China power plant emissions to rise 60% by 2017: Climate-warming emissions from China’s power plants — already among the world’s worst greenhouse polluters — will rise by some 60% in the next decade, a new global database showed on Wednesday. Four Chinese power companies, including the biggest carbon dioxide emitter, Huaneng Power International, were among the top 10 on the database; there were two each from the United States and Germany and one each from South Africa and India. The numbers show that despite international talk about cutting down on emissions that spur global warming, these emissions are going to rise steeply for the next 10 years. — Reuters

Climate change to take just years: Australians will begin to see the stark effects of climate change within the next few years, not the next decades, a leading Australian scientist has warned. Graeme Pearman, the former head of CSIRO’s atmospheric research unit, yesterday released a report showing that evidence of global warming has dramatically increased in the past 12 months. Dr Pearman told the Herald: “If you think climate change is on the agenda, just wait another couple of years. Every day the media are going to be reporting people seeing changes as a result of things we have already done and the implications of these all over the world: like the breeding patterns and migration patterns of birds and animals, the flowering times, the production capacity of farms and the impact of coastal erosion. We are going to get more of them, not in the next few decades but the next few years.” — SMH

The big thirst: the great American water crisis: On Dancing Fern Mountain, in the hills above Chattanooga, Tennessee, two brothers worry about a beaver dam which is blocking access to the only fresh water supply for miles. “The dam is ruining the water and every time we tear it down, the beaver builds it again,” says Larry Fulfer. “People don’t think we should, but we’re gonna have to get that critter and kill him.” With a slap of his tail, the beaver disappears. His dam is at the mouth of a vast underground cave system, where enough pure spring water emerges to supply the half-a-dozen families who live on Dancing Fern Mountain. — Independent

Approach Arctic fishing with caution: In the thousands of years man has depended on seafood, most of the world’s fishing grounds have been discovered and exploited. As the fishing industry grew, steps were taken in some regions to manage and protect fish stocks to remain a plentiful and sustainable source of healthy food. Regions that failed to do so suffered the consequences of overfishing and a precious resource was squandered. That’s why a new fishing area — one that is opening because of climate change — should not be developed until sound management practices and catch limits are established. — SeattlePI