an arid climate, but the recent drought is having a devastating effect on water resources. It has also taken its toll on the economy, significantly slowing Australia’s growth since so much of the country’s GDP relies on agriculture.

Hopefully Australia will see the value and urgency in taking climate action before the last puddle dries up, since unrestrained greenhouse gas emissions are projected to accelerate drought and desertification.

We’ve been setting a lot of extreme weather records lately:

• 2006 was the sixth hottest year on record, the third warmest for the United States.
• We had a record-breaking wildfire season, as 9.5 million acres have gone up in flames so far this year.
• During the summer, temperatures soared to record levels in cities across the U.S.
• There were unusually high instances of extreme drought and rainfall, including a November in Washington State that set new records for a state already accustomed to being wet.
• We had the 2^nd lowest Arctic sea ice coverage on record, behind 2005.

The catch is, while you will find all these stories conveniently located in one Associated Press article, that article never mentions global warming or climate change. The AP provides no context whatsoever, leaving the impression that it is simply happenstance, a randomly extreme year, as opposed to evidence that human-generated greenhouse gas emissions are making hotter and more extreme weather more and more likely.

The AP actually has some of the clearest media coverage on global warming, but here is one case where they didn’t clear away the smoke.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported today:

The average annual temperature for the contiguous U.S. will likely be the third warmest on record in 2006, according to scientists at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The year is noted for widespread drought and record wildfires, as well as heavy precipitation and flooding in some parts of the country. Following the warmest year on record for the globe in 2005, the annual global temperature for 2006 is expected to be sixth warmest since recordkeeping began in 1880.

This was the warmest January on record and an especially warm winter overall — more evidence that we will be seeing fewer and fewer White Christmases.

Yet, much of the mainstream media does not consider any of this newsworthy. See if you can find any mention of these records in your local paper tomorrow. Let Climate Progress know — we certainly want to give credit to those reporters who do cover this subject.

Refugees have no home, sometimes no citizenship, and in the case of climate refugees, not even refugee status.

Though climate refugees are not recognized under the Geneva Convention, their number almost certainly exceeds the number of officially-recognized refugees. This comes to light in an article from the Center for American Progress by Teresita Perez.

The devastation from Hurricane Katrina that caused thousands to relocate and rebuild foreshadows what our own country and the world may face regularly as climate change continues to intensify global weather patterns.

Making room for people who are fleeing increasingly severe natural disasters, or allowing them to simply switch high-risk locales, does not solve the problem. What we need to make room for are new policies and emerging solutions. What we need to switch is our stance on international climate treaties, the fuel in our cars, our light bulbs, our domestic climate policies….

Former goalkeeper David James goes green in an opinion piece titled, “Forget Joey’s arse – it’s wind turbines that matter.”

Inspired by his former soccer club’s decision to install a wind turbine, James challenges environmentally-degrading rituals of sports fans such as trails of litter and long commutes to games.

He urges the sport to lead by example. He calls for energy-efficient lighting, recycling, and more park-and-ride or carpooling options. He calls on the international soccer Federation and fellow soccer players to set the precedent, possibly flaunting eco-friendly cars and striking “eco-friendly sponsorship deals.”

Getting outdoor sports fans more interested in the environment should be a natural since global warming is making summers more and more sweltering. England has been experiencing “the hottest year ever in the UK since records began in 1659.”

If any sector of the population is capable of aggressive rallying for a cause, sports fans definitely qualify. This article, which shows how to keep your eye on the most important “ball” of all–the Earth–is well worth a read.

And by soar, we mean the rate of growth has more than doubled. In 2000, carbon dioxide emissions were rising less than 1% annually. Today they are rising more than 2.5% annually.

The world added 7.9 billion metric tons of carbon in 2005 alone, up from 6.8 billion in 2000. The news comes from an analysis by the Global Carbon Project that BBC reported on.

And while this news may not get the same headlines as the unfolding tragedy in Iraq, it is no less tragic. We need to decrease emissions to far below 2000 levels by 2050, to avoid catastrophic warming. The more we add now, the more we have to cut later–and the less time we have to achieve those cuts.

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