I listen to Living on Earth all the time, but the have a spot where they have collected a number of stories regarding the early signs of Global Warming, and how it is affecting local populations around the population.

If you have the time, check out the stories at this link, all are available for streaming or in mp3 format.

According to this article, a huge lake covering 38,000 square miles has formed in the Beaufort Sea - part of the Artic Ocean. These lakes, known by their Russian name as a "polynya", are common occurences and form by melting themselves out of the sea ice that surrounds them.

What makes this polynya unique is it's massive size (larger than the state of Indiana), the time it took for it to form (only six weeks), and the fact that it has formed on multiyear perennial ice. This week the polynya melted through part of the ice that surounded it, releasing it's fresh water content to the open ocean and forming an open bay in the northern polar ice cap.

More information about sea ice and it's importance in the scheme of global climate can be found at the National Snow and Ice Data Center

The Old Farmers Almanac was first published in 1792, and is the oldest continuously published periodical in the United States. It covers a wide range of subjects that include yearly predictions for weather, planting, crop yeilds, home economics, fashion, and other social trends. It is read by 18 million people world wide.

The 2007 Old Farmer's Almanac has an article on page 202 that covers the benefits of Global Warming - lower health care cost, increased crop yield due to increased CO2 production, energy savings due to warmer winters, etc. This is all presented with the tongue in cheek attitude that made the Old Farmer's Almanac famous.

Order the 2007 Old Farmer's Almanac from Amazon

We posted some articles about this a last year. The latest study published in the journal Nature finds that the Sun's role in affecting climate change is negligible. I haven't read the study yet, but am pretty skeptical about the findings.

The Sun plays such a huge role in our daily weather, that it has to have some sort of affect on our climate over a long term. Maybe what they are trying to say is that the Sun is not directly responsible for the causes of Global Warming... Sounds like a good read to me.

This is a pretty interesting article that covers the disappearing seasonal sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. It is a great first hand testament to how quickly the ice is disappearing from a group of Arctic Guides and Naturalists that take frequent trips to the Arctic Ocean.

The Article not only goes into the causes of Sea Ice Melt, but highlights the directs affects on the surrounding environment and wildlife.