I can unite world on climate, says Rudd: Australia will take on a highly ambitious and activist role on the international stage under the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who has unveiled a grand plan for uniting the world on climate change. Heralding a significant shift in foreign policy from the Howard era, Mr Rudd – former diplomat and China expert – told the Herald yesterday he intended to use Australia’s new position as a member of the Kyoto club to “bridge the gap” between developed and developing countries on future emissions controls. SMH

Ray of hope: can the sun save us from global warming?: Something is happening to our Sun. It has to do with sunspots, or rather the activity cycle their coming and going signifies. After a period of exceptionally high activity in the 20th century, our Sun has suddenly gone exceptionally quiet. Months have passed with no spots visible on its disc. We are at the end of one cycle of activity and astronomers are waiting for the sunspots to return and mark the start of the next, the so-called cycle 24. They have been waiting for a while now with no sign it’s on its way any time soon. Independent

A really inconvenient truth: Divorce is not green: The data are in. Divorce is bad for the environment. A novel study that links divorce with the environment shows a global trend of soaring divorce rates has created more households with fewer people, has taken up more space and has gobbled up more energy and water. A statistical remedy: Fall back in love. Cohabitation means less urban sprawl and softens the environmental hit. Science Daily

Growth market — coping with climate change: Global warming is not only leaving a trail of destruction. It’s also clearing a path for quick-moving entrepreneurs, with diverse possibilities across the country. Temperatures are rising fastest and furthest in the north, shortening the season during which mining companies can use ice roads to bring in supplies, says James Ford, a post-doctoral fellow in geography at McGill University in Montreal. These firms are hungry for technologies and services to keep the ice roads open longer, alternative ways to bring in supplies affordably and methods to reduce what they need to transport. Canadian Business Online

China: choking on growth:  Unnoticed and unappreciated for five decades, a large female turtle with a stained, leathery shell is now a precious commodity in this city’s decaying zoo. She is fed a special diet of raw meat. Her small pool has been encased with bulletproof glass. A surveillance camera monitors her movements. A guard is posted at night. The agenda is simple: The turtle must not die. Earlier this year, scientists concluded that she is the planet’s last known female Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle. She is about 80 years old and weighs almost 90 pounds. As it happens, the planet also has only one undisputed, known male. He lives at a zoo in the city of Suzhou. He is 100 years old and weighs about 200 pounds. They are the last hope of saving a species believed to be the largest freshwater turtles in the world. New York Times