Warming report warns of melted US northeast: People in Philadelphia would swelter through as many as 30 days with temperatures higher than 100 degrees each summer. The Northeastern ski industry, except for western Maine, would probably go out of business. And spruce and hemlock forests — as well as songbirds such as the Baltimore oriole — would all but disappear from New Jersey to the Canadian border. These are among the conclusions of a two-year study by the public interest group Union of Concerned Scientists of the effects of global warming in the Northeast if current greenhouse gas emission patterns worldwide continue unabated. Washington Post

Great debate or great swindle?: Tonight ABC television will broadcast The Great Global Warming Swindle. More to the point, it will swaddle the controversial documentary in a radioactive suit made up of an interview with director Martin Durkin by one of the national broadcaster’s current affairs tough nuts, Tony Jones, a panel discussion among carefully chosen experts and a website that provides links to eight earlier ABC programs about climate change. The Age

Thailand slowly wakes up to green dawn: Soontorn Boonyatikarn is a man of the times, throwing around terms like “eco-design” as he enthuses about the charcoal water recycling system at the Bangkok home he designed for his family two years ago. His Bio-Solar House – designed not only to be energy efficient but to produce energy – was inspired by the humble mango tree, echoing the ideas of some of the brightest international names working in eco-architecture today. “I threw the mango seed into the backyard. Three years later I picked up a mango,” Soontorn said. “The mango tree does not need anything. The mango tree recycles everything, and it survives by the wind and the sun.” Taipei Times

Why the violin is endangered: If you think the problem of endangered species is all about tigers, elephants and orangutans, ask a violinist where he gets his bow. The best violin bows are made from pau brasil, a tree from the Brazilian rain forest that has been exploited for 500 years, and was once so economically vital for the red dye it produced that it gave its name to the only country where it grows. Pau brasil is among dozens of plants and animals threatened with extinction that are on the agenda of the 171-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, which opens its meeting Sunday. Moscow News