Global Warming Meetings Focus on U.S. Role
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trio of climate change meetings in the United States this week will focus attention on how Washington can deliver on its pledge to play a lead role in combating global warming. The central issue is how to curb the emission of climate-warming greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants and petroleum-fueled vehicles, and whether to make the goals mandatory or "aspirational" as the White House has proposed. As the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases -- with China close behind and gaining fast -- the United States has said it wants to lead, but critics from the U.S. environmental movement and elsewhere question whether its voluntary approach will work.
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Polar Bears Could Be Lost By 2050
Two-thirds of the world's polar bear population could be gone by mid-century if predictions of melting sea ice hold true, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on Friday. The fate of polar bears could be even bleaker than that estimate, because sea ice in the Arctic might be vanishing faster than the available computer models predict, the geological survey said in a report aimed at determining whether the big white bear should be listed as a threatened species.
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