I can persuade George Bush on climate change – Blair: Tony Blair insisted yesterday that he could persuade President Bush to agree for the first time to a global target for a “substantial cut” in greenhouse gases within a framework sanctioned by the United Nations. In an interview with The Guardian on the eve of the G8 summit, the prime minister said both elusive goals were now achievable and that America was “on the move” in its position on climate change. Guardian

Antarctic glaciers picking up speed: Hundreds of glaciers in the Antarctic peninsula are flowing faster, adding to a rise in sea levels, UK experts say, pointed the finger of blame at climate change. In a study the British Antarctic Survey reports a 12% increase in the speed of over 300 glaciers monitored by satellite between 1993 and 2003. The new study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research (Earth Surface), found that the glaciers picked up speed as they headed towards the sea. News in Science

Virgin Blue going green: Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd will call on the aviation industry to clean itself up amid research projecting an explosion in the contribution of air travel to greenhouse gas emissions. A recent Australia Institute study found aviation currently contributes about two per cent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions. But left unchecked, emissions would increase by more than 250 per cent by the middle of the century – imperilling broader efforts to arrest climate change. The Age

Sea lions hit by high levels of acid poison in California: A distressed, possibly pregnant sea lion was wheeled recently into the Marine Mammal Care Center here, just as two other lions were herded into cages in preparation for their return to the ocean … Peter Wallerstein of the Whale Rescue Team, a private group authorized by Los Angeles to rescue whales and other marine mammals, said he had found the sea lion on the sand in nearby Manhattan Beach … (and) feared she could have been poisoned by domoic acid, a toxin released by large blooms of algae that causes seizures in sea lions. New York Times

Lost town surfaces after ‘big dry’: The savage drought in Australia has sucked dry a huge reservoir revealing the ghostly remains of a town that was flooded 50 years ago. Adaminaby, a small farming town in the Snowy Mountains between New South Wales and Victoria, was evacuated and flooded in 1957 to create Lake Eucumbene, part of a massive hydro-electricity project. But the longest “big dry” in a century – widely blamed on climate change – has reduced the lake to a tenth of its normal size, exposing the town’s muddy outline. Telegraph