Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/12/polar-bears-endangered-species-listing

It is a familiar story in the climate change debate. The US government is at odds with the rest of the world and, despite criticism, wants other countries to change their minds and fall in line behind Uncle Sam. This time, the tale comes with an unexpected twist. This weekend, the US will warn that the threat from climate change to the survival of the polar bear is so great that the world must grant it the highest possible protection.

Tornadoes have struck parts of Arkansas, injuring four people and destroying a handful of homes. Emergency Management spokeswoman Renee Preslar says three people suffered major injuries Wednesday in a tornado that destroyed a house near Pearson in northern Arkansas.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/08

For the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared, humans are driving animals and plants to extinction faster than new species can evolve, one of the world's experts on biodiversity has warned. Conservation experts have already signalled that the world is in the grip of the "sixth great extinction" of species, driven by the destruction of natural habitats, hunting, the spread of alien predators and disease, and climate change. However until recently it has been hoped that the rate at which new species were evolving could keep pace with the loss of diversity of life.

Link: http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1348.htm

In what can only be described in the most apocalyptic of terms, the mass gathering of owls this past week on the sacred burial site of the Cahokia pyramid builders clearly shows that one of the most important of the ancient signs signaling “mass death and destruction” has now been given to the people of the United States and is a “final warning” to them all that their preparations for survival should begin.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/03/201035184753872311.html

Powerful aftershocks have rattled buildings and sent terrified residents fleeing into the streets in the Chilean city of Concepcion. Fears of of additional damage in the tremors before dawn on Friday led officials to evacuate some patients from the regional hospital.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article7048800.ece

The discovery of a 240-million-year-old dinosaur in southern Tanzania has led scientists to rethink their evolution. An almost complete skeleton of the species, Asilisaurus kongwe or “ancient lizard ancestor” was reconstructed using the remains of at least 14 other dinosaurs.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7044936.ece

One of the rarest animals in the world has been found trapped in a farmer’s woodpile in snowbound northeastern China. The Siberian tiger cub is the first to be seen in its mountainous home in the 60 years since the Communists took power in China and the discovery of evidence that the endangered animal is reproducing in the wild has delighted experts. Only about 20 Siberian, or Amur, tigers, still roam wild in forests and mountains along the China-Russia border.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7046044.ece

When the earthquake struck the dirt-poor coastal town of Constitución, José Carrasco was sleeping in the cab of his truck by the beach. “It was really strong, shaking,” he said. Forty-five minutes later he saw the first tsunami wave coming towards him. “The sea came and covered everything. It was 30 metres high. There were two waves. When we saw the sea coming in, everybody ran. I climbed up the hill.”

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7044354.ece

The death toll in the Chilean earthquake rose to more than 700 last night as rescue workers struggled to find survivors trapped in the wreckage and powerful aftershocks battered the country. President Bachelet said that 708 people were known to have died in “a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort for Chile to recover.

Link: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/25/the_fp_guide_to_climate_skeptics

The field of climate science is under duress, which is wholly different than saying it's discredited. While recent headlines about the woes of U.N.-led efforts to assemble a comprehensive picture of the science have caused gleeful headlines on The Drudge Report and other skeptical media outlets, the vast weight of the evidence -- from melting glaciers to warming oceans to satellite temperature readings, and much more -- still points to a changing climate caused by human activity.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/hribal02252010.html

Editors' Note: Counterpunches can be landed in a variety of ways. In November 2006, Kasatka, the Sea World Orca, attempted to drown her trainer. Yesterday, it was Tilikum’s turn—killing his aquarium trainer. This fall, Fear of the Animal Planet: The Hidden History of Animal Resistance, will be published by AK Press/CounterPunch Books. Below is a poignant excerpt from the book, which details the decades long struggle of two notable orcas: Nootka and Tilikum.

Link: http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/02/media-distortions-and-real-climate-scandals/

Since November last year, the public has been bombarded with the story of stolen emails from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, revealing a supposed “scandal” of scientific malpractice, stupidly and lazily named “climategate”. Further media frenzy erupted over an erroneous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change statement that 80 per cent of Himalayan glacier area would very likely be gone by 2035. Other climate-related storms in a teacup have been appearing in the corporate media almost on a daily basis. This nonsense is distracting attention from a mountain of evidence that human-induced climate change is accelerating and poses a deadly threat to civilisation

Link: http://news.scotsman.com/world/Japanese-whaling-ship-39cuts-protest.5961815.jp

WHAT has become an annual skirmish between conservationists and whalers escalated in dramatic fashion yesterday, after environmental campaigners accused Japanese sailors of a "vicious attack" that left their hi-tech boat in two pieces.

Link: http://www.newser.com/story/77384/scientists-dolphins-are-non-human-persons.html

Dolphins are not only the world's smartest animal after humans, they're so intelligent they deserve to be classed as "non-human persons." So say scientists who argue their research on dolphins' brains shows it is unethical to keep such the animals captive in amusement parks or to kill them for food or accidentally through fishing, the London Times reports.