Extreme weather wakes US up to climate change: US public opinion is rapidly waking up to the threat posed by global warming, despite the best efforts of the Bush Administration and much of industry to deny the problem. There has been a double-digit increase in the proportion of Americans who say environmental problems are a major global threat – from 23 per cent to 37 per cent, according to a comprehensive survey published this week by the Pew Centre in Washington. Independent

77,000 die annually in Asia-Pacific from climate change: International experts will meet next month to discuss the threat to health posed by global warming, which directly or indirectly contributes to about 77,000 deaths annually in Asia-Pacific, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The July 2-5 meeting in Malaysia’s main city Kuala Lumpur comes amid forecasts that the global mean temperature will increase by as much as 6 degrees Celsius (42.80 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century. International Herald Tribune

Sedentary, not migratory birds, face higher extinction risk: Sedentary birds face considerably higher risk of extinction than migratory birds, reports a new paper published in the journal Current Biology. The findings have implications for the conservation of increasingly endangered wildlife populations. Monga Bay

Are clean planes a lot of hot air?: Boeing, Airbus, and dozens of airlines that fly their jets are jumping on the environmental bandwagon, touting “green” technology at the recent Paris Air Show and pledging to spew less noxious fumes into the skies. So far, though, growth in worldwide air travel is outpacing industry progress in reducing aircraft emissions. And it’s chiefly been high fuel costs and fear of government-regulated emissions cuts – not concerns about global warming – that have inspired the sector’s efforts to pollute less. SMH