World Carbon Dioxide Levels reach the highest for 650,000 years. Read the Guardian Article. 13.05.08

• Every one of the hottest 15 years on record has occurred since 1980 - the hottest five since 1997.
• Carbon dioxide levels have risen from about 280ppm in pre-industrial times to around 379ppm today.
• In the last century sea levels rose by 10-20cm.
• The frequency of heavy precipitation events has increased over most land areas and conversely drying has increased over large regions.
• In Africa's large catchment basins of Niger, Lake Chad, and Senegal, total available water has decreased by 40 to 60 per cent, and desertification has significantly increased across Africa.
• Average Arctic temperatures increased at almost twice the global rate in the past 100 years. In the Russian Arctic, buildings are collapsing because permafrost under their foundations has melted.
• Snow cover has declined by some 10 per cent in the mid- and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere since the late 1960s. Mountain glaciers and snow cover have declined in both hemispheres and widespread decreases in glaciers and ice caps have contributed to sea level rise.
• Scientists have observed climate-induced changes in at least 420 physical processes and biological species or communities.
• In the Alps, some plant species have been migrating upward by one to four metres per decade, and some plants previously found only on mountain tops have disappeared.
• In Europe, mating and egg-laying of some bird species has occurred earlier in the season: for example, in the UK, egg-laying by 20 of 65 species, including long-distance migrants, advanced by an average of eight days between 1971 and 1995.
• Across Europe, the growing season in controlled, mixed-species gardens lengthened by 10.8 days from 1959 to 1993. Butterflies, dragonflies, moths, beetles, and other insects are now living at higher latitudes and altitudes, where previously it was too cold to survive.

Here are a few useful websites for more climate change information*

Defra
These pages explain what climate change means for the UK and what the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are doing about it.

UK Climate Impacts Programme
The UKCIP provides scenarios that show how our climate might change and you can read about research on dealing with our future climate.

Environment and Greener Living
The government provide additional information on climate change and what you can do about it in their greener living pages.

Questions & Answers with Jonathon Porritt
Sir Jonathon Porritt, founder of Forum for the Future, answers a number of common questions about global warming.

An Inconvenient Truth website
Climate Care recommends watching the thought-provoking film by Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth. Their website provides a bit more information about the facts, figures and science behind the changing climate.

Point Carbon
Giving insights into The Carbon Market for the more technical browser, Point Carbon provides the latest research, reports and news on the market.

*ClimateCare is not responsible for the content of third party websites