Sequestering Carbon In Otters and ther global warming news  

Next 100 has a roundup of climate news for the week - Climate Changes.

A group connected to the fossil fuel industry claims climate scientists and those who believe carbon dioxide (CO2) is a pollutant have got it all wrong. The organization "CO2 is Green" is taking out advertisements urging people to call their senators and seek a vote against the cap-and-trade bill. "The bill is based on the false premise that man-made CO2 is a major cause of climate change," the ads say. But a spokesman for Clean Energy Works, a coalition of about 60 groups that want climate legislation, maintains the ads cannot be taken seriously. "This Big Oil front group wants people to think Congress is going to raise taxes, kill jobs, spill more oil, take our children and charge us for the pleasure," he said. Some climate scientists claim a limited amount of CO2 means increased plant growth but warn it will also lead to further unknown environmental damages and ocean acidification in addition to greenhouse warming.

A new study concludes protecting sea otters could become a viable strategy in the fight against global warming. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz found that by munching on sea urchins, the animals remove around 0.40 pounds of carbon from the atmosphere for every square meter of occupied coastal waters. In other words, if sea otters were restored to healthy populations along the coasts of North America they could collectively lock up 10 million tons of carbon, which is currently worth more than $700 million on the European carbon-trading market.

Last month was the warmest June on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A new report released by the organization cites combined land and ocean surface temperatures as the basis for that claim. The report also claims this June yielded the lowest amount of arctic sea ice since record keeping began in 1979. Scientists, researchers and government leaders say they use NOAA’s monthly reports to help track trends in the world's climate.