By Barbara Kessler
Every spring, as sure as the sun warms the cedars and the birds flock back from Mexico, Lee Clauser leads a stealth group of intense adults dressed in khakis and boots to the edge of a wild thicket near his house in north central Texas.
They creep into the brush, quietly unloading their weapons of mass observation.
Putting binoculars to eyes, they look, and listen, for the brilliant Golden-cheeked warbler, and for the reclusive Black-capped vireo. Both songbirds are listed as endangered in the United States, their nesting grounds having been narrowed to a strip of Texas Hill Country that supplies just the right shrubbery and old-growth cedars. The birders, who come from Fort Worth, Dallas, New England, the Pacific Northwest and beyond, know that catching a glimpse of one of these delicate creatures is a rare treat.
“People have come from Europe to see those birds, both species. For birders all over the world, it’s a huge deal,” says Clauser, a retired banker and life-long bird rescue and rehabilitation expert.
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World Wildlife Fund warns of accelerating climate change
By Harriet Blake
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued a report earlier this week stating that global warming is increasing at an even faster pace than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast in 2007. The report, “Climate Change: Faster, Stronger, Sooner,” was pegged to the Oct. 20 Luxembourg meeting of the European Union’s Environment Ministers.
Despite concerns about the global financial crisis, the ministers have chosen to stick with their environmental improvement plan – to reduce greenhouse gases 20 percent by 2020. The WWF would like to see that increased to 30 percent.
According to the WWF’s scientific data, there were six key findings:
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Tags: · Arctic Ocean, Carbon Sink, Climate Change, European Union, global warming, Greenhouse Gases, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPPC, sea level, World Wildlife Fund
Arctic Sea ice reaches second lowest recorded level
September 19th, 2008 · No Comments
By Kelly Rondeau
The numbers are in from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and declining ice thickness is at a 
hazardous level; observed to be the second-lowest coverage on record, scientists said this week.
According to the NSIDC, on September 12, 2008, the sea ice extent dropped to 1.74 million square miles (4.52 million square kilometers) — or a little less than half the area of the United States. This appears to have been the lowest point of the year, as sea ice has now begun its annual cycle of growth in response to autumn cooling.
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Tags: · Arctic Sea Ice, National Snow and Ice Data Center, World Wildlife Fund
Human Race 10K Benefits Wild Life Preservation
By Kelly Rondeau
Three major charities — The World Wildlife Fund, the Lance Armstrong Foundation and ninemillion.org– 
benefited from the Nike + Human Race 10K on Sunday, an event billed as the World’s Biggest Race that involved 25 races in 25 cities around the globe.
Thousands of runners turned out for the 10K in the North American host cities of New York City, Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago and Austin, as well as around the world in other major cities such as Paris, Rome, Madrid, Vancouver, Lima, Instanbul, Singapore, Melbourne, Warsaw, and Seoul. Collectively, the runners logged more than 3 million miles, according to Nike, with each mile producing more money toward the three charities.
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Tags: · Human Race 10K, Lance Armstrong, LiveStrong, Ninemillion.org, World Wildlife Fund
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Putting binoculars to eyes, they look, and listen, for the brilliant Golden-cheeked warbler, and for the reclusive Black-capped vireo. Both songbirds are listed as endangered in the United States, their nesting grounds having been narrowed to a strip of Texas Hill Country that supplies just the right shrubbery and old-growth cedars. The birders, who come from Fort Worth, Dallas, New England, the Pacific Northwest and beyond, know that catching a glimpse of one of these delicate creatures is a rare treat.
