New records are being achieved for Earth Hour with more countries now signed up for the event than for last year’s globe-circling lights-out for climate action.  Organizers are now active in 92 countries, compared to a final participation figure of 88 countries in 2009 - with still just over two weeks to go.

In testimony to the U.S. Senate on the Fiscal Year 2011 international affairs budget, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls for a budget that supports core climate change activities in developing countries; and stresses the importance of leading the clean energy race, and being a global leader on climate change.

In a videotaped lecture, Naomi Oreskes discusses the upcoming book, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, which she coauthored with Erik Conway. "The failure of the United States to act on global warming as well as the long delays between when the science was settled and when we acted on tobacco, acid rain and the ozone hole are prima facie empirical evidence that doubt-mongering works," Oreskes said.

Researchers report in tomorrow's journal Science (5 March 2010) that the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) is leaking methane to the atmosphere, in volumes "on par with previous estimates of methane venting from the entire World Ocean."  They warn that "remobilization to the atmosphere of only a small fraction of the methane" held in the ESAS sediments "could trigger abrupt climate warming."

From today through Sunday (4-7 March 2010), the National Association of Environmental Law Societies (NAELS) is holding its annual conference, focused on "Staying Afloat: Adapting to Climate Change on the Gulf and Beyond."  According to the conference organizers, "the United States and other nations must begin adapting their communities to a warming climate."

A video about the empirical evidence on climate change—it details what the science reveals and how we know what we know.  "Of course, no amount of proof is sufficient for those who believe climate science is all a global conspiracy," acerbically notes the video's producer, Peter Sinclair.

In the aftermath of Winter Storm Xynthia, which struck Europe last weekend (26–28 February 2010) leaving damages that may range from at $2 - $4 billion, meteorology expert Jeff Masters asks (and answers) whether the frequency of such storms is changing, and whether we can expect the frequency to change in the future. 

In a U.S. Senate hearing last week (23 Feb 2010), Senator Bernie Sanders eloquently and pointedly responded to those in the Congress and elsewhere who reject the fundamental scientific basis for action on climate change.  "I find it incredible, I really do, that in the year 2010 on this committee, there are people who are saying there is a doubt about global warming," Sanders said. "The longer we delay, the longer we have this senseless debate, the less prepared we will be."