– A round-up of the day’s top climate change stories
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USA: NASA Scientist James Hansen is to retire to focus on climate change campaigning. Hansen said he could not contribute to legal action against the US government if he was working for one of its agencies. Hansen has already been an active climate change campaigner and has been arrested at several protests including in February this year when he took part in an anti-Keystone XL event outside the White House. (Washington Post)
Video: James Hansen interview with The Commonwealth Club, 2012
UK: A former member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) has admitted that the right wing party’s climate change scepticism policies were “amateurish”. Marta Andreasen said that the party’s press office frequently had to contradict the view of its “eccentric” climate spokesman Christopher Monckton and Godfrey Bloom. (EurActiv)
Science: Melting ice in Antarctica could be responsible for additional sea ice. Scientists from Utrecht University found that the freshwater melting off the ice sheet formed a cooler cap on top of the denser, warmer saline ocean water, aiding the growth of sea ice. (RTCC)
China: Air pollution played a part in 1.2 million premature deaths in China in 2010, according to new research by the World Health Organisation and the University of Washington. (New York Times)
UN Talks: The world’s poorest countries say they are now prepared to commit themselves to binding cuts in their emissions of greenhouse gases. LDC group climate negotiator Quamrul Chowdury told the Climate News Network: “Prakash Mathema, the current Chair of the LDCs in the climate negotiations, has a new mantra: ‘Follow us’.” (RTCC)