If verified by official records, the record 128.3F in Pakistan would be the warmest temperature ever recorded in Asia.

According to a Gallup poll, Australians are becoming more skeptical of humans’ role in climate change.

Only 44% of Australians who are aware of climate change believe humans are the cause—that’s down from 52% when the poll was last conducted, in 2008.

Support for natural causes rose 10% between 2008 and 2010.

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According to the US National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), worldwide, the first six months of 2010 have been the hottest on record.

It has not been as bad in the States. “For the US, January to June, this is only slightly warmer than average,” Jay Lawrimore, chief of climate analysis at the NCDC told Reuters.

Nevertheless, warmer temperatures and drought conditions in many parts of the country are taxing aquifers already stressed by heavy agricultural and consumer use—and the situation could get worse.

The “Climate Change, Water and Risk” report, issued by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), predicts over 1,100 counties across the US—one-third of all the counties in the contiguous 48 states—face potential water shortages by mid-century.

Here is the NRDC’s view of US counties in 2050 with no global warming effects.

(c) Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), used by permission.

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As the poll above illustrates, and the Washington Post reported: “For environmentalists, the BP oil spill may be disproving the maxim that great tragedies produce great change.

“Traditionally, American environmentalism wins its biggest victories after some important piece of American environment is poisoned, exterminated or set on fire. An oil spill and a burning river in 1969 led to new anti-pollution laws in the 1970s. The Exxon Valdez disaster helped create an Earth Day revival in 1990 and sparked a landmark clean-air law.

“But this year, the worst oil spill in U.S. history—and, before that, the worst coal-mining disaster in 40 years—haven’t put the same kind of drive into the debate over climate change and fossil-fuel energy.”

According to the “13th Annual Global CEO Survey 2010,” from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), “27% of global CEOs surveyed in 2009 expressed concern about the impacts of biodiversity loss on their business growth prospects.”

A study of global water security risks from Maplecroft finds that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have the least secure water sources.

Somalia tops the list, which includes Mauritania, Sudan, Niger and Egypt.

All countries above were rated as being at “extreme” risk.

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The combined average surface temperatures around the world for May 2010 were 0.69ºC and 1.24ºF above the 20th century averages—since 1880, it was the warmest May on record. In fact, 2010—January through May—has been the warmest year on record.

According to the report, “Action Amid Uncertainty: The Business Response to Climate Change” from Ernst & Young, businesses worldwide are ramping up investments in climate change.

A majority, 70%, of businesses are planning on increasing their spending on climate change initiatives and 25% expect spending to remain the same.

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In the weeks since the April 20th Deepwater Horizon explosion, while millions of gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, but stayed largely offshore, polls showed that a majority of US consumers continued to support offshore drilling (see The Spill: Politics, Polls and Public Opinion).

But Suzanne Shelton, CEO of the Shelton Group, predicted once images of “oil-covered dolphins and dead turtles and pelicans” started appearing in the media, attitudes would change. She was right.

A CBS News poll conducted May 20 to 24 found that by a slim margin more Americans now feel the risks of offshore drilling outweigh the positives, 46% to 45%.

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Rate of US Temperature Change: 1901 – 2008

Source: NOAA 2009, as shown in the “Climate Change Indicators in the United States” report, April 2010, EPA.

With the exception of natural crises, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the topics of financial collapse, ongoing recession and when world economics will begin recovering have dominated headlines and newscasts for the past several years.

Yet, according to the “Global Pulse Survey,” conducted by HSBC, the number-one concern of 38% of people polled in cities around the globe is climate change and the environment.

The economy ranked second at 35%.

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…not only had the band begun to play, with strains of Sgt. Pepper’s filling the air, but millions marched around the world on the first Earth Day.

One year later, on Earth Day 1971, Keep America Beautiful (KAB) launched the most memorable public service announcement in the history of the green marketing movement, the “Crying Indian.”

The Indian was portrayed by Iron Eyes Cody, but the tear is what everyone remembers.

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The global warning debate has created the usual set of conservative and liberal-thinking adversaries, but who knew that many weathermen, and weatherwomen, for the most part trained meteorologists, would side with the bah-humbuggers?

“A National Survey Of Television Meteorologists About Climate Change,” released by George Mason University and the University of Texas at Austin, asked local TV weathercasters around the country if they thought global warming was actually occurring, and although a majority said yes, 25% of them answered no.

In what may have been the scariest finding, 21% didn’t know.

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