The warmest winter ever recorded in Finland may boost the country's agricultural production by lengthening the growing season, demonstrating some of the early impacts of global climate change. Finland's southern regions experienced average temperatures above freezing point this year and had snow cover for only 20 days, far below the typical 70. Although global warming appears to favor agriculture in this Nordic country, world agriculture as a whole is predicted to suffer as global temperatures rise. The greatest production losses are expected in developing countries due to natural vulnerability and limited capacity to adapt, threatening already food-insecure regions.

Now home to half of the world's people, cities are increasingly at the forefront of our most pressing environmental challenges. While the current pace of urbanization is not unique in human history, the sheer magnitude of urban growth--driven by massive demographic shifts in the developing world--is unprecedented, with vast implications for human well-being and the environment. However, where cities pose environmental problems, they also offer solutions. As hotspots of consumption, production, and waste generation, cities possess unparalleled potential to increase the energy efficiency and sustainability of society as a whole.

No-till farming has been around since the 1960s, when it was developed to reduce erosion of valuable topsoil from cropland. Since then, the realization of the method's other benefits--reduced need for irrigation, less labor for farmers, increased soil quality--has encouraged its adoption across the U.S. and around the world. In recent years, however, interest in no-till has risen due to its greenhouse gas benefits, which have farmers seeing another kind of green: cash.

Scientists offered a rare glimmer of hope in a recent coral reef study, which suggested that reefs in the world's warmest oceans might be protected from the deleterious affects of global warming. This potential rests on a much-debated theory that a natural "ocean thermostat" prevents sea-surface temperatures from exceeding 31 degrees Celsius. If confirmed through additional research, the study's findings could have important implications for how and where we design measures to protect reef ecosystems.

Ethanol's climate benefits, already assailed by many environmentalists, have become even more troubled in the past week. A study published online in Science magazine last Thursday indicates that, over a 30 year span, ethanol from corn nearly doubles the greenhouse gas emissions of the equivalent amount of gasoline, while ethanol produced from switchgrass increases emissions by 50 percent.

For the first time, a climate change model has drawn direct links between CO2 emissions and increased human mortality. The model, created by Stanford University Professor Mark Jacobson, is considered by many to be the most complex and complete atmospheric model worldwide, taking into account many feedbacks between climate change and air pollution. It estimates that for every one degree Celsius increase in global temperature caused by carbon dioxide, the world will experience upwards of 20,000 additional air pollution-related deaths per year.

For the past 15 years, scientists have been exploring a novel new way to combat global climate change. The technique, known as ocean iron fertilization (OIF), uses iron to spur the growth of oceanic algal blooms, which, theoretically, could draw tons of carbon from the atmosphere via photosynthesis. After a decade of experimenting, however, many scientists remain concerned about the practicality, efficacy, and ecological safety of large-scale deployment.

To mark this year's World Wetlands Day, which falls annually on February 2nd, leaders of the Republic of Congo have designated four of the country's wetlands as protected Ramsar sites, including one that is the second largest in the world.

With the Congo's first protected wetland designated in 1998, this brings the Congo's total up to five Wetlands of International Importance. Worldwide there are over 1700 of these protected wetlands under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Two months ago, EarthTrends reported on the hazards of indoor air pollution, which results in 1.6 million premature deaths every year. One of the simplest solutions to this pressing global problem is the introduction of improved stoves that release fewer toxic emissions. Past efforts to employ such technologies, however, have generally been small-scale and have failed to achieve significant global impact. The Shell Foundation's "Breathing Space" program is now planning to introduce the first market-based model for clean-burning wood stove technology, with the ambition of reaching millions of poor households throughout the world.

Anyone who's ever seen a cow pasture would likely recognize some of the most immediate environmental impacts of large-scale livestock farming--trampled ground, eroded stream banks, lots of manure. However, a less visible but equally worrisome effect appears thousands of miles from the Midwest's muddy cow pastures, in the tropical waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Amidst increasing concern for the growing 'dead zone' where the Mississippi River flows into the Gulf, livestock farming practices are increasingly coming under scrutiny. In fact, the FAO says, the livestock sector is the major driver of increasing water pollution in most geographical areas.